When we left our hero yesterday… (yeah, yeah – I know – I watched WAY too much 1970’s Batman growing up). Anyways… in part 1 of “Scooter’s New Shoes” we discussed the reason for the new shoes in the first place. While I hope you actually click the link to read part 1 if you missed it, in a nutshell, my daily drivers that I also used on the track were shot to “you know where” and I decided to mount some Toyo RA1’s (an R-comp tire) on my Enkei rims for track use only. So after searching dozens of wheel and tire sites and using Photoshop to see what each design might look like on Scooter, I finally decided on ASA’s 17 inch AR2 wheels and the Kumho Ecsta SPT’s in a 215/40/17 configuration (I really did like the wide-stanced 215/40/17 size of my Hankooks, so I figured why not get that size on the Kumho’s).

Continue reading Scooter’s New Shoes: Part 2 →

Well after 2 track weeekends and 15,000 miles of daily driving, my Hankook Rs2 Z212’s are finally shot. Last weekend driving up to Mickey & MINI 3 was the last trip they would see. Considering that I only expected to get 12,000 miles out of them – I am tickled to reach 15,000 miles without a problem! I must admit, however, towards the end there, the Hankook’s handled like crap. To be fair though, the tread was at the point that it did not pass the “penny test” so I really can’t complain. They served me well and handled like a dream when they still had some thickness to them!

Sooooo what now? Do I go out and pick up another set of Hankooks? Or do I take this opportunity to take my on-track traction to the next level? I did some research and spoke to many people who track their cars regularly and the logical choice that sits between a street tire like the Hankooks and a slick track tire like a set of Hoosiers is the Toyo RA1’s. The RA1’s are an R-compound tire, designed strictly for track use and seem to be the best choice for someone transitioning from a street tire. They are available with minimal tread or you can have a race shop shave them to enhance their dry traction performance (essentially making them *almost* slicks). I know what you are asking – why the heck would you shave OFF tread!?!? Doesn’t that shorten the life of the tire??? Well – not really. You see by shaving the tread, you are actually helping the tire heat up more evenly when on the track. Many individuals have noticed that by not shaving their RA1’s, they were only able to get 2-3 track weekends out of a set of tires. I am hoping to double that to 4-6 weekends by shaving mine. I will keep you posted on this of course!

Continue reading Scooter’s New Shoes: Part 1 →