>No, going too fast can be a good thing. ;^) In my case, as with others I'm
>sure, I switched to R tires too quickly before I had learned how to drive my
I actually meant too quick to move up to R tires.
>car quickly and well on regular street tires. Which is something I'm still
>learning how to do. What you'll find is that on a typical 60 second course
>the R tires will make only about a 2-3 second difference and that's only in
>the twisty parts. On any straight the R tires won't make much difference at
>all.
Well a 2-3 sec difference would put me up with the CSP cars
and that ain't bad. :) I'm only running 2-3 seconds off now and
I'd be doing much better if I was smoother on the course.
But I've only done 2 events and 23 runs or so. I did get a
ride in a CSP car with the R tires and the Hawk Black brakes.
Too bad they eat rotors so much... What a ride that was. :)
>There is no hard and fast rule as to when to switch over. Everybody learns
>at a different pace. I would recommend waiting until you feel that the
>tires are the only thing that's holding you back from going faster. "When
>is that" you ask? You'll know when.
I'm in trouble then because I need to work on just about everything.
Although everyone says I've improved quite a bit. The fact that
I'm now shifting on these 1st gear courses is an improvement and
I need to break better and smoother on the Pivots and learn
when to get on it Hard. The tires would help my times but not
my skill. I could Auto-X all day every week if it was going on.
It won't be before next year anyway.
>Well since I'm often accused of being "full of it", I thought I'd share some
>pearls of wisdom. Yes, aggressiveness and that feeling of unlimited grip
>all usually lead to an early grave for your first set of R tires. Also,
I can see that happening to me, really. But I have way too much fun
out there to care much about the tires wearing out. That I know will
change after I burn through a set. I'm not a competitive driver yet.
I want to learn, and I learn by listening and doing.
>staying on the street tires longer will promote the smoothness and control
>that lead to longer R tire life. Believe it or not, going faster while
>being smoother is far less brutal to any tires than driving slow and sloppy.
That is what I really need is to be smoother and that will just
take course time. Eventually I'll get a better feel for it and
I don't learn squat on the street. I'm way too afraid to push my
car on the street, even back roads around here have kids on them
horses all that stuff. I can push all I want on the course and as
long as I'm not a maniac it's ok. Gotta love it! :)
>Loren is right here. Listen to the man when it comes to street tires. He's
>beaten me on several occasions, him on street tires and me on R tires. If
>you do buy a second set of wheels for winter use I'd suggest getting a cheap
>set like from the Tirerack at www.tirerack.com . Then you can mount the R
>tires on your stock wheels and be assured of remaining Stock Class legal.
I want something that looks nice and can handle winter and track.
The idea of having the same size OR more staock alloys is that
I can switch out tires easily, but for the $$$ that Stock cost I
could get a set of Volks wheels and they weight 9.5 lbs! in 15 x 7.
>Although at local events I don't think they'd be that anal about minute
>details like wheel size but at the larger events you can bet your sweet
>bippy that they will.
I think they do care, but not like at the big events. I've heard
stories about the Protests which has turned me off from the SCCA
somewhat. Missing logo gives you an ounce less, stuff like that.
>The offset of a wheel is the distance from the exact centerline of the wheel
>to the actual hub flange that sits against the brake rotor. Backspacing is
>another measurement that gives the distance from the rear lip of the wheel
>to the hub flange. Most real race wheels only deal with backspace numbers.
>My stock Neon wheels have a 40mm offset and my race wheels (now, after a
>trip to the machine shop) have a 34mm offset. In the Stock classes you're
>allowed +/- 0.25" which is 6.35mm.
I'll save this for future reference. I believe I have a +40mm offset
as well. It'll be a Pain to find 15 x 6 Rims tho with a +40mm offset.
>Most importantly, just go out and have fun learning to drive fast.
Learning was Never this much fun! :)
Thanks Eric
Steve Bernard
Mass Miata Club
Red '99 Miata - Sport Package (B-Stock)
mailto:SunRider@Worldnet.att.net
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