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Re:Race Tires for Midget

To: borrani@att.net
Subject: Re:Race Tires for Midget
From: Nicholas Froome <listreader@pvision.co.uk>
Date: Sat, 22 Feb 2003 00:12:07 +0000
>Regarding those A032R's in the rain, were they fully treaded?  I think of that
>tire as the ultimate rain tire.  I drove a friend's Boxster in a hard driving
>rain at Portland Int'l Raceway with those tires, and was convinced it was a
>miracle.  Those tires just siphoned the water off the road.  They were still
>the noisiest tire I've ever heard as well.  If the tires are shaved, I'd expect
>that capacity to disappear.

They're great in the rain - so long as you trust them and work them hard

A new car like a Boxster will allow tyres to ride flat and gain maximum grip at 
all times because the suspension is designed to keep wide tyres flat against 
the tarmac

An old car like a Midget is very different. My TR4 is so hard and bumpy that 
braking in the wet is a bit of a lottery - if you hit a bump or cross a tarmac 
join then a tyre will lock, remain locked & slide. The car also tends to run on 
the edges of the tyre a lot when cornering - so losing a lot of grip, 
particularly when wet. I imagine any older, light car would be similar

In my experience the 032R is only scary on deep standing water. Then it will 
aquaplane like you've never experienced before. It happened to me on the inside 
lane of the M25 (which has deep depressions caused by truck tyres) at 50 mph 
with 2-month old 032Rs and I can tell you it wasn't nice. We got to the sprint 
- where it poured with rain all day - and the tyres were amazing, particularly 
under brakes

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