sedan: rubber v foam
01-26-2008, 09:06 AM
#61
kevin is right , when foam tire became one run tire it killed it for me. i was getting tires at a discount but still could not afford it. now i get a set of rubber tires and run 50 or 60 times on them. get a new set of rubbers and only go a tenth or two faster. and with brushless now we see all the old timers starting to come back and race because now they can compete with the younger faster guys. its great to see old friends that you havent raced with in a while and they are just as fast and just as competitive and haveing so much FUN doing so. rember why we all started racing TO HAVE FUN!!!!!
01-27-2008, 05:01 AM
#62
i am more of a foam tire person but i also like rubber , but the foam tire racing was 100 times more fun when it was purple plaid, when the big horsepower was a ten turn. the tires also lasted a lot longer than double pinks.
01-27-2008, 08:26 AM
#63
A few of us have been working on re-kindling the rubber-tire class at FastCats. Although the class started small, each week it is growing because the number of people that see it as a more cost effective way of racing is growing. I think someone on here mentioned it best.... you can get 50 runs out of a set of rubber tires and still race them, with foams, they don't last that long... maybe 10 runs?
The foam-heads (LOL) at the track are still the majority because they love the speed and traction that foam tires give - however, IMHO, rubber tire racing would help save declining numbers since rubber-tire racing is a little easier on the cars. Diffs last longer, motors are exposed to less stress and you don't need the utmost best batteries to be competitive. In fact, in a line-up of very decent drivers - the fastest rubber-tire car at our last trophy race was a TA05-R - talk about lower budget racing.
I too like racing foam - don't get me wrong, it's great to have all that traction, however, from a pocket-book standpoint, rubber-tire racing has been 60% less expensive for me, and that is even with buying a new car to run the class.
The foam-heads (LOL) at the track are still the majority because they love the speed and traction that foam tires give - however, IMHO, rubber tire racing would help save declining numbers since rubber-tire racing is a little easier on the cars. Diffs last longer, motors are exposed to less stress and you don't need the utmost best batteries to be competitive. In fact, in a line-up of very decent drivers - the fastest rubber-tire car at our last trophy race was a TA05-R - talk about lower budget racing.
I too like racing foam - don't get me wrong, it's great to have all that traction, however, from a pocket-book standpoint, rubber-tire racing has been 60% less expensive for me, and that is even with buying a new car to run the class.
01-27-2008, 12:13 PM
#65
01-27-2008, 02:13 PM
#66
Outside - it depends on the surface you are racing - to say one compound without knowing that info might be a mistake. If it's prepped with VHT, maybe some tire tweak or even just a tire cleaner like Niftech would work well. If on a parking-lot type track, Paragon might work too. During the summer, tire warmers are not really needed unless you are running the harder rubber tires.
01-27-2008, 07:54 PM
#67
I'm stunned when I see guys claiming that the new, bigger wheel foam tires are more expensive to run.
This year I've been running Prizms. Last year it was Jaco dish foams. I didn't like last year's tires. They broke frequently and had to be trued. This year's tires never break, and I've literally trued _one_ tire because it was bigger than the rest of the set (my fault for not rotating). Yeah, like last year's foams, they chunk, but so what: ignore chunks, and don't pre-glue. When you get some loose foam on the outside (a not-quite-ripped-off chunk), just rip it off so it doesn't wreck handling.
Buy the tires, bolt them on, rotate every 2-3 runs, and toss them when you can feel the glue. That's like 40-50 runs in 27t, 35 in 19t, and 20 in mild mod. Foam tire racing is way easier and cheaper than last year.
-Adam
This year I've been running Prizms. Last year it was Jaco dish foams. I didn't like last year's tires. They broke frequently and had to be trued. This year's tires never break, and I've literally trued _one_ tire because it was bigger than the rest of the set (my fault for not rotating). Yeah, like last year's foams, they chunk, but so what: ignore chunks, and don't pre-glue. When you get some loose foam on the outside (a not-quite-ripped-off chunk), just rip it off so it doesn't wreck handling.
Buy the tires, bolt them on, rotate every 2-3 runs, and toss them when you can feel the glue. That's like 40-50 runs in 27t, 35 in 19t, and 20 in mild mod. Foam tire racing is way easier and cheaper than last year.
-Adam
01-27-2008, 08:43 PM
#68
Electric outdoor racing.
Heres how we used to do foam racing around here before the rubber rule came about.
I would pull them straight out of the pack and put on the car, (NO TRACOIN COMPOUND).
They would start at 64mm and we would run them for 2 weeks or till they hit 59 or 58mm's. Then I would save them for indoor winter racing and get 2 to 3 more weeks out of them. Now the nice thing was we could run any compound according to the temps on the ground. And I always buy 2 sets o fronts and 1 set of rears. I would rotate side to side on the rears every round and the same with the fronts. But on the fronts after a swap, (2 runs) I would put the other fronts on. I would always go threw 2 sets of fronts to 1 set of rears.
This method saved a lot of unnecessary truing to the rear tire.
Then the rubber tire rule came and all we could run was RP 30's.
And you could only get 2 weeks solid racing. The rubber would be shot and the inserts were dust.
Sorex held up the best due to the belts, but we weren't allowed to run any thing but a Spec tire. Ground temp was a major factor on how well they lasted.
Which leads me to Gas racing out doors.
If rubber is so much better and last so much better? Why don't people run rubber on there gas cars.
Indoors foam was more expensive because 64mm was to tall to start it would have to be a minimum 60mm and they wouldn't feel right till 58mm.
Rubber on carpet seems to be a cheaper.
Heres how we used to do foam racing around here before the rubber rule came about.
I would pull them straight out of the pack and put on the car, (NO TRACOIN COMPOUND).
They would start at 64mm and we would run them for 2 weeks or till they hit 59 or 58mm's. Then I would save them for indoor winter racing and get 2 to 3 more weeks out of them. Now the nice thing was we could run any compound according to the temps on the ground. And I always buy 2 sets o fronts and 1 set of rears. I would rotate side to side on the rears every round and the same with the fronts. But on the fronts after a swap, (2 runs) I would put the other fronts on. I would always go threw 2 sets of fronts to 1 set of rears.
This method saved a lot of unnecessary truing to the rear tire.
Then the rubber tire rule came and all we could run was RP 30's.
And you could only get 2 weeks solid racing. The rubber would be shot and the inserts were dust.
Sorex held up the best due to the belts, but we weren't allowed to run any thing but a Spec tire. Ground temp was a major factor on how well they lasted.
Which leads me to Gas racing out doors.
If rubber is so much better and last so much better? Why don't people run rubber on there gas cars.
Indoors foam was more expensive because 64mm was to tall to start it would have to be a minimum 60mm and they wouldn't feel right till 58mm.
Rubber on carpet seems to be a cheaper.
Trans Am Class!
01-29-2008, 11:02 AM
#72
Most everyone runs the same compound front and rear.
Jaco is my least favorite tire at the moment... but they do work if thats whats available at your track. Greens are most commonly run on carpet tracks.
CS and RP's are not being imported right now so when the local stock runs out, thats it
Jaco is my least favorite tire at the moment... but they do work if thats whats available at your track. Greens are most commonly run on carpet tracks.
CS and RP's are not being imported right now so when the local stock runs out, thats it
01-29-2008, 11:14 AM
#73
I like how the cs27's feel. I've been using jaco greens lately because that is what the tracks around here are using for a spec tire. I don't like them as much though. On carpet that is. I also use the same tire in the front and back.
01-29-2008, 11:51 AM
#75
Most everyone runs the same compound front and rear.
Jaco is my least favorite tire at the moment... but they do work if thats whats available at your track. Greens are most commonly run on carpet tracks.
CS and RP's are not being imported right now so when the local stock runs out, thats it
Jaco is my least favorite tire at the moment... but they do work if thats whats available at your track. Greens are most commonly run on carpet tracks.
CS and RP's are not being imported right now so when the local stock runs out, thats it
