Quote:
Originally Posted by matter57
That's curious opinion - if I understand you correctly. I'm interested in having you break it down. It seems to me that increased grip and handling as the pace goes up is a good thing. My experience with motorcycles is that to optimally use a 'race' tire the rider needs to put enough force into it to get it into its operating temperature range and that a slow rider won't be able to do that. But these aren't race tires- they are a high performance 200TW 'summer' tire i.e. street tire. In addition my suspension is improved which should make handling & braking better with a grippier tire.
Are you saying that the Falken RT660 is not a street tire and if so why is it more difficult to learn on? Are you recommending a non-performance tire and if so how are you defining that? And why?
Thanks for your comments!
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The recc I consistently get (and share) is that street tires (c.300TW) tires are best for development/learning. The reasons are that they are more predictable and communicative, better in wet, and the lower speeds mean that you are learning car control and the limits of traction at a lower velocity, so safer and easier to correct. The basic tenet is that until you can drive your car consistently at its limits, spend the money on driver skill rather than performance add-ons that just take the car's limit that much further from you. Track tires are often designed for specific track uses, so some are great autoX but very 'peaky' in terms of wear/temp. They have higher traction levels, but usually within a much narrower window, so they 'fall off' or break traction fast and somewhat unpredictably, often without the noises that would alert you that you are at their limit. Your comparison to motorcycle tires is a bit off, as the 200TW tires are not really street tires, they are 'street' (cheater/track-day) tires and usually quite heat/pressure sensitive. True that those track compounds are capable of more grip and faster times, but you won't be learning as much or improving as fast. Ask around with the instructors at your next track day and I suspect you will get similar advice.