Trye Pressures!

[Bullet]

Well as you know its days before Llandow is upon us and this will be my first track day.

Lots of nerves and quetions already but main question is how much should I reduce my tyre presures for the day??

Scanned the internet and its says anywhere from 2psi up to 12psi!!! wow what a difference. I assume its cos they inflate as tyres get hotter but then surely thats the same as on a road?? Even more so on a road as I may ride hard for and hour before I stop but only 15 minutes on the track??

AsI said, first time for me!

[ned flanders]

For me it will be 30 psi rear and 31psi front

Maybe 29 rear and 30 front depending on weather

[billinom8s]

Alot of people on the road ride with 36 42 but on the track will drop to approximately 30 30 or 30 32. For conditions like we seem to be heading for this Friday I would say keep them at road pressures.

As for the hard riding thing I only know of one person who can bobble their tyres on the road and he won't be there. Everyone bobbles on the track.

[DynaMight]

If its dry and you have decent sporty rubber, just stick with 30/30. I'd say if its really wet, try something like 34/36.

Trust me, riding 'hard' on the road is nothing like track riding unless you're riding the roads like the TT. On track you're either accelerating, braking or cornering within seconds of each other, on the road you're pottering through villages and generally cruising around.

[ned flanders]

Thanks for the advice gents.

Now with regards the weather. Thursday is gonna be a washout, But after lots of praying, and looking at the radar, we could be in luck with just the odd brief shower hitting us. Its going to be windy, and if this picks up earlier, then we could be left with cloud but dry all day. The rain band is in a polo shape and cardiff is in the middle of it

[rdoogan]

Yeah, what they said

Don't worry about it being your first track, I still remember how nervous I was, and I still get butterflies as I head out. The great thing is the track surface is the best bit of road you've ever been on, so even in the wet you'll be amazed at the speeds you can carry.

Pressures - Yeah, totally agree with the above. I've got road tyres on my Hornet (pilot power) and on a dry to moist track I'll drop them 30/30 rather than the normal 34/42 than I run on the road. If it's very very wet then I'll probably just drop them a few PSI, 33/36 maybe.

As for the rain, well they never seem to get it right, so we'll just have to get on with it!

Rich

[ned flanders]

Hi Rich.

I run pilot power's too, and am well happy with them.
Last time I ran them in the dry at 30 front and 29 rear on advice. They were also brand new, and had only done less than 10 road miles.

I'm sure this advice was flawed though. The session only lasted for 7 laps (after 2 warm up laps) and I dont think the tyres ever got fully upto temperature. The rear felt way better after just 3 or 4 laps and stopped spinng ( Gotta be honnest, the 1st time I spun the tyre up I wondered what had happened . I thought the clutch had slipped )

The biggest difference I felt though was to the front. It felt flat and heavy. Obvious I know, but just way more than I expected. It did start to feel better as the session went on, and towards the end i was feeling quite condident with it and it began to feel a lot lighter.

The breaking felt stronger in the first few laps , but a bit mushy like breaking hard on sand. Was quite off putting. The last couple of laps, the breaking felt like a spring that had been sprayed with wd40 and freed itself. Really good and really sensitive and accurate. I remember breaking a touch too early, and just easing the break gently to get me to the corner at the perfect speed for me, and on line. In the first couple of laps this would have felt like break, off break, break, off break and finally break. Then be 4 feet wide of where i should have been. I needed binoculors to see the apex

The reason i think the advice was flawed, is that due to it being such a short session, I dont think any tyre got fully upto temperature. I would have been better sticking to road riding psi or a couple psi under.
However, If this session had been longer, then no way would the tyre have lasted at road psi.

But now for Llandow. If the track is damp, which it wont be, but just say it is. Im worried that the tyres will never get to temperature and will feel like the first few laps last time. I guess start somewhere in the middle if damp, and then ask for help and advice. Would be great if it was an exact science. Allas

[rdoogan]

Yeah I've not done Llandow before so don't know how sticky it is. I found Mallory easy to get the tyres up to temperature, even in the wet, but that is a fairly new surface and has all the grip you can want.

Like you say I think we'll have to just see how it goes on the day.

Rich