The new BFGoodrich R1-S

[xwd]

I think Chris was going to run both tires at Cendiv, so I'm not sure which runs were potentially with the R1S and which ones were with Hoosiers.

I expected those results from Chris whether he's on Hoosiers or BFGs so he'll have to chime in with some more info.

[mrazny]

Here are more raw data results, now pending specific driver commentary on differences and impressions... I hope the seal strips weren't a huge issue like they were last year that put an odd unpredictable element into the testing...

Weather was nice, hovering around 80 degrees both days.

http://www.scca-milwaukee.org/solo/2...nly,%20Pax.htm

http://www.scca-milwaukee.org/solo/2...lts,%20PAX.htm

2007 Mazda MX-5 Red
61.864 61.762 61.312 61.155 60.812 60.905

Saturday Runs

2007 Mazda MX-5 Red
62.086+1 61.805 61.474 61.448 61.035

Sunday runs

[FTD]

Thanks for posting the results.

I am far from a verdict and do not have definitive data to prove anything (not a controlled experiment by any means, just my $0.02). Realize that I only have 2 runs on the R1S's at this point.

Here are the facts:

· I ran in the first half of second heat (runs 1-3) and the first half of fourth heat (runs 4 -6)
· The new (un-scrubbed) BFG R1-S's were on the car for the first two runs of Saturday only.

o I ran the first run with two pound of pressure more than the Hoosiers all around.
o The second run I ran with pressures equal to my typical Hoosier pressures.

Commentary:

· Jeff put together two days of challenging courses for our CEN DIV event, which was excellent, however this made it difficult to put together consistent runs. Unfortunately I it was not a good weekend for tire testing due to this. Ideally we would have a simple course the driver knows well to minimize the driver’s errors/inconsistency.
· Many folks were commenting about the limited grip in the early heats, so I wouldn't read too much into the raw times.
· I realized after switching back to the 1 year old; 27 run Hoosiers for the third run that I likely need some time to dial in some different shock settings and further refine pressures.

o I don't believe that my typical Hoosier set up is going to be effective with the BFG's.
o The feel of the BFG's was not immediately familiar, so it may take some time to adapt or learn the feedback queues.

· On Sunday I decided to work on some other adjustments and needed to limit my variables (note we only had 2 runs in the afternoon heat).

More time with the tires will be revealing. I will share more as I learn.

[PCalhoun]

Originally Posted by feldy

Becarefull of those tires. This happened to a local driver of ours at one of the tours. After 12 runs. Thats right I said 12.

Also coming from Hoosiers and Hankooks he had to run a lot more pressure up front not to roll over. normally 45 psi up front but I think he was pushing 55 with these not to roll over. Mazda 3 hs driver.

Please have the driver of the Mazda3, who I believe is Adam Deffenbaugh, contact me regarding the tire pictured above. I would be happy to review the situation w/ him and am interested to hear his feedback.

Rgds,
Peter Calhoun
Motorsport Manager
BFGoodrich Tires
peter.calhoun@us.michelin.com

[Element Tuning]

Its too bad BFG doesn't offer a NASA TT contingency as i really want to test these. It would less points than the Hoosier R80s we run so we could up the HP but I win so its hard to give up free tires.

If Michelen had input from their slicks on these you probably need substantially stiffer suspension and way less tire pressure than you run with the A6. Initially switching to a slick didn't net much quicker lap times until the suspension was altered along with finding the sweet spot for tire pressures that delivered more grip.

Thanks
Phil Grabow

[track_warrior]

I need to get a set of these to try them out!! I wonder what psi was used on the pic of the torn up tire.

[FTD]

Hi all,
I ran some additional runs during the 8/12 Milwaukee SCCA 'border challenge' event. I am posting the results. The weather was consistent all day, sunny with highs in the high temp around 90deg F. The daylight and number of cars at the event limited us to 5 runs. I made changes to make the car drivable with the BFGs, including altering tire pressures and softening the rear bar.

Event result links:
Class results: http://www.scca-milwaukee.org/solo/2...2,%20Class.htm
Pax: http://www.scca-milwaukee.org/solo/2...-12,%20PAX.htm

P - 'Pro' - Total Entries: 9
Times
1T CS96 Chris Fenter 2007 Mazda MX-5 Red
51.902+1 51.104+1 51.247+2
50.767+1 49.924

Note: raw times are shown above, penalty time for the pylons NOT included.

The first three runs were on BFGs R1-S, I was very happy with the second run (didn't even realized I based one of the cones in the slolum, +1), made one notable mistake on the third and it cost me being able to backup run #2. In my last comparison I ran the BFGs against 1 year old - 40 run Hoosiers. This time I pulled out a sticker set for runs 4 and 5. So this should be a straight up comparison given that the BFGs had only 2 runs at the beginning of the day.

I recognize that this is not a good format for a true comparison test, primarily since I didn't get to go back to the BFGs after the Hoosiers. And I may be able to better tune for the BFGs if I had all the T&T time in the world. However, I have a hard time getting more than 60 runs in a whole season!

All I can say is given what I know now... on that setup there is no way I would be able to improve one second over that second run. On SCCA forums folks asked if I ran enough pressure. Good question... I don't know. Some claim they are faster than Hoosiers on their cars. All I do know is when I ran higher pressures the tires still didn't feel confidence inspiring, should I have added more... good question... If you want to find out for yourself the tires are now for sale.

Take care,
Chris