Don't forget to pack rain tires. It's often this overlooked aspect that has caught drivers out when chasing their DE championship dreams. There will always be a wet session or even weekend to be ready for !

I would also imagine that 3degrees neg camber will make the car twitchier in less dry conditions.

Buy a log book or good laptop program to track your ever growing data needs. Back in my day you were either fast or you weren't... none of this data bs ;)

Thank you Dave,

I will arrive with the Michelin tires on the car to use in the rain - not optimally fast, but certainly sufficient at my level. I drove them Sat & Sun in July at SP and they performed remarkably well (my opinion).

Yes sir - this data stuff...I'll be keeping track of temps in addition to pressure which I've been doing for some time, HCs, etc.

Cheers,
Niel V

The key is the definition of longevity.

For most hpde drivers the definition is ... Good until you can see the cords. Grip was long gone.

For racers and serious drivers, tires are done when the lap times have dropped more than a couple of tenths of a second. For race tires, that is about ten heat cycles.

Race tires don't just lose grip after 10 heat cycles
. They change the way the car handles because of it. That is why you don't do any suspension tuning on old tires.

RR's were 2sec off the other tires out of the box. Started losing time after first heat cycle. By 10 cycles, they were another full second of the pace
Data was gathered from three drivers in two similarly prepped SCCA race cars.
.
If someone just had to have real r-comps to win the hpde, at least get Hankook z214's. Better and I think cheaper than RR's.

Have I mentioned that RR's really suck? 😎

Last night I read through that GRM article Denis showed the picture from. Guess I've just been in the autox only game too long; I didn't know a category of tires that were nearly slicks, but slower than the fast 200TW even existed. Interesting concept.

Probably worth mentioning that right now, it's all about availability. I can't find NT01's or 888R's in my sizes for love nor money. Supply chain issues may improve as we get into 2023.. at least that's my hope.

When I was racing Chump cars we had to use 200tw tires. They stuck like glue and lasted FOREVER.

I'd go with the Hankook RS-4 for your situation. They're very popular with endurance racers because they wear so well. They're not as sticky as other 200TW tires, but that doesn't really matter in a DE setting.

Regarding some of the comments on Toyo RR's...some VERY quick times have been set on 20 HC tires in SpecBoxster. The first few heat cycles are quickest for sure, but they remain relatively consistent until they cord, which should be around 25 heat cycles. I have a hard time believing that someone driving 'hard' is getting 1.5 years of use out of a set.

I like and would recommend the RS-4s for DEs. I liked them on my Supra. Warning though, they are rather useless in any puddling rain. Even to drive home!:shock:

Well anyone that has seen me drive might agree with you that I don't drive hard. :roll: