Track day tyre advice

[Grumpy Jase]

I thought I'd try and use some of your experience, as there are clearly a number of experienced track day riders on here.

A bit about me, I'm relatively new to track days, still in the novice group, but likely to move up to inters soon. I ride a 99 R1, which I bought last winter, and came with 2 sets of wheels with choice of Pirelli Supercorsa SC1 dry tyres and Metzler rain tyres.

So far this year, I've done 1 wet day, which was good on wets, but these overheated massively on the last drying session of the day, and a couple of dry days, fine on the Supercorsas. For my last track adventure, this was a skills day, and there was no option for changing wheels between sessions. The weather looked like it would be mixed, and I'm left with the conundrum of try and ride in the wet on Supercorsas, or on a dry track on Rain tyres. Neither of these seemed a good idea, so ended up with using my road Tuono for the day, which worked well but kind of defeats the object of having a track bike.

So, after rambling for a bit, I am thinking to change either wets or drys to a fast road tyre, which can handle both wet and dry track day to a reasonable extent. On the basis I'm still not very fast, I think the best option is to remove the Supsercorsas, and keep the wets for any full on wet days. What are people's thoughts of this, and what are suggestions for the "fast road tyre" options?

Jason

[julesh]

Def keep the wets, fast road tyres, can only speak from use on my hypermotard, I've tried Dunlop sportsmarts, metzeler m7rr and Michelin power 5s, didn't like the metz didn't inspire confidence, had no trust in them, the dunlops were great in the dry but moved about a bit in damp conditions and sowed the seeds of doubt, the power 5s perform well in all conditions, I really like them so much so I'm on my second set, what they'd be like on track I don't know, but wouldn't be overly concerned if I was on a bike with them fitted

[Ruffian]

Bridgestone s22 or t32 evo.
Dependant on how fast you are.

Wets are worth keeping as they are epic in the soggy stuff.

[billinom8s]

If you freely admit you're still not fast, don't move up to inters. Wait until you're in the top quarter of novice on a few tracks before stepping up. There's a big difference in the pace between novice and inters.

Also, practice swapping wheels. On my 99 I could do it in under 15 mins so plenty of time to swap out between sessions if the yet stuff decides to join in for the day.

As for one tyre that'll do yet and dry really well, please shout when you find it as we're all still looking.

[menzies3032]

Ok have done enough track days now to sink a battle ship and also have been in the same situation. SO hoping i can actually be of help here. The first thing to know is that heat is key when you come to track days. If you have to much due to over inflation of tyre pressures or due to the wrong compound (Such as using wets on a dry day) then you a screwed. Like wise if you go for the most sticky and grippy slicks you have to ensure that your riding them fast enough to keep the heat in them else will be like trying to ride on glass. Hence the sweet spot in the middle is your goal.

A sport touring tyre could really be your friend here (if they are good enough for every bike at the Haslem Race school then good enough for us). These tyres are designed to heat up fast in the cold but also can handle more aggressive riding so will be fine on track unless you happen to be a BSB rider. Again the key here is heat. I would highly recommend the use of tyre warmers. If you actually read up on most of the cold tyre crashes they are very rarely at the end of the session they are normally in the first few corners (i speak from experience) get your tyres up to temperature before you leave the pitts and your riding will keep them there for the session.

What tyres should you buy..... Personal choice. I would recommend a brand that you have personal confidence and faith in, you will gain more from you having faith and belief in them then the slight changes in compound from one manufacture to the other. If you like them then they work for you.

For obvious reasons when its wet don't expect to be doing the same lap times and speed and ride accordly to the conditions and build slowly. If your on a dry day with preheated tyres, crack on from the first corner.....

Hope this helps

[Grumpy Jase]

Many thanks for the comments and advice, this is just what i was hoping for. Pay day in a couple of weeks, so have a bit of time to think about it before taking the plunge. Always got on well with Michelins, and used Pilot Power 3's on dry, damp and wet track without falling off, so that's always a bonus.

[Everclear1984]

I'm in a similar situation here. I fitted wets to my spare set of wheels 2 years but am yet to use them. They were new-old-stock when I fitted them so they're well past their shelf life now. I'll keep them fitted for my final trackday of the year, but next year I'll be swapping them out for Pilot Road 5's which will become my every day road tyre and double up as "wets". As for a fast road tyre, I'm just moved to Inters and found Diablo Rosso Corsa 4's to be more than capable, and they're not awful in the wet.

[layne]

I quite fancy the look of the Metz Roadtec 01 SE’s.

Seem to have a good compromise between wet and dry.

[menzies3032]

I quite fancy the look of the Metz Roadtec 01 SE’s.

Seem to have a good compromise between wet and dry.

Layne

Just fitted theses to my road bike and although they have a slower tip in due to the tyre profile, after a proper scrub in have been really impressed with them and clear they are going to last a lot longer then the usual sports tyres.

[layne]