Continental Racing is here for 2010

[Chippertheripper]

so which one of you trackside vendorish types is going to pick these up so i can try a set without feeling guilty about mail ordering them?

[TheIglu]

I think you're speaking a little tongue in cheek Clayton when you say you wouldn't buy Pirellis because of internet promo here on NESR. The fact is that 2 of the sponsors here on NESR are Pirelli vendors and many members here work for Pirelli vendors makes for a skewed answer to tire questions no doubt. However, I think you choose your tires on a more reasonable basis like cost/performance. You're a thinker and you don't make decisions that way.

At the end of the day, I'm sure whoever becomes your tire vendor of choice will be thrilled with the set of 120/150s you buy every 3 years whether you need them or not (just fucking with ya).

Yeah, I am. Just gets frustrating when all tire threads turn into plug-promotions.

Besides, it's cheaper for me to buy another EX500 racebike with fresh tires than it is to buy a set. (hence me trying Michelins this season)

[scottieducati]

I raced on Dunlops and Pirellis back when I rode, and it had nothing to do with what the fastest guys were running, as they're far, far beyond my skill level. The point I was trying to make is, Dunlop for a number of reasons has been a successful tire at Loudon for many years, and whether it's FOC tires or not, there *IS* a strong partnership that's mutually beneficial between then and many of the "fast guys" and / or "powers that be."

When you come out of the race school and are told "this is the only way to go" it is not a level playing field for anyone else.

My point wasn't to get into a debate about semantics, the point is that with the proper setup and experience, *ANY* of the tires out there could easily hold lap records at Loudon.

There's a few people (that come to mind) who could possibly turn back-to-back laps on the same bike, with appropriate setup changes, and yield actual results and that would be someone like a Ben Spies or Jamie Hacking who have raced at the top level on multiple brands in recent years (AMA+Dunlop, WSBK+Pirelli, MotoGP+Bridgestone). We all know that's not going to happen, and any of the top guys you mention wouldn't have appropriate experience or setup knowledge to compare on another brand.

Beyond that, it's purely speculation. What excites me is I've seen first hand the trickle down from the world level, to the club level with Pirelli tires. I have not personally witnessed that with any other brand, for obvious reasons. Perhaps someone like a13x can chime in, as he seemed to allude that the spec Dunlops were rubbish last year, but either way it appears what's used in top level AMA racing, simply isn't the tires you can buy from Steve and the boys at the track for LRRS. It's also pretty obvious how R&D at MotoGP is not nearly as useful as R&D on production machinery, so in my mind, the top two tires for production-level racing would have to be Dunlop or Pirelli. I have no first hand knowledge of Continental's (to get back on topic) R&D but I'd love to learn more... and again same holds for Michelin, although I DO know they're supposed to be developing some very cool track / street and track tires.

No matter how you slice it, it's great to be racing in this day in age with the technology we have available to us. Like the tires you can choose, the suspension you can run, and the bikes you buy today, *everything* out there's far beyond the ability of *most* of us to exploit fully.

So again, it all comes down to preference and what you're comfortable on

[Degsy]

yes I know I was just messing with him hence the bonk on the head

I'm an idiot

[scottieducati]

Could you please reference that in the thread we were talking about the other day Degsy... something to do with your DVD player being broken....

I'm an idiot

[Degsy]

Could you please reference that in the thread we were talking about the other day Degsy... something to do with your DVD player being broken....

[PPS26]

rick has won championships in every year he has raced except for 2 years (2001-2002) in which he switched from dunlops to michelin, went back to dunlops and was back to normal

[scottieducati]

Well that's pretty self explanatory

rick has won championships in every year he has raced except for 2 years (2001-2002) in which he switched from dunlops to michelin, went back to dunlops and was back to normal

[Mr. Kurtz]

Besides, it's cheaper for me to buy another EX500 racebike with fresh tires than it is to buy a set. (hence me trying Michelins this season)

That's awesome.

So again, it all comes down to preference and what you're comfortable on

I think(not for the top guys maybe, but surely for NV/AM guys) a big factor in what tire is "fast" for a guy is mental. If you're comfortable, you'll go faster, right? I ran Bridgestones for half a season, had no issues, switched back to Pirelli, and had more confidence in them(all mental). I was able to go equally slow on both brands.

[zx1012r]

Wow, Dunlop must be rolling in the dough to supply more free tires than I could imagine to over a dozen guys at a local club. Also the statement about the AMA-spec tires factoring is doesn't mean squat as the DSB spec tire was nothing like the DOT Club Dunlop tires (it was far far worse actually).


Just saying. Stick to the facts, it makes your argument stronger.

I used the D209 front for 2 seasons and that is what I set my SV up on. I would use the occasional D211 with no ill effects. Last year I got new tires right before a race and had front chatter so bad I thought I left something loose when I changed the tire. Checked it in between races and everything was tight. Come to find out they had new "AMA Spec" D209's and that thing was totally different than what i was running. Put a new D211 on and never had chatter again.

I used to use a Michelin front when the Dunlop D208's were chatter happy. It was a soft Power Race and I could slide that thing all the way through 1 modulating the bars to pick it back up whenever. Fun as hell and I bet it left a black stripe! Totally predictable!

I try to tell people whatever you run, stick to it for at LEAST a whole season and work the bike and your riding around the tire. Too many people change tire brands/types, and all sort of stuff on their bikes without just working on your riding.

[Pittenger5]

We've forgot the most important question: Which tire is the most attractive to the racer chasers?

[scottieducati]

Obvious, whatever you're runnin' DB.

We've forgot the most important question: Which tire is the most attractive to the racer chasers?

[Pittenger5]

[Karaya One]

Michelin's are hardly used anywhere,

WOW I love this line!

If only it had any SHRED of truth to it.

[Degsy]

WOW I love this line!

If only it had any SHRED of truth to it.

We lost his muzzle, Dave. My apologies

[scottieducati]

The context / meaning was not in SPEC series (edited post in question for clarity), or National series' that I know of... Didn't I read that they chose not to pursue MotoGP / WSBK contracts to re-focus R&D?? Not a bad move really. But it'd be great to hear how their racing R&D trickles down to production, I'm curious. Getting tired of things being taken out of context though. Perhaps there are series' in Europe where they (like Continentals) are more popular now, but my examples were MotoGP (Bridgestone), AMA (Dunlop) and WSBK/WSS (Pirelli), it's just as easy to make an argument that being a SPEC tire hinders development too, I just happen to be aware of the approach of one of the companies mentioned and stated clearly I wasn't familiar with the other's practices. Perhaps you can share?

WOW I love this line!

If only it had any SHRED of truth to it.

[Degsy]

I'd love to see Scott Greenwood chime in on this. I'm very interested to see what some of the very fastest Loudon guys think.

derek

He came, he saw, he logged off. Damn.

[scottieducati]

smart man.

[Degsy]

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8330/4.5.0.77 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)

smart man.

Drama-lama

[Karaya One]

The context / meaning was not in SPEC series (edited post in question for clarity), or National series' that I know of... Didn't I read that they chose not to pursue MotoGP / WSBK contracts to re-focus R&D?? Not a bad move really. But it'd be great to hear how their racing R&D trickles down to production, I'm curious. Getting tired of things being taken out of context though. Perhaps there are series' in Europe where they (like Continentals) are more popular now, but my examples were MotoGP (Bridgestone), AMA (Dunlop) and WSBK/WSS (Pirelli), it's just as easy to make an argument that being a SPEC tire hinders development too, I just happen to be aware of the approach of one of the companies mentioned and stated clearly I wasn't familiar with the other's practices. Perhaps you can share?

Michelin's view about spec tire racing is exactly the same as mine so it works out well - You get nothing commercially from racing against yourself. You only go racing to promote the brand and to develop the brand, and you promote by winning against your like manufacturers.

When WRC, F1 and WSB went spec they left. They didn't even make a bid! Why spend a pile of money if you cannot capitalize on it? MotoGP brought us the Pilot Power and the C3M process that helped build them. When you are pushed to do better, you go in directions you may not otherwise. This is the benefit of racing against other companies.

Will tires develop in spec racing? Of course they will, but I imagine the pace is much slower when you run the show.

Hodgson once said in an interview that Pirelli in WSB did not change for a year and a half when they took over WSB. Bridgestone only made minor compound adjustments year to year in F1. And is Dunlop really developing tires now in AMA?

As for the AMA Series spec contract - there is a neat story behind that episode that I don't think I can repeat here so I'll play it safe. The USA is Michelin's biggest worldwide customer for two wheel, and that series meant a lot to them.

Michelin is constantly racing and developing tires worldwide, and they have the Power Development Team which brought us the Power One and now new slicks for late 2010-2011.

But to say no ones uses Michelin? Motorace alone stocks almost 1000 race tires if you count slicks and we re-order quite a bit. Dave Hirsch and Walt Schaefer have tracks in which its dominant tire is Michelin.

Dunlop is strong up here. Steve runs a good show with great riders who have a ton of Loudon knowledge and the NTEC is a great tire. No arguments there. We have our Michelin fans, Degs has his Pirelli fans and I imagine someone likes Mile's Bridgestones ( I know Quentin Mize sells a boat load of them at certain tracks).

With the right program, Conti will do well. They are OEM with BMW, and the man who helped start that program came from Pirelli / Metzeler.

[scottieducati]

That's precisely why I indicated it may have been a smart move on their part, to dedicate resources to R&D. Pirelli indeed didn't change for a year or two in WSB, because they were busy developing one tire, for one track, etc. Once they got up to speed, they began developing a compound to work in a broader range of operating conditions, and these eventually after proven successful, trickle down to production tires very rapidly. Apologies if it seemed that I indicated that nobody uses them, I was merely talking about the big series' that all went spec.

[Crash Dummy Denno]

That's precisely why I indicated it may have been a smart move on their part, to dedicate resources to R&D. Pirelli indeed didn't change for a year or two in WSB, because they were busy developing one tire, for one track, etc. Once they got up to speed, they began developing a compound to work in a broader range of operating conditions, and these eventually after proven successful, trickle down to production tires very rapidly. Apologies if it seemed that I indicated that nobody uses them, I was merely talking about the big series' that all went spec.

Scott is such a jerkface... don't let him talk like that to you Dave...

[scottieducati]

Pot stirrer.

[FireboltEric_MA]

Pot Smoker...

[scottieducati]

Shhhh.