As they promised, Grassroots Motorsports has tested some popular street touring and R-compound tyres against each other at Tire Rack's autocross-like facility at South Bend.

It's in the August issue, which just hit, so keep your eyes peeled for your NASA complimentary copy in your mailbox, or see if you can get your hands on it.

Overall fastest street touring was the Falken ST 615, and the fastest R Compound was the Kumho V710. I'm just mentioning that because I know you're going to ask. You should read the article, though, because there could be more to your future purchase than just the fastest time.

Some of us will be disappointed the RA1 was not in the test, but Toyo has always said that the RA1 was not suited for short autocross situations, anyway.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by George Knighton &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Overall fastest street touring was the Falken ST 615, and the fastest R Compound was the Kumho V710. </TD></TR></TABLE>

&lt;bookler&gt;hey jackass, how about a spoiler warning!!!&lt;/bookler&gt;

 

will this be online anywhere?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Nishant &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">will this be online anywhere?</TD></TR></TABLE>

There is a Grassroots presence online, but they don't usually have the current articles online.

You can get a free issue, though, and I'm thinking this would be just in time for the August issue.

 

Lots of cones hit

chris - who just finished reading the article a few mins ago.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Chris N &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
chris - who just finished reading the article a few mins ago.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Did it change your mind about anything?

 

well, first off i'll say i dont autox. at all.

that said, my experience with the 215's in comparison to the mx has been that the 215's are way, way better. (on track) although, the mx did get better as the tread wore down, still, i didn't enjoy them much. maybe if i got them down to the last few 32nds of tread..... Only bad thing about the falkens is the temp increase, both 215 and 615.

i guess from all i've read about autox (and through friends, especially having two competitive d stock friends doing the national tour events this year), i was suprised that the hankooks were on the same level as the 710's and hoosiers in their assessment of R comps.

I recently drove the hankook R comps, although I'm not sure what compound (drove a friend's car at gingerman). Very nice!

I don't think it (the article) changed my mind about anything other than .. hrm... I may try something other than the 215/615 in the future just to compare on my track car. I haven't had much greasiness with them, but many friends have had some bad experiences with this.

Chris - who may just get some RA1's on the chitbox for next year.

 

Did they happen to test the Hankooks Z212 (or whatever its called)? Howd it do?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Chris N &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Chris - who may just get some RA1's on the chitbox for next year.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Do it!

 

Thanks for the heads up. I'll definitely be checking that article out.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ITR#132 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Did they happen to test the Hankooks Z212 (or whatever its called)? Howd it do?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes, they did. They basically said what I said after using the tyres at Shenandoah, except I was probably a little more definite about it.

They liked both the old Azenis and the new Azenis better than they liked the Hankook. However, for some people, the Hankook in some sizes will be so much cheaper than the new Azenis that the Hankook might be worth a try for a lot of us.

 

I would caution folks to read too much into these results. Depending on who you talk to, others have gotten different results in their testing. Also remember, GRM said the BFG KD was teh fastest tire the last time they tested a couple years back and look where it placed this time (agains the Azenis again). Also know, the margins have been small enough, that car setup, driver preference, tire pressures, etc. could affect the results enough to make another tire jump to the top.

So I wouldn't overthink you tire purchasing decision, I'd be more concerned with available sizes and availability/cost.

 

Hey Jeff,

Cool article in Sports Car. I wish they had talked just alittle bit more about your autox exploits though.

Regards,
alan

 

Also, take into account this test is only for one size and one car (an STX WRX). The margins were small enough that results might have been significantly different if they used an STS EF for example.

 

Actually, it was an STX Sentra SE-R....and a CS Miata for the R's.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by turbohappy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Also, take into account this test is only for one size and one car (an STX WRX). The margins were small enough that results might have been significantly different if they used an STS EF for example.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Results also might be different on concrete. That's what I've found. Also, they note that the big advantage for the 615 over the 215 was being able to put the power down earlier coming out of the skid pad. That sounds completely like the 215 had overheated by that point in the run. Other courses/surfaces may not exhibit this symptom.

The good news is that we now have a lot of choices of tires, all of which are good.

--Andy

 

Thanks...and maybe if I was doing a little better they would have mentioned something more about my autocrossing

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 00R101 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Hey Jeff,

Cool article in Sports Car. I wish they had talked just alittle bit more about your autox exploits though.

Regards,
alan</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Chris N &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I recently drove the hankook R comps, although I'm not sure what compound (drove a friend's car at gingerman). Very nice! </TD></TR></TABLE>

Z214 50 compound