And into the great tire debate rode the 600. But hopefully I can provide
some helpful data, for whatever use it might be in stoking the tire
controversy.
I resemble the person Doug mentioned as racing in the late 60's early 70's
and yes, he did see 40 psi in my set up book in 1970. This was the first
year that Goodyear made a Mini tire (still treaded-no slicks until 73 as I
recall) and the recommendation from the distributor (Penske) was to start
with what Firestone had been recommending the year before when FS was the hot
tire. By the time I had them (the GY's) figured out, I was generally using
in the range of 31 front and 28 rear (note to Tom Cotter). I used to jiggle
them a lot to allow for different surfaces and to adjust F-R balance. The
Dunlops I had used before the FS used pressures in the mid 30's. These of
course were all treaded bias ply tires. The FS and GY had less tread than the
Hoosier TDs do now. The Dunlops were the R4 and R5 open patterns and later
the CRS (?) snowflake/slick pattern. The Dunlops cost a lot more, even back
then.
But I fail to see what great woops tire pressures are in regard to
performance measurement. Its how the tire sticks and the resulting lap times
that matter to us.
And I do have comparative lap times between present day Dunlop and Hoosier
(street TD) racing tires and the Continental radials (shaved). As tested on
Brian MacEachern's Bugeye and my Bugeye by Brian (the young guy) and myself,
they are within 0.5 seconds at Pocono, VIR and Mosport. And of course, the
Dunlops wear out fast and cost twice as much, still! I personally like the
feel of the Hoosiers better than the Contis and the price on a per race basis
is probably about the same. As the grip is equal, I am sure they both put
the same loads on the suspension (probably no more than 30 years ago). I
will try to do a back to back comparison between the Contis and Hoosiers at
Lime Rock next month.
An additional tidbit: I turned 1.07 at bumpy old Lime Rock in 1971 in my 970
Cooper S on the Goodyears. I don't think many vintage Minis today with their
1275's with roller rockers and hi-revving engines, etc., and the distasteful
Hoosiers on a much smoother track are down in that range. I know I don't go
that fast in my 948 Bugeye on Hoosiers, but then of course, I'm an old guy
now.
So, frankly, I don't think that the tire choice is a big deal, as long as we
don't allow slicks or the cheater street gumball radials that you see at an
autocross or an SCCA event.
31 year old Nomex underdiddies are on!
Chris Gross
Ex-Mini racer, now vintage Sprite driver.
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