Extreme summer track tires, who has the edge?

[Speedboosted]

I'm glad to hear that the AD08R wears well on track. I just can't seem to get interested in the MPSS because of cost. It's only for track use like I mentioned earlier, and there's no way that it's near as fast as anything decent at the 200TW level that also cost less then the Michelin.

Jason, when we spoke on the phone you mentioned that the Direzza Star Spec is very good but can be overdriven and chunked...is that something similar to what you just said about the MPSS or is it less dependent on alignment?

 

[Lucky_13]

I'm sure Jason can add more on this than me, but in my track/HPDE circle the guys running Star Specs are on lighter vehicles (S2000s and Miatas, mainly). They have a tendency to overheat quickly on heavy cars, leading to the chunking and greasy feeling. They are very, very fast over the course of one lap though, or were before the likes of the 71R and Rival S came around.

I also think a factor is that for the really fast guys, they lose interest because the tire isn't made in wide enough fitments. Not enough thermal capability in narrower widths, but when the 305/30R19 RE71R comes out it'll be interesting to see the wear vs. current 285/35R19 sizing.

 

[modernbeat]

Lucky covered it pretty well there. The Direzza are too small, overheat too soon on our heavy cars, get greasy (due to overheating), and then chunk because you are now overdriving your overheated tires.

 

[El_Tortuga]

I'm sure Jason can add more on this than me, but in my track/HPDE circle the guys running Star Specs are on lighter vehicles (S2000s and Miatas, mainly). They have a tendency to overheat quickly on heavy cars, leading to the chunking and greasy feeling. They are very, very fast over the course of one lap though, or were before the likes of the 71R and Rival S came around.

I also think a factor is that for the really fast guys, they lose interest because the tire isn't made in wide enough fitments. Not enough thermal capability in narrower widths, but when the 305/30R19 RE71R comes out it'll be interesting to see the wear vs. current 285/35R19 sizing.

Didn't see any chunking on mine, maybe a bit more graining than regular rivals. They would slow down by mid-end of sessions.

 

[Norm Peterson]

That looks like some impressive wear, Norm. Do they have any street miles on them?

Somewhere around 4000 street miles by now. Over a thousand first, two trips to Mid-Ohio at ~1000 miles per, at least 6 x 100 to NJMP, plus another 500 or so.

It'd be better except I tried running the inside curbing at NJMP Thunderbolt's T10. More or less discovered that I don't have enough camber to support that line.

My fastest lap times have typically come in the second session (of four), which probably means something even with the lunch break time between 2 and 3.


Norm