I thought I'd forward a copy of a message I had saved that was from
David Whiteside for everyone to read. As you can see, he was being very
helpful, as usual.
> In a message dated 12/21/00 2:25:19 PM Central Standard Time, S800Racer
> writes:
>
> << In a message dated 12/21/00 2:25:27 PM, DWhitesdJr writes:
>
> << I am checking with a couple of sources for 175/13 tires. The R Rating
is
> good for sustained speeds of 112 MPH, so it should be OK for SD cars. >>
>
> David,
> Did you mean to say "S rated"?
> Our current tire list has a variety of T rated tires (118 MPH) as well
as
> one H-rated tire (130 MPH). The H-rated tire is the Bridgestone Potenza
RE92
> and it is currently available from tire rack.
> The S rating might be a little marginal for some cars in SD. As I
> understand the rating system, the speed rating assumes optimal conditions.
> The H-rated tires proved up to the task and I would be comfortable with
the T
> rated tires. I don't see any reason, based on current availability, to
use
> anything less than the T rated tires.
>
> Doug. >>
>
> OOPS !!
> Yes, I meant "S" Speed Rating tires. If a 112 MPH ("S" Rating) tire is
> marginal then let's not use it. I was basing my comments on the years I
> raced in Group One with the Lotus Elite. It was one of the faster cars,
but,
> in truth, I rarely saw the high side of 112 MPH. (Of course when a fan
asked
> how fast it would go, I would always say 130 MPH, since one was clocked at
> 127 MPH down the 8 mile Mulsanne Straight at Le Mans.) ;-) The only
places
> I recall exceeding 112 MPH were at Sebring and the dip (former) at Road
> Atlanta. Maybe I am out of touch with current technology, but are Sprites
and
> Minis faster in a straight line than the very aerodynamic Elite? BTW, I
> used the Pirelli P3 155 x 15 "S" Rated tire for 10 years on my Elite
without
> any problems. They were every bit as quick as the Dunlop "L" Racing
tires.
>
> The last thing I want to do is have someone running on unsafe tires, so I
> think your use of "T" rated tires as a minimum is a sound idea, but do we
> have a baseline for top speeds of the various VDCA SD Class cars?
>
> I believe the "S", "H", "V", etc., rating system was for SUSTAINED speeds.
I
> can't recall whether that was for a 10 minute run or a 30 minute run.
Does
> anyone have access to the tire codes and their meaning?
>
> David
|