We couldn't run them because they aren't out in 13" sizes yet. But the feedback from people using them was incredibly consistent...

"Fantastic"
"Fast as ****"
"I turn the wheel and the car turns NOW"
"Drove 10/10ths the whole race and they never went away"
"Very consistent the whole race"

They looked to be wearing well too. But it will take some time to learn how long they'll truly last. Hracer and phatty are both using them now, and I'm sure they'll be able to tell us how they work out on the long run.
I have several sets of 03s to burn through, so I can sit back and wait for the results

 

where does one get more info / buy said tire. Its not on hoosiers website

 

bobwoodmantires.com

 

I definitely liked the S04s. Most notable characteristics were quick response to steering input and staying very consistent for the whole 20 laps. The car did start pushing a little more later in the race, but it was still really fast right to the last lap (mylaps.com has the car at a 1:44.6 on lap 20).

After ~25 mins of practice, 25 total mins of qualifying and a 20 lap race, they don't look like they are half way worn yet. They should definitely last at least two or three race weekends. Will start on them next year and will see then just how much life they have. I just hope they won't dry up too much over the winter.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Hracer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">After ~25 mins of practice, 25 total mins of qualifying and a 20 lap race, they don't look like they are half way worn yet. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Good to know, thanks. I've been waiting for something like this.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by johng &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Good to know, thanks. I've been waiting for something like this.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah, what he said. Thanks for the review. Can't wait to try them.

 

When I was at SEMA (and not the ARRC), I had dinner one night with the Puerto Rican Hoosier distributor and also one of the US dealers. They were saying just what there guys are saying, the tire is going to wear better and stick better both because of different compounding and a stiffer carcass structure. Their comment was that this new S04 unit was going to really raise the bar for DOT race tires.

 

Raise the bar? More like raise the wood

I don't know how they compare laptime wise to the R3S03s but was told they were within a tenth of the Toyos for the SM compound. Just a datapoint in a vaccuum. Alex and my cursory tests say they are faster through/out of the turns but are slower down the straights compared to the shaved Toyo of the same size. Both of us chose the Hoosier to qualify and race on so I guess we cast our favorite as to what we wanted on the car.

The new Hoosier R3S04 very much kick *** just like you'd expect from Hoosier. A few data points. Mold tread depth is 5/32nds. After 1 25 minute practice, 2 qualifying sessions and 1 20 lap sprint race my front left measures in at 4/32nds outer edge and 4/32nds inner tread (the outer tread line has a bit of melt so its hard to measure but looks more like 3.5ish). So, one could say I wore 1/5th of the tire at the ARRC. As I had heard, they are heavier than the old. Getting on the Health-o-Meter, I have them at the same weight as my 6/32nds Toyo Intermediates (23lbs. on AR24 14x6s). That puts them a tad heavier than my shaved Toyos but I don't have a number and don't feel like swapping wheels off the car to find out tonight. But do they stick!!! Wow, the turn in is nothing short of fantastic and they hold up to some severe abuse, even a couple lockups and no sense of a flat spot. In talking to Appalachian Tire today (www.racetire.com - they supply all SEDiv National and Regional SCCA events), they had one racer report they fell off during the course of the race, he backed off and they came back in w/in a half lap. The car won the ARRC enduro IIRC so he wasn't pussyfooting around. Now like I said, they raise not only the bar but the wood. I drive up on 2x6s to jack the front end of the car. After qualifying I wanted to swap them left to right. They picked the freaking 2x6s about an inch off the ground before they fell like a wet coaster off an icy glass. They stick like glue, wood-glue I guess would be most appropriate

Big big thanks to Hoosier Tire for another great product and as always, thanks for the best racer support, being there every race.

Edit: They have a 1/2" wider section width than the R3S03. I believe the tread width is the same. Just a note to those that are already at their max width on the rear trailing arms. I ran a 1/8" spacer on 35mm offset AR24 14x6s and had no problems.


Modified by phat-S at 12:51 AM 11/12/2003

 

Another data point:

A stack of Hoosier SMs (205/50/15) on 15x7 wheels was 2 full inches taller than a stack of Toyos the same size, also on 15x7 wheels.

Data posted on SpecMiata.com:

After a day of getting used to the hoosiers, the test driver posted these numbers.

Best Laptime 1.48.49 On toyos 1.50.25
Maximum lateral G 1.678 On toyos 1.474
Minimum Lateral G -1.455 On toyos -1.441
Maximum Longitudinal G (acceleration) .494 On toyos .374
Minimum Longitudinal G (braking) -1.248 On toyos -1.114

Maximum speed Apex of turn one is 83.17 mph on toyos 81.03 mph
Maximum speed Apex T5 72.43 on toyos 69.35 mph
Maximum speed Apex T6 70.30 mph 67.04 mph
Maximum speed Apex t12 96.35 mph on toyos 96.34 mph

FWIW.

Jarrod

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bluegsr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Maximum lateral G 1.678 On toyos 1.474
Minimum Lateral G -1.455 On toyos -1.441
</TD></TR></TABLE>
Um, wow. I've never seen data points on this for a car with race tires. 1.6? Hmm.. wonder what mine does.

--off to ebay to look for a GCube...

 

maximum G's at any one point doesn't tell you much... even a street car with normal tires can record 1.4+ for a split second if you flog it around enough