{"id":29656,"date":"2016-08-24T15:51:19","date_gmt":"2016-08-24T22:51:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=29656"},"modified":"2016-11-30T16:26:43","modified_gmt":"2016-12-01T00:26:43","slug":"sport-tires-and-the-track","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/sport-tires-and-the-track\/","title":{"rendered":"Sport Tires and the Track"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Tech
\nListen to a group of car fans chatting outside a coffee shop, and inevitably one will mention the modifications made to their car. The chat then bounces back between suspension, engine modifications, seats, and brakes, but not often enough do they converse about tires. Tires are the most important performance modification one can make if they\u2019re interested in finding more speed, more fun, and building driving ability. There are many men who will take their car to the track, grow bored with the straight line ability, upgrade to a monstrous powerplant, and find that their lap times hardly improve, because they\u2019re not cornering any harder. To find the limit and improve on-track performance, a set of performance tires can make worlds of difference.<\/p>\n

A sticky sport tire is a complicated thing, however, since it\u2019s not a true racing tire. These tires must be more versatile than a slick, last longer, and is generally well-received if it offers some sensation of slip at the limit of adhesion. Contrast those requirements to that of a racing slick, which needs to offer grip and if it can last slightly longer, good, but it\u2019s not a necessity. Perhaps people don\u2019t realize how incredible modern tires are, but after a quick lap riding shotgun with a pro at the wheel and some semi-slicks on the ground, they\u2019ll change their mind.<\/p>\n

High performance sport tires, some of which are referred to colloquially as \u201cR-compounds,\u201d can help illustrate just how much cornering grip a car – especially a modern sports car – is really capable of. Thanks to improvements in suspension technology (read: body control), cars today can really exploit what an R-compound can offer. This means that tires can be designed with ultra stiff sidewalls that allow for sharper cornering, better direction change, and ultimately much more grip at the limit.<\/p>\n

\"Tech

The Viper ACR’s Kumho Ecsta V720 help give the Dodge its world-beating performance.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While the stiffer sidewalls help increase the size of the contact patch – the actual portion of the tire on the ground – much of this performance comes from the tread pattern, or lack of it. Obviously, the more rubber on the road means more grip, so many of the more dedicated sport tires have as little in the way of sipes and grooves to increase the surface area. This construction also has the benefit of less tread mobility, and therefore greater stability at speed since the tire does not move much.<\/p>\n

However, what\u2019s important to understand about tire rigidity is that it means a more consistent feel through the steering, suspension, and the driver\u2019s backside. This allows a more transparent relationship between car and driver, and therefore the limit can be approached with more information, and thus more confidence.<\/p>\n

So with added rigidity and responsiveness, the sport tire also benefits from higher operating temperatures. Naturally, a tire driven hard, with the influences one experiences on-track, will generate a considerable amount of heat, but it can handle it. Many R-compounds, designed for the abuse, work well within the range of 160 F to 220 F, and will resist blistering, largely due to the compound itself and the construction – a more rigid tire that moves less will not accumulate heat as quickly.<\/p>\n

Despite a minimal necessary amount of grooving for water dispersion, there isn\u2019t much about the tire that is really suited for everyday driving. This begins the list of setbacks one must contend with when running these tires.<\/p>\n

However, aside from the obvious price increase, those few grooves, sometimes only 2 as per DOT requirements, don\u2019t do much to relieve the tire of much water. Therefore, while the sportiest tire will technically function in the wet, they are strongly disadvised for heavy rain and certainly against standing water. They simply hydroplane in these conditions, and regardless of one\u2019s driving skill, it\u2019s hard to save a slide when the tire is floating above the surface of the road.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Tech
R-compounds have too few sipes to effectively flush water away in heavy downpours.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Though they can\u2019t be considered too ineffective for the street, the sport tire can also suffer from a need to be at ideal operating temperature. Because of the soft compound and the rigid construction, the tire is typically quite greasy at low temps, and this means that even on cold days, it\u2019s not uncommon to lose traction in a semi-unpredictable manner. The tires need to be brought up to their operating temperature before they really work, so fitting one on a daily driver in Wisconsin isn\u2019t a great idea.<\/p>\n

Additionally, one downside to an exceptionally rigid tire construction, though this is often thought of as a function of higher levels of grip and chassis rigidity, is that the limit, when reached, is more abrupt. In other words, a car fitted with R-compounds will behave more like a racing car on the edge of adhesion, which is to say it\u2019s a bit snappier. This situation requires a delicate touch and a bit of preemption, since the lack of tread blocks and a sidewall that refuses to deflect means fewer signs of an impending slide.<\/p>\n

Of course, a soft, sticky tire won\u2019t last long, but that\u2019s not why these are purchased. A set of sport tires can be fitted to track-only wheels and kept off the highways, and reserved for the weekends. The track tire is typically a little louder, and won\u2019t always work well in inclement weather. However, when the sun is shining, and the track is open, there\u2019s very little that can surprise you, and give you added respect for your car\u2019s ability, like the addition of a set of sport tires. They\u2019re edgy, and nervous, but when they can be exploited, the rush of driving goes
\nthrough the roof.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Tech
Before adding an exhaust to your track weapon, consider the only upgrade which helps braking, cornering, and acceleration.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Plenty of cars come shod in tires that aren\u2019t far from a full-on racing slick.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To find the limit and improve on-track performance, a set of performance tires can make worlds of difference.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":29660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17,11,3698,9,5010],"tags":[218,461,1371,4824,2683,4823],"class_list":["post-29656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guest-column","category-how-tos","category-tech","category-tech-tips","category-tires-and-wheels","tag-guest-columns","tag-tech-tips-2","tag-tires","tag-tires-for-track-use","tag-tommy-parry","tag-track"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/image03-1.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-7Ik","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29656"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29661,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29656\/revisions\/29661"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}