80s music?? Uhh, I was a 60s and 70s rock fan. Oooops, OT....

3011 was more of an autocross tire. The round shoulders and belt construction enabled those to roll almost onto their sidewalls before getting loose. As street tires, they were better, IMO, than the legendary Pirelli P7. But that's OT as well.

Awrighty then, how 'bout we talk some politics here? Apparently, there's no more space on the server partitioned for PWRR. Laff....

On that note, and while I'm off topic, I have to ask an open question: Do any of you that frequent the PWRR section still have Z cars at all? No care, just wondering....

 

^^^ Point, Sir. I personally know at least 5 regulars there who sold their Zs years ago.

 

Gotta drag this conversation back to tires. The only way to gaining much experience with tires is to get out on the track with them. Which eastern tracks are you HPDEing at? NH? Lime Rock? New Jersey?

 

Compared with the venerable Yoko A008, the technology in 2020 R-compound tires has resulted in tires with softer compounds that remain faster with a predictably shorter service life. Even though they have a current DOT-rating, I bet the 40 UTOQ tires would last less than 2K miles of street driving. Their operating temperatures have also narrowed, although R-compound tires have never been very useful below 40 degrees F.

 

In the questionable 200tw department, the Yokohama A052s are crazy good. I had Bridgestone RE71Rs on the car previous and these tires are much more grippy. I'd be willing to bet they are faster than the AR-1s. They feel more like an R comp than a street tire. Might be worth giving them a shot, especially if anyone competes in a 200tw class.

 

Every tire maker can rate their own tires, so the UTOQ ratings are somewhat subjective. But this thread/review is really about SCCA road racing, where there are NO limitations on UTOQ ratings. Like racing series with unlimited rules on key points (horsepower, aero development, etc.) this tends to mean we all go crazy trying to get the most grip possible. Hence, the reason that tire makes like Hoosier or BFGoodrich go to soft tire compounds with a 40 UTOQ (or lower) in an effort to outstrip the other guy.

It's interesting to note that 80's icons like the IMSA twin turbo Porsche 911 of Peter Gregg were slower around a power circuit like Road America than I was in my T3 350Z when last I was there. Lap times are immediately impacted by tire technology and today's tires are lightyears ahead of the best racing slicks from back in the day.

 

Real question on topic-
Instead of allowing manufacturers to post their own "Traction fx" estimates, why not change it to a numerical value for that tire's durometer hardness/softness and let the buyer make an informed decision?

 

Makes sense, but I think the real reason this isn't being done is it serves the tire industry to NOT have such a system in place. Plus, nobody wants to enforce this kind of rating system.

It's up to consumers--like me--to post their impressions...

 

Make an informed decision? That would put the spin doctors out of business.
Yokohama AD08 looks to be the successor to the venerable A008 but for a full race tyre that has a bit less ultimate grip to the AO50 the AO48 is a good alternative, a bit more durable apparently. But like all Yokos premium priced.