It looks as though this weekend now has some good potential for great track time at Sebring International Raceway, thanks to Hurricane Hanna’s latest shift eastward. Team Minspeed will be on the track all weekend long and if you are in the area, we invite you to stop by and say hi. There are a total of 8 MINIs registered and a few of them are even set to compete in the enduro races that will take place this weekend.

As I mentioned in my last post, I went ahead and picked up a set of 17″ Wed Sport TC005’s and Nitto NT01 rubber. The wheels are 14 pounds each! I decided to go with the 215/45ZR17 size to go slightly wider and taller than my current Toyo RA1’s. Another factor was that the Nitto NT01’s do not need to be shaved and cost about $40 less per tire. They come at 6/32 tread depth which is slightly more tread than my RA1s are shaved to. This leaves a shade bit more tread, but given the larger tread blocks, I have read that if the tires are properly heat cycled, they will outlast the Toyo RA1s hands down.

Since these are brand new, my plan is to put the Nitto’s on for the first session Saturday morning to heat cycle them and then let them sit for 24 hours to prepare them for Daytona next month. After the first session on Saturday, I plan on swapping my Toyo RA1s back on and running them for the rest of the Sebring weekend. They should have plenty of tread left for the weekend and still be a good back-up set of tires to take to Daytona in case any issues crop up with the Nitto’s. I will have more feedback after this weekend, including some video. With 4 MINIs running in the Solo group, the footage should be very entertaining!