How and Why We Test Streetable Track Tires This Way
It should come as no surprise that our favorite tests of the year are the ones where we get to go very fast. Yes, we drive fast around our home track, but when it comes to putting the more performance-oriented tires through their paces, we need a little more room to stretch our legs - which plays into multiple parts of this year's test. Let's talk about what's changed.
We're taking advantage of a nice big local road course, as usual, but we're also testing fewer tires per day this year to give them the full-day treatment: Control 1, A, B, C, Control 1 (repeat). Then a second retest in the afternoon: Control 2, C, B, A, Control 2 (repeat). That gives us a chance to compare tires during the hottest parts of the day alongside their performance when the track is still in the more temperate morning range.
We've also made an adjustment to the M2 this year: camber plates. Now it has 2.5 degrees of negative camber on the front axle to better take advantage of the high-end performance tires we'll be driving. Hot inflation pressures for each tire in this set of tests were determined during our previous skid pad test. All sets received a Tire Rack heat cycle for consistency. To reduce braking variability, we're using Hawk Performance DTC-70 pads in the front and DTC-60s in the rear.
The Four-Part Series
This is a four-part test, with each segment covering its own group of tires. See the other parts here:
What Counts as a Streetable Track & Competition Tire?
For the Streetable Track & Competition test, we covered three tires - but first, a quick category primer. Tires in this group are typically around 100 Treadwear (TW) UTQG rated, with under 7/32" of tread depth. They're built to be street-legal, but live their best lives in track-day rotation.
Our first is the Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperCar 3R - our benchmark, our control, our friend on the track. Not only has it been a testing favorite, it's also been one of the fastest tires in the category for several years. Simple, uncomplicated, effective.
Then there's the Hoosier Track Attack Pro - a brand-new tire released last year, which is its own kind of complicated. It's a 200 TW tire, which would usually place it in the Extreme Performance/Super 200 realm, but it has limited void and 5/32" of tread depth, so it lives in a kind of limbo between the two worlds.
To bridge that gap - and because customers do cross-shop these tires - we're including the Bridgestone Potenza RE-71RZ, an Extreme Performance 200 TW tire, to give a fuller range of competitive comparison.
Orders
