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Old 02-19-2011
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Gerardo Gerardo is offline
Irrational National
Testing Mid-Corner Speed / Advanced Member (500+ Posts)
 
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 640
Re: 2011 Skip Barber Summer Regional Race Series Schedule

For tire testing this week at Sebring, I did three sessions on the BFG R1 slicks. Relative to the current and previous treads, the slicks are a different world. The overall grip is higher, of course, but the tire construction is also much stiffer, giving you what feels like instant turn-in, the ability to use gobs and gobs of pedal pressure on initial brake, and a little more excitement and movement over the bumps in Turn 17 and Turn 1.

You can really dig into the tires. If you start to feel understeer, you just ask for more speed anyway, and if its not yet overheated, it gives you more speed. Once they get really hot, the understeer increases about 5%, but not anything you can't handle. Relax a little, and your best times come right back to you. My best time came on the final lap of my final run today, at 2:23.21.

As an example of these tires' awesomeness, at Turn 1 I could just touch the brake softly right as I turned in. I still went to 4th gear, but let off the brake almost immediately, and let it coast down at stupid speeds to the apex, then attack the throttle more than you could ever do with the treads. The entry and apex speed was more than I had ever done in a Skippy car. It reminded me of the downforce cars, like Star Mazda, LMP2, etc. You guys will get a taste of some serious equipment when you get on these slicks.

The bonus is they last a long time. It's like magic. They can go probably for two race weekends. I'm sure we'll lose most of our tires to drivers locking up in the brake zones, and not from general wear.

Bottom line, they will be lots of fun, and something new to learn for everyone.
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