Hoosier Tire Feedback

[Doug Adams]

Would like to get people's perpectives on the Hoosier Spec Tire.  A few questions to foster the discussion.

How is the performance of the tire in terms of speed and reliability in the different classes.
Does the tire last for a full day of racing, or more - competitively.
Do you feel the spec tire is helping to reduce cost, or do you need to put on a new set for every session to be competitive.
Do the compounds and sizes available meet the needs of the different classes and tracks.
Are there any issues with supply?

[goffin20]

How is the performance of the tire in terms of speed and reliability in the different classes?

I am very pleased with the tires performance and durability, lap times stay very consistent until you hit the cords and then you’re on ice…  lol


Does the tire last for a full day of racing, or more - competitively?

We raced the 1st USAC race on a new set of A35’s, then raced 3 weeklies and also practiced 60 laps in between.  This was on our Jr. Rookie, Jr. Honda, Lt. 160 and Lt. WF cars.

With Vegas last year, we got one regional and one weekly on a set for the WF car.


Do you feel the spec tire is helping to reduce cost, or do you need to put on a new set for every session to be competitive?

Yes, they have reduced costs on the right side tires because you don’t have to buy tires as frequently and they stay competitive longer.  The cost for LR tires has more than doubled though, see below under issues question.

You still have the problem with the deep pocket racers that bolt on a new set for each heat, feature or race day though and the only way around that is to mark tires like at the big tracks and you race them until the end of the day.  Since we have a spec tire, I would have expected a better price since everyone has to buy them.  That would also make it easier for most of us to buy tires more frequently to keep up with the deeper pockets that replace them every race day.


Do the compounds and sizes available meet the needs of the different classes and tracks?

Compounds, so far yes.  Not sure about further south where it gets much hotter but time will tell.  As for sizes, it’s hard to tell because they are not consistent (see below)


Are there any issues with supply?

Supply, no.  The only issues I have had so far are the sizes being inconsistent.  For example, I mounted 4 sets of NEW right side tires on 4 sets of NEW wheels and got 4 different size RR’s.  34 ¾, 34 7/8, 34 ½ and 33 5/8

I have also had two out of eight that goes flat after about an hour?

I have been mounting tires for 5 years now and have never had leak.  My Dunlap’s were also inconsistent in size so that is one plus the Vega has, they were always 35” when mounted which made it easier to keep stagger in 4 different cars.  Tire cost goes up tremendously when you have to keep 4 different left rear tires around for each car to get your stagger because the RR’s are always different.

[Swartz]

About .1 or.2 slower than the Vega but I think it is just a matter of adjusting for the tire. Time will tell.

Ours last 3 race days (so far) without loss of performance.

Spec tire good. Seem better after getting a heat cycle in them.

We run Heavy World Formula and Heavy AA. A D50 would be really nice to have.

[sfreitas20]

As usual, Scott G summed it up pretty good. 

I had to grow a couple tires to get them all to a consistent size.

In Tampa we started with everyone being required to run A35s.  They didn't seem to last though, so we switched to A40s.  Prior to the switch, we were killing rights even in the rookie class, but we siped our A35s and for whatever reason the wear issue seemed to go away.  The A40s seem to work real good.

We just implemented a rule that you have to run the same rights in the main as you ran in the heat.  That should help with costs.  They are even marking rookie tires differently than the others, so sneaky teams can't go to a rookie team and offer to switch tires since the rookie tires will be much newer after the heats.

[Lil_racer]

There are many people who used a Vega 6.0. There is no Hoosier equivalent for the spec tire.

Vegas seems to be faster the first time out and a little cheaper depending on how many you buy.

There's 10c of quick thought!

[RBurns17]

Locally I've seen that the kids out front seem to cook the A35's in 25-30 laps in the higher classes. But the A40's seem to be the cure. Except they take a couple laps to get warmed up, so you just better hope you don't have a late race caution.

We have a set of A35's on our Sr.Rookie car and I couldn't be happier with them. We've raced 4 races on them and went out for a test session sunday and ran some of our fastest laps yet on the set.

[sfreitas20]

"There are many people who used a Vega 6.0. There is no Hoosier equivalent for the spec tire."

We have a 6.00 Hoosier A35 that we got from Hoosier in February and it is better than any other tire we have run this year.  However they no longer make that size, so the tech guy at the Tampa District race wouldn't let us run it.  I have used it at other tracks where we normally run yellow vegas and it works just as good.  Wish they still made that size!

My comments above about wear issues with A35s, were all on 7.10s.  In a rookie practice, we could see the cords on a brand new 7.10 in less than 100 laps.  The 6.00 has a few race weekends on it and several practice sessions and still has a lot of life left in it.

[goffin20]

My comments were on the 34.5/6.5's which we run on all of our cars.  We even ran them on our Lt. AA this past weekend for practice, heat and feature and they look twice as good as any vega ever did on our WF last year.  However, my driver didnt drive the last 15 laps in the AA as hard because "his arms were tired"...  LOL

Just messing with you Scotty, you did a Great Job!  ;-)

[ssssmoke]

a consistent size would be nice. i think a stiffer sidewall would be a help. other than that we love em.

[LLR]

hey smoke keep wishing on the sizes.Been around Hoosier along time didn't happen in the dirt latemodel.I just wish there we're chaulk marks on these.