Road course SN95 build...

[ba#97]

Shifty, get some r-comps. It's like a bringing a pencil to a gunfight without them. Or, re-class to a street tire class if possible. The tires do ALL handling and braking duties for the car. You can have the best of everything, with non sticky tires you may as well be driving a SUV.

AGREED AGREED AGREED! i drive my suv out there everyday! but....i am going to get some mild slicks here soon. not to steal the thread or anything but i'm trying to lean my car more to track day fun....so whats a good cheap slick for track richv? if not slicks i wanted to go hankook ventus rs-3's but....they don't come in 275's for a 17in wheel. oh btw!....if you do want to stick with street tires....and have the right size wheels to fit some good size tires....rs-3's are where its at. definitely the BEST street tire out there. almosr a slick. oh and also....tire width makes a HUGE difference. a set of 275 hoosier slicks will get destroyed by a set of 315 hoosier slicks....so if you are trying to be competitve in autox and are striving for that....then you need to go big or go home. if you are doing what i am for just fun....then by all means go with a high performance street tire or some mild slicks....street tire being nitto nt05's or and kumho's that are low on the treadwear rating or for slicks maybe richv can add some insight? i know toyo ra-1's are used in NASA.

 

[ttocs]

never done anything like this but this post made me look up the local scene, might have to check it out next year as they are almost finished this year. I can imagine what a difference tires would make as I know they made a HUGE difference when I was racing mountain bikes cross country. Wrong tire and you would be almost washing out on ever turn and no traction up hill either. Makes me regret my last tire purchase with the idea that - I don't race it those will do.

 

[Shifty Powers]

Well I went with the tires being they are the stickiest street tire i can get in a huge size. At the time of decision making we had an agreement among ESP that no one ran R compounds. As of now, that rule is gone as we have grown in size. I know what the ESP class holds and I know I will not be competing on a national level for my first year or 2, or ever maybe. But I built it to get it back on the road after crashing it. And its built to be drivable as a DD while driving to and from the Auto-x without changing tires. My buddy ran a form of the exact setup I had and I know where he stood among the ESP class.

So yes I will eventually be going with an R compound tire, but I have other things that need finishing and bugs worked out on the car first. I will get there but Im doing it in levels to learn the car better and better until it becomes a road race car as well.

So yes the hankooks are good, but they mainly come in smaller sizes and its what a lot of miatas run. Since I wanted bigger I couldnt go there as 275 isnt enough for me. Hence why I dont have them on my car. Plus what I bought my tires for. You could NOT beat the deal. AT ALL
Yes I know wider is better. I am running 295s on all 4 corners. So I know what I am striving for, and I will accomplish that. And once these wear out my next set will be a set of Hoosier R6s so I can keep the 295 size on my size rim. Since I will be buying another set of rims/tires for DD use.


But yes you guys are right and make good points. So keep up the good work and good info!

 

[ba#97]

yeah i hear ya because this whole year for me has been driving back and forth on tires that weren't very competitive just to get more experience myself. but i've learned for sure that if i want to go out there and compete with those guys...i need to get some tire on this thing. lol.

 

[Shifty Powers]

yea tires do make a night and day difference in competition. See it all the time in pro series.

 

[RichV]

Yes, we run RA1 TOYO tires in CMC. Limited to 275-R17 in our class with a 9.5" wide wheel. There is a lot of debate on tire size tho, wider is not simply 'better'. You have to remeber the weight of the tire as well, along with weight of wheel. A lot of competition wheels have their weight in the hub because you don't get as much mass on the outside of the wheel/tire. This severely affects acceleration out of turns, which will always be a factor of gearing and RPM. Larger wheels and tires are bad for this purpose. Of course if you have huge brakes, you need big wheels, you have to spend $ on light wheels and tires. So something to think about... Also look at tire width with the size of your wheel and see how much more effective you will be vs the added weight of the tire, so if youre adding 2lbs per corner for a 1/4" per tire, it may not be worth anything.

R-comps for the most part are DOT (treaded) or non DOT (slick), but are not designed for street use. Even though they are DOT their life is not as much tread depth as heat cycles, or lack of heat cycles. The RA1 tires we use get stickiest after about 3 heat cycles. Then they degrade, you can still use them, and a novice driver (myself included) won't know the difference. If $ is no object, drivers will run their tires specific heat cycles, then sell or replace them. I don't have the $ to do that, so I run 2 sets of tires the whole season, some guys change tires every 2 events, or even more often. If r-comp tires are used on the street they will either never get a proper heat cycle and harden up, or will be heat cycled out the 1st month and get hard. So I would definitely have a set of wheels and tires for competition, and a set to drive to/from the track. Get a battery impact and a aluminum floorjack, you can swap a set of wheels/tires in under 5 minutes.

I hate to clutter up this guys build thread, maybe Chris can move the tire/setup posts to another thread.

Keep the Q's, comments, and your experiences coming. I enjoy teaching anyone that wants to listen with my experiences and what I've learned, just as much as learning from others' successes and failures. Getting a fox chassis Mustang to handle is no easy feat, specialy competing. Keeping track of changes is key, that's something I need to get better at.

 

[Shifty Powers]

Dont worry.. My idea will be coming into play.. youll have a whole new area to talk in

^ thats supposed to be a wink.. dunno why all our smiley faces are retarted

 

[MustangChris]

our smileys arent retarded... they are just licking the glass of your monitor... ... .. oh... .. .. .


well at least they arent wearing helmets!!!

 

[RichV]

Awesome! Sounds like a great idea!

 

[Shifty Powers]

hahahah theyr licking the glass? Like that otter?

 

[sixstanger00]

Sn95 gone, but not forgotten!!!

Hey guys, sorry I've been away from my computer for about a week because my fiance's folks were in town so I haven't been home.

Just thought I'd update the thread though, since everyone's giving suspension suggestions and autox tips:

Last Friday, my SN95's life ended with a loud boom, a lot of smoke, some clinging and klanging, and a long, steady trail of oil down the middle of the road to where I pulled over.

Looked under the car and oil was still gushing out the bottom.

Got her up on a trailer later that evening and I've got a twin-softball size hole in the oil pan.

So much for suspension mods.

Stroker build, here I come!

 

[MustangChris]

build something like that orange V6... except go with a centrifical supercharger so you're banging power at the Higher RPMs :-D

 

[sixstanger00]

build something like that orange V6... except go with a centrifical supercharger so you're banging power at the Higher RPMs :-D

Oh no, no FI for me

Would be way too much torque & power for autocross. Would basically be a recipe for spin outs.

Besides, SCCA regs are strict on FI in Street Prepared. I think the stroker engine may actually bump me up to Street Modified.

 

[MustangChris]

uhhhhhhh.


yes.

 

[Slykin]

There's no such thing as too much power, just too little grip.

 

[sixstanger00]

Gotta disagree with you there.

Fully built stroked & cammed out 71 Camaro at the autox back in May, and couldn't tap the throttle without spinning out...with track tires.

It was a road course car, through and though.

Autox corners are just too tight for that kind of power. Even stock Evos get to dancing around occasionally.

 

[the.greg]

Don't try to tell me there is such a thing as too much power! Just kidding, sounds like you have a good plan to keep autoxing, I wish I had some of those events in my area, looks fun.

 

[Slykin]

There's plenty of guys running big power in AutoX... it just means you're going to need big sticky tires. At the extreme street car challenge this year I watched a whole group of 500HP+ cars destroy a tight AutoX course. But, whatever floats your boat lol. I wish I had more power right now. The stock 302's not quite cuttin it.

 

[sixstanger00]

Yeah 500 hp is a little bit more than what I'm looking for.

@ Greg:

There's really not any events close to me either. The pic and vids I posted are from an event about 150 miles away. Long drive, but was worth it!

 

[sixstanger00]

Took this pic after we got her home Friday night, while she was still on the trailer...