Trackday tyres

[toymex]

Hi i am new to the site ,i have recently bought a nova sport while i am waiting to finish my full group 4 spec mk2 escort now my question is what size and make should i buy the car is on coilovers with fully rosejointed suspension its got 6"by15"comp th,s with 195,45 15s can i get a way with 2 tyres for the front as i have 2 spare wheels and will i have any oil surge problems if i do get decent tyres for it sorry for all the questions but unlike escorts there doesnt seem too much information on track preparing a nova
Thanks in advance
Jezz:thumb:

[Ash]

there doesnt seem too much information on track preparing a nova

Stuart on the site as put together this (http://slindborg.host.sk/index.php)to help people out. Contains the Nova Competion Build Guide :thumb:

[Stuart]

read dan, dars and bottle throddys WIP threads.

tyres... hmm can of worms.
Do you want road legal ones, nearly legal or full blown slicks?

for road legal items i can whole heartedly recomend hankook RS2's. I run them on my vx for a daily drive and did an airfield training day yesterday which involced spending the day mostly sideways or spinning to learn howto control the car... barely used 1mm of tread and they stuck really well.

[Dar]

Tyres can be a funny(not haha funny) subject. Since lots of people have there faves. Others will just have cost in mind. However these are my thoughts.

Road.
There are plenty of good road tyres. I usually just buy the budget ones since they are usually made out of a softer compound and grip well. They don't last very long though. Stu's reccomendation is good though. Also Eagle F1's have great reviews. I have just bought a set for the Nova.

Trackday.
Yokohama do some very nice tyres and also in a range of compounds. The A032R's are used alot but the A048's seem to be the tyre of choice when it comes to Yokos.
I run Toyo R888's which are ALOT cheaper than the A048's however they wear faster as well. Apparently the level of grip is not that different, probably in favor of the A048 though.
There are lots of other trackday tyres out there, but the cheapest ones have been the R888's. According the the salesman from Toyo they will also be bringing out other compounds as well.
Not all the tyres are available for all the sizes. For example the Toyo's don't do a 195/45R16 (Or didn't last time I looked)

Slicks.
These are the ultimate in tyres. However some Action/Track days will not let you run them. The rally slicks have small cuts in them, so you may get away with it since they are not a FULL slick, they work just as well though. See Dans tyres for an example. The price ranges massivley. For example the set of slicks I want to run on my car (Full slick, super soft) would cost me about ?170+VAT per tyre (Notice the I want and not the I am. Im not paying that much per tyre!!). I think the rally slicks are alot cheaper at about ?100 per corner IIRC. I'm guessing that you know all about the rally slicks though. Thought I would add it in for the people who read this and don't.

You can get part worns. Its just knowing the right people or looking online for them.

[Stuart]

from chatting with a guy who races elises the 888's are better in the wet than the 048's and cheaper... so technically its horses for courses


best plan to get an idea is to get on camskill and see what flavours they do in your size.

[nathan.]

I ran kumho v70a on mine. i was very impressed, ive heard the r888 are excellent also.

It all depends on if its purely a track car or mostly a road car.

[toymex]

Thanks for the replys the car has been used for hillclimbs and came with a couple of toyo t1s tyres are these any good i know these are road legal and they dont need to be as i have a set of road tyres but i dont want to get into the situation where the grip available starts to give me oil starvation problems,i know nothing about rallying by the way my escort has been built to a vague group 4 spec but very much biased to circuits rather than rallying:thumb:

[Nick]

The Hankooks as mentioned above are a great track orientated road tyre.

I found my Yoko's up to the job, if a little understeery

[nova---chris]

If you think about full slicks the sb9s made by michellin are a cracking peice of kit. Harder compound slick tyre. Being harder you will get more days out of them. At there best on a nice sunny hot day! Cheap if picked up part worn.

As for others im not at liberty to say really. :)

[toymex]

Will 195 50 15 tyre fit or will i have clearance issues as the 195 45 15s look really tight but dont rub the rear end is set up very stiff but i dont know spring rates or even damper settings

[Stuart]

50's would be quite tight.

Also bear in mind that slicks/track tyres are genericly wider than "normal" tyres (ie the sidewalls tend to stick out more) so a std size that would fit mightnot fit in slick/track form...

[toymex]

Ok thanks for that what size is the norm 185 55 15

[Dar]

I run 195/50R15 I think that roughly equates to a 190/580 15 slick. I also run 195/45R16

I do have my arches ground out though. They wouldn't fit otherwise.