HUCKMAN

iTrader: (1)

ARE SLICKS ALWAYS THE WAY TO GO TO RACE COMPETATIVELY ON A PREPARED ASPHALT TRACK??? CAN RADIAL TIRES ACHIEVE THE SAME AMOUNT OF TRACTION AS SLICKS??? HERE'S WHAT I'M RUNNING...

TRF415
SPEED PASSION GT BRUSHLESS ESC
TRINITY DUO 10.5
SOREX 36R (TRACK TEMP. 100 F)

MY CAR HAS A DECENT AMOUNT OF TRACTION, I INCREASED FRONT DROOP TO ALLOW MORE WEIGHT TRANSFER TO THE REAR TIRES SO I CAN REALLY MASH THE THROTTLE. THIS SEEMS TO BE HOOKING UP WELL, I'M JUST CURIOUS IF A RADIAL WOULD GIVE ME MORE TRACTION. ANYONE WHO KNOWS, PLEASE SHARE YOUR INFO. THANKS!

fender_guy

iTrader: (7)

Caps is cruise control for cool!

Anyways... I would only use radials if its a really damp or close to wet track other then that stick to slicks thats the way to go for the best possible traction.

HUCKMAN

iTrader: (1)

CAPS? THAT MEANS RADIALS RIGHT? FORGIVE ME, I'M A BIT NEW TO THE RUBBER TIRE THING, I'VE BEEN RUNNING ON CARPET UP UNTIL THIS PAST SUNDAY...

JCarr

iTrader: (2)

I believe he is refering to you typing with the caps lock on. It is a good question though. I was wondering if radials would be a little better on a dusty parking lot track. We are setting our track up here this weekend and I was going to experement with it. I'll be watching this thread with much interest and will post what I find out as well.

HUCKMAN

iTrader: (1)

MY TRACK THAT I RACE AT IS DUSTY ALSO... MY THEORY IS THAT THE SERRATED TIRE PATTERN OF A RADIAL TIRE WOULD ALLOW THE (DUST) TO GO SOMEWHERE. (MEANING INTO THE GROOVES OF THE TIRE) A SLICK TIRE ON A DUSTY ASPHALT SURFACE HAS NOWHERE FOR THE DIRT TO GO, SO IN THEORY, THE DUST ACTS LIKE A DRY LUBRICANT HINDERING RUBBER TO ASPHALT CONTACT. THIS MAKES SENSE TO ME ANYWAY. I WAS HOPING THAT SOMEONE HAD EXPERIMENTED WITH THIS... AND I LIKE WRITING IN ALL CAPS

HUCKMAN

iTrader: (1)

SOMEONE???

goodtunes1978

iTrader: (1)

thank u brother

HUCKMAN

iTrader: (1)

Okay. Will you help now?

Itchy

iTrader: (1)

Yes, in my experience radials will give more grip if the track is very dusty. Some slicks work better in those conditions than others though.

Usually, even if it is unprepared asphalt, after 5-15 runs (depending on track size) the fast line will be good enough to take advantage of a slick tire.

chicagokenji

Anyway you can pressure wash your dusty track?

Our asphalt season starts this weekend too. It's our second season. Last year before the first race we pressure washed thoroughly. Then every morning before each Sunday race we swept the whole track before putting track barriers down. We used sugar water mixed with warm water in a 3 gallon lawn sprayer in every turn. Worked well.

Our parking lot isn't in a place that is near open fields or lots of open soil or dirt. Just an urban/suburban setting so it seemed like weekly dust build-up wasn't a huge factor that a thorough sweeping couldn't handle. But pressure washing that one time was really helpful getting the sand and dirt particles out of the asphalt bed.

Once the track was prepared there wasn't much difference between treaded tires and Takeoff 27's that an experienced racer couldn't adjust his suspension and chassis to accomodate.

JCarr

iTrader: (2)

We have no way to pressure wash it. We would have to do it every week as our track is right next to a busy state route and the dirt and grime from that is always getting blown onto the track. I think what I might try is running the radials early in the day and then later switching to the slick as more heats get run and the groove gets cleaned off and see what kind a difference it makes, if any.

tc5basher

Out here in sunny Calif. we run foams on asphalt.....

MarkBrown

iTrader: (9)

When running slicks on a dusty track, it is often better not to use traction compound. The traction compound will attract dirt to the tire and very quickly you will lose traction.

A problem with most radials is that they are not belted, so you get a lot of ballooning and that reduces traction.

As a previous post said, after the track has been used a bit a clean line will form and if you can stay within that line you will almost surely be faster on slicks.

What are the fast guys using, slicks or radials? The fast guys can be wrong, but more often they are right.

racenut123

iTrader: (32)

Really? I only know of people running rubber tires of the slick variety in electric touring car hear in California.You must must either be running Nitro or are in an area thats unique because I have never been to a race where they raced foams in electric touring.Where do you race specifically?

HUCKMAN

iTrader: (1)

So belted radials may be a good thing to try out and see how they do. Who makes belted radials??? I'd like to give it a try...