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Re: 7" vs 8" Again



At 09:10 PM 6/10/97 -0400, you wrote:
>Hay all!
>More news form the auto-x front.  I've tried the bias ply hoosiers on the
>8" wheels and they seem to work pretty well.  They definatly have a lot
>more grip than the BFG's I have been useing.  Shawn I agree with you, they
>are completely dead, despite that fact the BFG info line experts say that
>the age of the tire would not affect the compoud!


Well, I always find it funny that every tire factory "Expert" always denies 
that the tire compound has changed. The boys from Firestone told us the same 
thing a while ago. It was the guys from Goodyear at the Winter Nationals 
event who showed us that the compound had changed. (Cool electrical gadgets 
that measure compounds with only a few probes of the rubber.) Ya, funny isnt 
it. 


>I can tell a difference in the gearing of the car of with the smaller
>tires.  It has a lot more throttle response & torque when exiting a corner.
> The turn in felt OK, it was at least equal to my BFG's on seven inch
>wheels. The car was very drivable in the corners and had a nice controlable
>balance.


The smaller diameter tire will always help in the world of autox. I wish BFG 
made a 195/40R13! (dreaming, I know.) I've never driven on Hoosiers so I wont 
comment on how they feel, I simply dont know. 


>The only negative thing about the set up was that I could spin the inside
>wheel  at will.  It took a delicate foot to keep it from spinning exiting
>corners and way too much throttle would produce smoke!
>I have a velocity 40% locker in the tranny and never had this problem
>with the BFG's.  I'm sure that it did not help that I ran the car with 2.5
>degrees of negative camber.   


I had the 40% kit until I drove in a rain event. It felt like I had no kit at 
all, so I got the stage 2 kit (80%) Lucky enough for me, it rained again and 
I could really feel the difference and could actually drive the car in the 
rain. In the wet, the 80% felt like the 40% in the dry. I still had to be 
extremely smooth on the throttle but I was able to get through the corners 
much better than I had ever done before racing in a rain event. Maybe you 
might want ot be looking at upgrading to the stage 2 kit?? 


>I was competitive with my buddy's divisoinal winning rabbit for the first
>time this year.  Even with the wheel spin problem he only beat me by 0.06
>of a second.  I ran faster than this car with it's previous owner behind
>the wheel  2 out of 3 times I competed against it last year.  I think this
>car finished 10th last year at nationals.


I think its safe to say that new tires are hard to be fast on right away. 
Especially a new brand of tire! it will take you probably 3-4 events to 
figure out whatthe tire will and wont do. I say this because before I got 
into autocrossing, I figured a tire was a tire. Hoop-de-doo! Now, I know that 
the Yoko A008RS-II tires are completely different than the BFG R-1's. They 
both have their own charastics and there are things you can do on a BFG that 
you cant do on a Yoko, ect. Im just now getting to where I "know" the BFG 
tire very well. Its a picky tire. No slop allowed like the yokos were. Yokos 
were less specific on tire pressures, +/- 2 lbs. BFG's are absolutely 
specific +/- 0.5lbs!! 
You know, stuff like that. So, in the back of your mind, remember that your 
still learning this tire. Give yourself 2-3 events and you will be beating 
that Rabbit!   


>Our next course is going to be rumored to be a fast one.  I'll let you
>guy's know if the small hoosiers hurt my times due to reduced top end.


I completely think that the lower ratio will absolutely help you on either an 
open fast or slow tight course. (Unless your running a full road course) 
Autoxes are usually so tight, (mostly 2nd gear all around the track) that the 
shorter gearing does help alot comming out of the corner. It could be that 
with the shorter gearing, you were at a slightly higher RPM which means you 
were higher on the HP and Torque band as well. That might explain the wheel 
spin?
HTH!


Shawn
86' Jetta GLi
82' Scirocco GTi
The Fastest, Quickest, Cleanest and
best looking Scirocco in all of San Diego!
http://www2.netcom.com/~trnsfrma/vws.html  

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