Lloyd of the Rings

As you know I went with the Pole Positions. I LOVE the tire, but...I've run 5 track days now and the tires are getting very worn. The 2 days at Pahrump was VERY hard on them. So, I've done about 2K road miles and 5 track days and I'm thinking of replacing them soon.

The question. Do you have experience with wear rates on the 730s under track conditions?

Lone Starr (Ivan)

any tread loss. I know Larry has done a lot of track events on his.

Lar?

Lloyd of the Rings

I see now why most people have a second set of wheels with DOT legal race tires like Kumhos or Hoosiers mounted.

Lloyd of the Rings

...and for you, too, LarryTT

evan

nothing against those running 730's. We have them on our other car (not the TT.)

Lloyd of the Rings

Yes, a step down. I was interested in the wear rate, that's all.

UnspoilTT

I haven't had the 730s on the track, so I can't help. Sorry.

VAP

730's are more aptly about 7 or 9 steps down from S02's and they give good mileage in a dual-purpose role, but only fair handling in terms of comparison. But all other things being equal your lap-times will increase dramatically as the adhesion isn't there like in an S02.

You couldn't be more right tho about good all-out racing slicks or even R-compounds for track use and a good "compromise" street tires each mounted on their own wheels. My S02's lasted about 5k with light track use and I expect my next set to virtually double that as I've now gone to Goodyear racing slicks for track use... not R-compounds, but a true racing tire.

On my roadcourse an S02 is about 2 seconds faster than an 040. An R-compound is 1.8 seconds faster than an S02 and a racing slick is 1.5 seconds faster than the R-compound (even more when the track temp is over 108*F). Pretty amazing that the same car can be almost 5.5 seconds faster around a track with racing tires than it is with the tires it came shod with, but there it is. To put that in perspective it would take almost two hundred additional horsepower in the TT to equal that feat on 040's. And thats HUGE!!!

Lone Starr (Ivan)

in the American LeMans series last year. He made the point very clearly that no matter who drove, the first M3 was always 1 second slower than the 2 newer M3's around the track. And in a race 1 second per lap is a huge amount of time, especially endurance races like Lemans style ones. I never thought about it that way before reading that article. And your comments about tire grip just reinforce my new knowledge.

So I guess if he's a few seconds faster than the other cars in his class at the audo-x, then he can afford to go to the 730's from the S02's but if not, perhaps not.

He CAN be taught!