Racing Slicks

Hi guys,
which tyre company suppies the grippiest slicks, and do they have good technical service?
thanks

What are you planning to do with those tires? When you say ‘slick’ I assume you are meaning racing tires. The softer the compound the better the adhesion but short in tire life. A harder compound tire isn’t going to stick as well as the soft compound but tire life will be longer. The ‘real’ race guys use a set of tires per sprint race and more than a set for longer races. Club members may get a set of tires to last 5-6 races with a harder compound tire. Many autocross people use a very high performance street tire as is, or a lesser performance tire shaved down. Get in touch with your local racing tire dealer and tell him what you want to do. By the way, winners go with GoodYear.
PS unless your going to be racing in the rain and I mean pouring down rain, don’t even consider rain tires.

Terry Teadtke
Ex GoodYear racing tire specialist
IMSA

Yes, i was referring to untreaded racing tyres for use in the dry.
I would think not many companies make tyres of the correct size and construction?
I am not at all sure why winners go with goodyear, what do they have for the GT40 versus all of the others?

It has been my experience that on a light car like the 40, the race tire reaches the end of its useful life long before the rubber wears off the traction surface due to the hardening of the compound as a function of the number of heat cycles. Go ahead and get the sticky AVONS or Goodyears because if you go with the harder compounds, it makes the heat cycle problem even worse. The tires are usually good for 10-20 heat cycles. Past that and they allow the car to come out from under you.

Best bet is someone who provides tires to vintage racers. 15 inch sizes are limited. Race tires are not street legal. These cars work better and are safer with treaded tires. Slicks and over wide tires can over stress halfshafts and other components. Goodyear has sizes that fit and similar to Sport Car Specials. I use these tires on my MK-IV and Lola.

I agree with mkiv-j6, and I failed to ask what you were going to do with the car. my car handles better with semi-slicks than slicks, and drives the best with street tires. What do I know,I'm just a custodian.

Sorry to seem a little obscure: but I had assumed that racing slicks were for ...racing!
Nobody with any sence would drive such a thing on the road



Rob

Over here in UK getting Goodyears is actually not straight forward and is not cheap ie in excess of £200 per tyre for a blue streak slick or wet. Mainly Avons are used where slicks are required. These are pure slicks but have smaller rolling diameters cf road tyres. For avoidance of doubt I am only talking about 15 inch rims. I ran Avon Slicks for a couple of years in their softest compound and they lasted fine. Side walls are thin and when I curbed a front parking the car up once it punctured. As I changed to knock on wheels next and only paid for one set of rims I have not gone back to Slicks. I now use the Dunlop Post Historic range of tyres. These are a treaded race tyre from back before true slicks came along ie the 60's. If I were in the US where Goodyears are more easily available at sensible prices, I would most likely use those. Robin Batt has brought some blue streaks into the UK and they are good tyres. Near as damn it slicks and wets are both out there. Being 15 inch tyres and with chunky sized side walls they also make your car look like the real thing. Over here the dunlops are an FIA approved historic race tyre and a lot of european cobras and 40s race on them. Whilst I suspect that because of the higher sidewall, the handling will not be as good as a low profile slick, the actual grip you get from these historic tyres is excellent. Far superior to any current road tyre that fits a 40 with 15 inch rims in my humble opinion. The dunlops are about 2 secs a lap slower than the Avon soft compound slicks, equal to the Goodyear blue streaks (our sprint at Goodwood this year in the GTD40 Car Club will prove this one way or the other!), and about 7 secs a lap better than Goodridge comp T/A 2 road tyres. I have also ran Goodridge ZR1 tyres. These are a very soft road tyre which are good but not as good as the Dunlops. Very heavy carcass but a good sidewall.
However in the wet the dunlops and the goodyears are not as good as modern road tyres as Ray Christopher can confirm when he followed me around Donnigton in a deluge. I was twitchy and sliding around a lot (great fun breaking traction in fourth!) but he was on 17 inch pirelli Pzero's and was much more stable.
Then again, in our first trip to the Isle of Man when I competed on Slicks, snow came down as I was on the start line and a marshal came over and asked if I would put on my headlights as clouds had just come down over the finish line and the marshalls there would like more chance of seeing me approach them! I still improved my time on the slicks compared to my previous run on standard road tyres even though they were nowhere near the right temperature.
This season for competition, I shall be using the Dunlops as will Andrew, Roger and Julian. Martin and Mo will be on Goodridge road tyres. Robin on Blue Streaks and Roy and Paul will be on Avon Slicks most likely. Dave, Ray and the other Roy will be on Pirellis unless Dave gets his slicks out too. I also intend to put the Dunlops onto Wendy's Lotus 51 too.
So watch what happens in the GTD40 club competition to see which tyres do well! If only all the other parts of the cars were equal it would be a fair test!!! Our web site is being worked upon now and will most likley carry results and stuff, but Paul can't do everything at once! Check out the thread in the events section of the forum for a listing of the competition events planned this year.
Malcolm

I have just run Hoosier semi slicks on a GTD at a race track in Athens (Greece) and I was very impressed with them. We will certainly try them in UK this year. Frank

hi Frank
Thought you didn't rate the Hoosiers in the wet?!?!?!?!
Malcolm