I need some help friends. I am trying to write a business plan and part of this grueling task is doing research on the products of the trade. If you guys and gals could give me some input, I would be very appreciative. I am looking for data on lightweight,midddleweight,heavyweight,and unlimited race bikes. I need to know an average tire life for the average club level racer. My observations at the track have been limited and I can't formulate an average from that alone. If you could either post or pm me with the type of bike you ride, classes you typically run in, and the frequency you change tires, that would be exactly what I need to get a good accurate average. I am aware that a lot of folks use their scrubs for practice/trackdays. I just need to come up with an average tire purchase frequency. Thanks in advance for any help. 2o2f2s
on my SV650, a set of Michelin DOTs (PRC front / MS rear) lasts an average of three race weekends and an additional trackday. i was able to win a LWSS race at VIR in September on a set of tires that were on their third weekend, for what that's worth. on the second race weekend, i would flip the rear. and then flip it back for the third weekend.
for the 2008 season (10 rounds), i think i purchased three sets of tires for racing.
i hope that helps.
That's a pretty big question. Depending on the track you ride most, bike, suspension, and willingness to push a banana skin. I'm only doing trackdays right now, but I get one full day (five 20 MIN. sessions) on my Pilot Power Race's (medium compound). Typically, that will be at Jennings.
My typical use for this season was 1 set per weekend. Fresh rubber for race day would serve as practice rubber next weekend. I ran a CBR 600RR for 3 sprints each weekend at a pace that put me with the front runners each race in the AM ranks. I might have been able to make them last longer, but I prefered to start with fresh rubber each race day for the sake of my own confidence. But I recently ran two track days (1 day cw and the other ccw) on my last set of race-weekend rubber and was able to keep pace with my usual race times. Looks like they still have some track life in them too. I started the season on D209 Ntec and finished on D211
I ran a Superbike built SV650 all year with about 84-86HP and got one set per weekend ( Sat, Sun, and the Fri practice day of the next weekend). I used the soft or medium compound Pirelli Supercorsa tires which were a year outdated but still worked well. I was at a pace where i lead pretty much every race of the weekend at some point with consistent podiums and one hard earned win ( =. The friday practice day i was able to stay with .5 - 1 second off my regular pace with the tires. I could have maybe gotten another race day out of each set but with alot of rear slide so for confidence sake it was a new set per weekend. We made the front last as long as we could though sometimes two race weekends. Hope this helps.
God Bless, Eddie CSBRacing #3:16
I would put a new set on for the first race of the weekend run 3-5 races on that set of tires, practice on them at the next round and then put a new set on to race, sell the old set to squids....rinse, recycle, repeat
so thats the long way of saying 1 set per weekend on my sv.
my am year i'd do 2 rears to a front
On my 600 I would typically get:
1 GT
2-3 sprints
out of a rear. Double that for a front.
I would put on fresh rubber for the sprints & run them through the following weekend's practice & end it with the GT race... Just easier for me to have a tire fade in a long race than in a sprint race.
If I could get two full races of about eight laps each out of a rear tire on a 600 I was happy. After that, the times would drop off. Fronts usually last through two to three rears. Yes, the rears were good tires, but not for going fast.
On a 1000 going fast, sometimes a rear DOT will drop off during an eight lap race.
I ran morning practice and 9 races (including 2 GT's) per weekend on a 600RR, on Bridgestone DOT's. The fronts would usually hold up for about 6 sprints and the rear for 3, at what I felt was full grip. After that, they would start getting slippery. At the beginning of the year, I did all 9 races on 1 front and 1 rear. About half way through the season, I started using 2 rears. If you're going to stretch your tire usage, you'll definitely need to be good at choosing your battles.
Thanks for the input guys! Keep em comin'
Ducati 1000SS with a mild superbike buikd (376 lbs, 93 bhp, 72 lb/ft of torque).
A new set of Pirrelli slicks every race weekend. I was able to pretty easily run the same tires for 2 race weekends as a yellow plate; however, as moved to Expert and picked up pace last year I found that this really doesn't work anymore. I tried running 1 set for the twin spring weekend at Road America + the ASRA Thunderbike race. Even though I skipped one or two practices and retired early in the GT Lights race, on the seond lap of the ASRA race the rear tire grip fell way off and I had to back my pace down substantially.
I was running Supercorsa Pros on a 2001 Aprilia this year.
I would relaibly get 3 good spring races out of a set of tires. The 4th and 5th were definately doable, but the bike would move around a lot more, and have a tendancy to push wide... I'd have to make adjustments on my riding to compensate.
Also of note - I decided I didn't like racing on stickers, so I'd always but a morning practice (8-12 miles) on a new set to scrub them in.
Most of my weekends consist of 1 GT race and 3 sprints. For a normal weekend I run 1 front and 2 rears. On a big weekend anywhere from 2 fronts and 2 rears, to 2 fronts and 3 rears. This is on a 05 750, running front of the pack expert regional pace. Tires are primo when taken off, however I find they lose the last 5% of their traction in about 16-18 laps. Granted they hover around 90 percent for a long while after that, that 10 is what im looking for at this point in my roadracing career, so thats what I go with. 1F 2R on reg weekends, 2F 2-3R on bigger weekends.
Yamaha TZ 250, racing Am light wieght GP, GTU and USGPRU 250GP.
I get about one to one and half weekends out of a set of bridgestone slicks. Typically I use the last weekends race set for friday practice and then mount a fresh set for the sprints. Depending on wear and grip level I may replace the set for the 250GP race on usgpru weekends.
In amatuer middleweight, I would run one set for two weekends without much dropoff in lap times. That included one GT and 3-4 sprints. As an expert and as my laptimes improved at BHF, I started to notice a difference in lap times from Saturday to Sunday on one fresh set of tires for the weekend. I'm getting to the middle of the pack. Considering the cost, I still ride one set per weekend with a practice day before the next weekend.
Well.....awwww screw it........ ::)
On a gsxr 1000 I would do a gt and two sprints on a rear (note that I am not that fast) and a front would last about double that. Thats including practices. My rear would be horrible on the last sprint, but considering the power and my fat ass, it did very well. Most of the experts in the unlimited group would run the rear once, im not sure what they would do with the front. This is primarily Blackhawk, I hear Mid america was murder on tires. Hope that helps
Quote from: 2old2fat2slow on November 20, 2008, 10:16:43 AM
I need to know an average tire life for the average club level racer. 2o2f2s
Not long enough!
1 set for most weekends running GTO and 3 sprints on my 07 R1
I could definitely feel the tire giving up a bit on that last sprint, but oh well
For 2009, I'll add another rear when running combined regional & ASRA events
Rnning Bridgestone slicks on a...
FZR600 with around 100rwhp, weighing some 400# with tire sizes of 120/600 17 on the front and a 155/635 18 on the rear. I can get around 4 sprint races with 2 morning practice session and then Saturday practice of about 10 session. I notice a dramatic drop in performance at around the 13th session and it is fully gone by the 15th session.
FZR400 with the same tire sizes uses the tires less and have run about 150 laps of a 2 1/4 mile average. Daytona is a different story and Jennings also wears tires faster.
My strategy has been to run fresh rubber for the Sunday races and then practice all day on Saturdays. This of course is in the Florida region where all day Saturday is practice and Sunday is an all day of racing all classes. I only run 2 races consistently.
Mark