Hankook F-200 slicks

[trekkor]

Anybody using these, yet?

I want a set of 205/50/15's for my track and a/x car.
C-50, medium compound.


Thanks.


KT

[LARRY SHARP]

Trekkor try them and let us know how they are

[trekkor]

If I can get America's Tire Co to bring them in, I will.


KT

[Patrice911]

I will know soon, doing an Autocross this coming Sunday and a DE/timetrial the following weekend. Will let you know how they are. I took the 215/580R15 C50 for my car. I put them on the car last night, they are basically the same width of a 225/50/15 Kumho V710 but are smaller in diameter, more like a 45 series.

[trekkor]

Oh good!! I'm looking forward to your feedback.

The 205/50/15's seem to be hard to get right now in C50 compound.


KT

[Patrice911]

Did the Autocross yesterday with the F-200. Weather was nice partly cloudy, high 70 in the afternoon.
That site as relatively low grip, sealed asphalt, but it's the same for everyone. We did 2 run in the morning and 3 in the afternoon.
Since my wife is running also that made 10 runs for the day. I did my first 2 runs before the wife. I started with 23f, 27r PSI. The grip was not very good, looking at the tires after the run the wear pattern was not close to the edge of the tire. I drop the pressure to 21f, 25r. The grip was slightly better but not great I was probably still removing the mold released from the tire. After that run the wear pattern was a bit closer to the edge but not by much. For the wife I drop the pressure to 18f, 22r, she did her 2 run and found the car not too bad. For the afternoon run she return first and did her 3 runs that's minimize the seat, belt and run number adjustment. I keep the pressure to the same 18f, 22r. after her runs I took over and still keep the same pressure. For that 3rd run the grip was better but I didn't do a good time. The 4th run had better grip and I finally did a decent time, but the run was not clean ( 1 cone ). For the last one the car feel good, the grip was good and make me feel confident to thrust that she will be there when needed. That one, was my best run of the day. Good enough for 3rd overall, missed 2nd place by .019sec. And good for 11 PAX.
Here a link to the results page ( raw time ).
http://www.thscc.com/autocross/events/2007/2007-0401raw.html

After these 10 runs the tires are barely showing any wear, they look like being just scuff.
They where barely warm after the runs and almost didn't pickup any air pressure. And they like low tire pressure.
I will have to say that the C050 compound is not ideal for AX, the run are too short to warm them up, but they will probably last a long time.
Will have been interesting to have them at operating temperature for one run, it will have been much faster.
As for the results I'm usually at the top of the RAW sheet, but 11 PAX yesterday was good, last year I was usually farther down the list.
So for a tire that never came up to operating temperature I have to say that it's still not too bad. A softer compound will be for sure better.

Next weekend it's the DE and the TimeTrial at VIR North. There they should have time to come up to operating temperature. My plan is to do a back to back comparison. I will run the Kumho V710 in the morning and the F-200 in the afternoon and in the Time Trial. Weather forecast at the moment for next weekend is for partly cloudy and cool, mid 50 to 60. Good for engine power but not so good for the tire.

Here a few pictures from yesterday, 2 are of me and 2 are my wife.

[trekkor]

Thanks for the write up.

I ordered another set of 710's and will try to get a set of F-200's for the summer.

Please post your observations after the DE comparison.

Thanks,


KT

[trekkor]

Nice job in the standings, too. 3rd out of 111 drivers. Really nice!!

KT

[Joe Ricard]

That's the problem with real slicks as opposed to DOT R Autocross tires.
Got to have heat. I suspect that was the problem at Topeka last year.

I have evolved to the point of having 3 sets of rims and tires. 1 street, one set for road course and AX practice, and the 3rd set of all out R25A compound stickies for when it counts.

[Patrice911]

After the nice high 70 low 80 of the previous weekend, last weekend was cold. When driving to the track Saturday morning there was trace of snow on the park car.
The highest it went on Saturday was mid 40F and Sunday was low 50F. When I arrived at the track Sunday morning it was 27F. Like plan I started Saturday morning with the Kumho V710. In the first session the car was having a lot of under steer. People where having problem also with locking up when braking for turn 1. The 2nd session was not really better still under steering. I was hoping that the change to the F200 will fix it but it didn't. The car was still under steering and the front tire where not coming up to temperature. I did the best that I can in the Time Trial but ended up being slower by 1.4sec compare to the time of last year done on V710. Last year temperature was much warmer. I decided to make some change on the sway bar for Sunday. Sunday morning the car feel a little bit better but the under steer was still there. The front tire where still not coming up in temperature. The rear Temp. where slightly better. During the day they monitor the lap time that we do during the run group and base the grid for Time Trial on these time. My best of Sunday was the same as the one I did in the Saturday Time Trial. I was hopeful to improved in the Sunday Time Trial. I work hard again but gain only .2sec compare to Saturday still 1.2sec down from last year. Due to the condition I think this is not that bad after all.
In those condition a C90 will have probably work fine. We will see on the next event

[trekkor]

Keep it coming.


KT