17" track tyres

[944Turbo]

Anyone know what track tyres (either full slick or road legal race rubber) are available in 17" sizes (9" and 7.5")?
I am considering larger brakes (current calipers need major overhaul) which may not fit under the16's I currently use on track and wondered how the availability / price of tyres compares
Tony

 

[Guest]

You could go for Yokohama 048Rs. They're an excellent tyre on the track. They do them in an assortment of sizes that should fit on your rims.

 

[John Sims]

ORIGINAL: JamesH

You could go for Yokohama 048Rs. They're an excellent tyre on the track. They do them in an assortment of sizes that should fit on your rims.

You could, and they do. They are also spectacularly expensive. I looked into a set for Beaky and, IIRC, for 16" rims they were over £200 a corner. I have every confidence that 17" will be even more.

You could also try Dunlop DZ02G - Road legal list B tyre

Kumho have the Ecsta S700 slick in sizes that would suit and also the Ecsta V70A - Road legal list 1B tyre (The V70A doesn't look very nice though)

 

[Andy Tims]

Dunlop DO2G's already mentioned - pretty good, but a bit noisy on the road.
I also think the Pilot Sport Cups might be avaialable in your sizes.

 

[Big Dave]

Michelin Pilot Sport Cups ARE great on track...[][][]
225/45/17" + 255/40/17",s....NOT cheap though....[][]

BUT Dunlop did a Super Sport Race tyre. in 225/45/17, + 245/40/17,s... They were very good...+ as a co,incidence i happen to have a set "spare"....for sale....Only been fitted to a car for 5 laps of Oulton Park....So they ARE AS new....
If someone was to cross my palm with £350 +p+p ide considder letting them go....[][][]...

 

[Yoda]

Michelin Pilot Sport Cup (GBP 800 ish)
Pirelli Corsa (GBP 700 ish)
Dunlop Super Sport Race (GBP400 ish)

Have a look on the 964 RS forum for a few comparisons (964 RS wheels are also 7.5 + 9) and I posted an article with on track comparisons of times and feel which is quite useful.

Regards

 

[Fen]

I went with Dunlop SSRs and although they top my representative sample of one type of tyre they are reasonably good in absolute terms I believe and sufficiently cheaper than the alternatives that I chose them.

 

[Guest]

ORIGINAL: John Sims

ORIGINAL: JamesH

You could go for Yokohama 048Rs. They're an excellent tyre on the track. They do them in an assortment of sizes that should fit on your rims.

You could, and they do. They are also spectacularly expensive. I looked into a set for Beaky and, IIRC, for 16" rims they were over £200 a corner. I have every confidence that 17" will be even more.

Demon Tweeks have them in various 17" sizes for about £150 each.

If you decide to go the slicks route, there are 3 things to bear in mind
1. Some track day organisers don't allow slicks.
2. You'll need a second set of wet tyres in case it rains.
3. Slicks put more stress on the drivetrain, so you're more likely to suffer from failures.

James

 

[John Sims]

All very notable comments James.

Several of the boysis do already run slicks and, as road cars, arrive at the track on road tyres so are covered if it rains.

Drive train and suspension mounting failure are potentially an issue. This is further increased by the greater stickiness of the track surface over that of a normal road any way. Add to that the greater grip of slicks or track tyres and you could be exceeding the design forces of lesser cars. 944s are perhaps less vulnerable as they were developed through racing with many of the mods on the later Turbo cars being as a result of developments on the Turbo Cup Series cars.

On the plus side. What you save on wearing out your road tyres can go toward upgrading any potential weak points. []

 

[Guest]

The drivetrain failures aren't likely to be much of a problem on a standard car, but you should still expect things to wear out more quickly. Remember that a race car will generally have engine and transmissions rebuilt a lot more frequently than a roda car (I used to have an annual rebuild of the Ultima transmission, and it was only doing about 1000 miles between rebuilds).

On a modified car (which is quite likely to be the one running with slicks) you're going to see much higher wear on transmission components. Basically, if you have an extra 50 ft lb of torque over standard from your engine, and you're seeing wheelspin on road tyres, but not with the slicks, that extra 50 ft lb of torque is trying to pull your transmission to bits. The more modified, the more wear and tear on the transmission.

Just make sure that everything is 100% before you take it on the track, and get it checked a lot more frequently than usual.

On another note. It's always astonished me that people will take sick cars out on a track day. The number of people I've heard say that they're going to get their car serviced after a track day, and not before.

 

[John Sims]

ORIGINAL: JamesH

......... The number of people I've heard say that they're going to get their car serviced after a track day, and not before.

Well you don't want to be spoiling all that nice new oil by taking it on a track day do you? []

 

[Guest]

Good point. I hadn't thought of that []

The best one was a guy who turned up to a track day I was organising in a TVR Cerbera that sounded like it was running on about 75% of its cylinders. I suggested he might have liked to get it fixed before the track day, but he was adamant that it would have been a waste of time, as he'd be able to get everything fixed when it went in for a service on Monday [&:]

 

[John Sims]

ORIGINAL: JamesH

Good point. I hadn't thought of that []

...... a TVR Cerbera that sounded like it was running on about 75% of its cylinders.....

Well they do have a number of spare cylinders so I guess he might have been right. []

I know we have gone completely off thread but....

Last year a group of us went to give encouragement to some 944s at a track day at Bedford. This was after the Husbourne boot sale, so we were in the area.

Toward the end a 944 was taken away on a pick up truck. As it passed I took of my cap, as a sign of respect, and caused much amusement to a couple in a TVR that had just pulled up in the car park. We had the inevitable exchange that it was unusual for a Porsche to break down but expected with a TVR, they always travel in pairs so as to provide a ready supply of spares etc etc. The chap in TVR noted how reliable his car was, it never caused him problems, and he and his passenger nipped off to avail themselves of the facilities. By the time they returned their car it was sitting in a pool of its own coolant.

 

[Guest]

TVRs are rather fun. I did about 75,000 miles in various ones (mostly a Cerbera). They are pretty good as long as you don't ever skimp on the TLC.

I think that to a large extent they're similar to the 944, in that the reliable ones are the ones that get driven every day. The problems come when people treat them as precious and stick them in the garage from November to April, then wonder why it's broken down 20 miles from home.

Anyway, back to tyres.....[:-]