Cal Club Autocross Forums

Does anyone have experience with BFG R1s? Did a quick search of the forum and couldn't find any feedback. It's time for the lil black Daytona (fwd) to graduate from street tires to stickies. Got some great feedback about V710s & A6's at the Pro Solo, but was curious how the BFG R1's fare against them. Also, I didn't see anyone running R6s - is that because it takes to long for them to warm up in the quick paced autox format?

Thanks for your input, -V

Virgil Wilkins wrote:Does anyone have experience with BFG R1s? Did a quick search of the forum and couldn't find any feedback. It's time for the lil black Daytona (fwd) to graduate from street tires to stickies. Got some great feedback about V710s & A6's at the Pro Solo, but was curious how the BFG R1's fare against them. Also, I didn't see anyone running R6s - is that because it takes to long for them to warm up in the quick paced autox format?

Thanks for your input, -V

The BFG R1 is a great road race tire, won T3 and SSC at the Runoffs last year, and we use them on our SSC car. You can beat the hell out of them and they do not fall off. The downside is they need a lot of heat to work, this does not make it a good autox tire. It would be comparable to the R888, RA1, A048, all good tires, but a sec or more slower than an A6 or V710.

Hi Virgil,

I ran R1's at the El Toro Pro a couple of years ago: in the Pro format, they had enough heat to start to work about a third of the way through my second lap, so you basically lost one lap on each side while they warmed up. For our normal format, there is far too much downtime between runs to keep any heat in them. They're awesome out on a road course.

Jason Isley BS RX8 wrote:The BFG R1 is a great road race tire, won T3 and SSC at the Runoffs last year, and we use them on our SSC car. You can beat the hell out of them and they do not fall off. The downside is they need a lot of heat to work, this does not make it a good autox tire. It would be comparable to the R888, RA1, A048, all good tires, but a sec or more slower than an A6 or V710.

Jason have you had any experience with NT01 R-compound tire by Nitto?

Giovanni Jaramillo wrote:

Jason Isley BS RX8 wrote:The BFG R1 is a great road race tire, won T3 and SSC at the Runoffs last year, and we use them on our SSC car. You can beat the hell out of them and they do not fall off. The downside is they need a lot of heat to work, this does not make it a good autox tire. It would be comparable to the R888, RA1, A048, all good tires, but a sec or more slower than an A6 or V710.

Jason have you had any experience with NT01 R-compound tire by Nitto?

No. But I would expect it to be a fine "track day" tire.

Jason Isley BS RX8 wrote:

Giovanni Jaramillo wrote:

Jason Isley BS RX8 wrote:The BFG R1 is a great road race tire, won T3 and SSC at the Runoffs last year, and we use them on our SSC car. You can beat the hell out of them and they do not fall off. The downside is they need a lot of heat to work, this does not make it a good autox tire. It would be comparable to the R888, RA1, A048, all good tires, but a sec or more slower than an A6 or V710.

Jason have you had any experience with NT01 R-compound tire by Nitto?

No. But I would expect it to be a fine "track day" tire.

Perfect, exactly what I was looking for. Not true "racing" events ala (SCCA National Runoffs, or any marque club racing) but more for driving schools. Thanks.
Although...I did find this old article Nitto News

Giovanni Jaramillo wrote: Although...I did find this old article Nitto News

Oh, they were fast at a BMW club event. Some people set the bar low.

Jason Isley BS RX8 wrote:

Giovanni Jaramillo wrote: Although...I did find this old article Nitto News

Oh, they were fast at a BMW club event. Some people set the bar low.

OUCH!

Steve Lepper wrote:Hi Virgil,

I ran R1's at the El Toro Pro a couple of years ago: in the Pro format, they had enough heat to start to work about a third of the way through my second lap, so you basically lost one lap on each side while they warmed up. For our normal format, there is far too much downtime between runs to keep any heat in them. They're awesome out on a road course.

Thanks for the info guys. I suppose the same applies to the Hoosier R6 as they are intended for road racing too.(?) At the moment I'm leaning toward the V710s as many people reported better longevity, or at least a more gradual roll-off in performance over time, and they are less expensive. Although, since I'm planning on re-using my current wheels to save some money, maybe I should spring for the stickier A6's as compensation?

-V

Virgil Wilkins wrote: At the moment I'm leaning toward the V710s as many people reported better longevity, or at least a more gradual roll-off in performance over time, and they are less expensive. Although, since I'm planning on re-using my current wheels to save some money, maybe I should spring for the stickier A6's as compensation?

-V

You are not "there" yet, buy the V710 and figure out the driving part before you worry about that last tenth of a second.

Jason Isley BS RX8 wrote:You are not "there" yet, buy the V710 and figure out the driving part before you worry about that last tenth of a second.

Good Point, in fact I'm so far from "there" I usually don't even know "where" I'm at on the course. But, I am suffering from a bad case of sticky tire envy Besides, after the Pro Solo I've got all these really cool stickers on my car and the BGF g-sports just seem a bit out of place now (that and I can't tell you how many people came up to us and asked why we were running street tires in the DSP class )

-V

TireRack offers heat cycling of racing tires. Would you recommend this option?
-V

Yes, but many here do not. A Kumho tire tech at a seminar convinced me that it was not easily done oneself, and for the relatively small additional charge some of us find ... it can't hurt.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/ ... ?techid=66

Virgil Wilkins wrote:TireRack offers heat cycling of racing tires. Would you recommend this option?
-V

Not needed for autox.

Mako Koiwai wrote:Yes, but many here do not. A Kumho tire tech at a seminar convinced me that it was not easily done oneself, and for the relatively small additional charge some of us find ... it can't hurt.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/ ... ?techid=66

One less heat cycle you get out of the tires. I don't even see the Natl level club racers doing this, nearly all who want to win go out on stickers. Not much point in trying to make a tire "last longer" when nearly all of them will out live a useful life. Almost every race tire out there gets slow before it wears out, no reason to try and make it last longer by using up a heat cycle before you even get it. :unimpressed:

Did someone also convince you that you could fix the parking brake on a Z06?

No ... still waiting for The Tire Rack Tech Article on the C5 parking brake.