Those are the ones is use over here.


No slicks allowed.


The Hoosiers are the closest to slicks as the wear so quickly the tread doesn't last that long.

I guess it depends upon what you mean by quickly. I have used Hoosiers for a minimum of two race meetings(2 races + 2 practice sessions per meeting) before switching the rear tires to the front and fronts to rear. I suppose I could have gone three races on the fronts, but didn't see the need to try it. How many races do you get out of A032Rs?

If the entire grid is running A032Rs, then there's no problem running them. But if there are some fast guys on Hoosiers and some fast guys on A032Rs, I would certainly want to run Hoosiers based upon what I have seen. Over here, none of the fast guys run Yokos and very few of the others do, either.

I have just seen/heard no evidence that the Yokos are as fast, much less faster, than the Hoosiers. I dry weather, anyway. The Yokos are great for rain.

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"it's always better to be uninformed than ill-informed"

For what it's worth ....
Having used both Yokies and Hoosiers, I don't believe that there's ultimately that much difference between them in lap times. Perhaps the Hoosiers have a slight advantage, but it's in fractions of a second, not seconds per lap. I prefer the 'feel' of the Hoosiers which may let go a bit earlier than the Yokies, but they're very controlable and progressive. The Yokie does however, seem better suited to really wet conditions.
Wear rates are also not significantly different, and to keep things even I swap front to rear after each meeting.
The American Racing Tyre is allowed under our regulations and it's being used by some drivers, especially at hillclimbs and sprints where its soft compound can be used to an advantage. I've been told that they 'go off' after several laps in circuit racing. But that's purely academic as I wouldn't be able to fit them under the non-flared guards of my Nb car anyway. They seem to be quite a bit wider than the Yokies and Hoosiers and tend to 'balloon' out on our 5" rims.
On a purely aesthetic point of view, I also prefer the look of Hoosiers on the Mini, which seem more in keeping with classic/historic nature of our class of racing. The Yokie, however, does have a significant price advantage over the Hoosier .
Perhaps we need a control tyre .

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Curly
'64 Cooper 'S' (Group Nb spec)
'67 Mini Marcos GT www.mm7056.wordpress.com

Hoosier-Daddy???

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

been there, seen that.

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"it's always better to be uninformed than ill-informed"

I've raced on Hoosiers for about six years and for most drivers they are the faster option. The American racing tyres are still to be proven. Lindsay Siebler is the only one to have got any decent speed out of them to date (www.minis.com.au). He also sells them if you are interested.

All of the fast Victorian NB/NC Minis run on Hoosiers. A few years ago the NSW guys had a pact to only run on the Yoko AO32's. The guys up there seem to be able to make them work better than Victorians. Must be something about the weather.

The best thing about the Hoosier's is their driveability. I run AO32's as my Wet tyres and they are no wear near as "chuckable" as a Hoosier. A new set of Hoosier's has so much grip you don't have to worry about sliding, you have to worry about flipping the car over! In fact when they first came out there were quite a few Nb Minis that ended up on their sides!

To get the most out of a Hoosier you need to push it really hard so that it goes beyond where a normal Radial would grip and then sits on the side wall and just hangs on. They are extremely fun to drive on, and thats what its all about at the end of the day

HRS

And if you think their expensive work out what 1 sec a lap costs in engine development!

yeah , look, i`ve run both Hoosiers & yokos & the hoosier has it all over the Yoko in the dry,,, it does give more grip (a bit) it does give far better "feel" (in my books) & they`re just great fun to drive on

the yoks "DO" work far better than the Hoosiers in the wet (that`s for sure)

But i havn`t tried the American racers so i can`t comment,,, i`ll talk with Lindsay shortly about a set to play with for my hillclimb special (but mainly cause i heard they were cheap as chips)

we`ll see how i go with the feel of them directly compared to the Hoosiers then

But,,, i do really LOVE the Hoosier-daddys they`re my favourite

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

HI All
Lets get some facts here , a cross ply tyre as in a hoosier will never have the grip of a radial tyre for a givin size, tostart with the cross ply tyre will have a slip angle of about 12 to 14 deg where a radial has a slip angle of about 6to 8 deg the more slip angle you have the more heat you put in to your tyres, the more lock and load you put into a cross ply tyre the more the wall and face of the tyre will distort and will lift the tread off the road, now a radial tyre will distort in the wall but will keep the tread flat on the road this is why all modern race cars today run radial tyres except for historic cars wether it be slicks or treaded tyres.
Now a lot of people like cross ply tyres because they can drive over the limit of adheasion of the tyre and get away with it, as in chucking it into corners and sliding the car.DONT TRY THIS WITH RADIALS as you will take the edge off the tyre blocks and there goes your grip, you must be very smooth with them and they will be faster than the cross ply tyre
for all thoes people that have a mark on the top of there steering wheel so they know where straight ahead is just look how much more lock you have to use when you turn into a corner on a 14 inch steering wheel you will have to use 4 to 5 inches more on the od of the wheel.
now as for the americian race tyres they have been to soft in the wall construction but we have now got them to make the wall stiffer, so with that and the wider tread width plus the price the may be a thing.
We have done a lot testing with our cars that why we run the radials as they are faster of all the tyres.
Graham Russell

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"It's better to be not informed than ill-informed"

GR , i understand what you`re saying & i actually agree to a point & i know you & Greig have tested both to their limits & i agree with the need to be smoother (less sliding) with the yokos,,, maybe that`s one of my problems--> i like the feel & "Flingability" of the Hoosier far better than the yoko & maybe i`m just too used to having fun with them, the Yokos are no where near as forgiving

I can`t say that i`ve done anywhere near as many miles on circuits as you guys have so i bow to your superior experience,,, but with what i`ve done & the way i drive (or rather the way i "Like" to drive) ,, my "style" so to speak,,, well i just prefer the Hoosier-daddys

& there`s also one other factor with the "Why" i like them, & that`s simply because in ou club racing scene up here with the Surfers Paridis Racing Club & the Toowoomba Auto Racing club & many others that we compete with, there are quite a few dirt circuits & sprints & Hillclimbs (or rather there was) & the Hoosier is really really good for them as well,,, especially once the track has cleared off most of it`s loosness that is

&&&& Just a note of warninf for anyone who thinks they might get away with racing worn Hoosiers in the wet---> DON`T DO IT !!!!!!!!!! worn Hoosiers are absolutely rubbish in the wet & are basically down right dangerous

ok,,, back to your normal viewing

Oh & notice howCourtney thanked his sponsors this arvo,,, including "Read" he`s such a nice guy that Courtney

Edit--> Oh & GR,,, if you don`t mind me asking,,, how much time difference would you put between the Yokos & the Hossiers after all your testing???

Just curious cause after all my trials & setting changes to suit the yokos i just couldn`t get better times & they made me work harder to keep it smoother to stop the edges of the tyres going off,,, But with the Hoosiers i was able to "Play" with some corners & use less brakes,,, & as we all know,,, brakes just slow you down right???

so can you give me/us a guestimate of the time difference between the 2 tyres??? like have you found great gobs of time like half a sec or is it only .2 or so???

i was on average .2 quicker on the Hoosiers quite consistanly at Lakeside,,, but not much in it at Morgan PK,,, however i was heaps quicker at QR on the Hossiers (.5)

But i`ve not done anywhere near as many laps around Morgan PK as i have at Both Lakeside & QR tho so maybe my tentativness at Morgan PK was helping the Yokos more???

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

Guess you and me both are going to have to change our technique and learn to drive these new-fangled radials properly if we're going to go any faster
But, what fun will that be?

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Curly
'64 Cooper 'S' (Group Nb spec)
'67 Mini Marcos GT www.mm7056.wordpress.com

a tire with greater grip will be faster if the driver of the car is capable of mastering a driving style which allows faster use of those tires. However, if the grippier tires are difficult to drive near their limit, the more average driver may well be able to drive faster on less grippy tires because of their forgiving nature. Since most drivers, in club racing, are more nearly average than stars, it may well be that these drivers turn faster laps with the more forgiving tire unless/until they can master the driving style that the grippier tires require for best speed. Maybe this is at the root of the Hoosier/Yoko debate.

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"it's always better to be uninformed than ill-informed"

Touche

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Curly
'64 Cooper 'S' (Group Nb spec)
'67 Mini Marcos GT www.mm7056.wordpress.com

Crickey,,, so i`m an "Average" driver now,,, ah sh!t

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

HI MINI7BOY
why not start with an old set of radials like a lot of club guys do get a set of used ones take your self out to circuit and drive it start of really slow like 4/5 seconds of YOUR PACE and note what you are doing, do 3 laps or so come in and have a think about what you are doing and how you can improve dont just go out there and belt around for 10 laps because you will make the same mistakes over and over again. brake a little earlier get on the power a little earlier and just feed the power on slowley drive the the car out of the corner smoothley and slowley build up speed try not to make the car under steer or over steer and it will all fall into place you'll find you will go faster by going slower.
Dont ever put your self down by saying imm just going to be an average driver because that all you'll be think positive, I AM going to be the best mini driver around i just need to think more and pratice more.
Graham Russell

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"It's better to be not informed than ill-informed"

Hi Graham,
my remarks were misunderstood. I was merely suggesting that a forgiving tire that is relatively easy to drive near its limit will be easier for the TYPICAL(not average in skills) driver to go fast with rather than the tire(radial?) that may have more ultimate cornering power near its tricky limit, but is difficult for the TYPICAL driver to run near this limit without making mistakes.

Races are won by stringing together a group of fast laps, not by having one demon lap and mostly mediocre laps. I believe that the more forgiving tire will more easily allow a chain of fast laps than will a tire which is difficult to drive near its limit.

It was in response to your(GR) remarks that radials/Yokos must necessarily be faster than the bias-ply Hoosiers. Perhaps your Yokos or Hoosiers are different than ours, but I have NEVER seen anyone run anywhere near the front on Yokos. I have also spoken with drivers who have driven both Yokos and Hoosiers and say that the Hoosiers are far superior.

I agree with your remarks about just driving around for 10 laps without improving one's technique. Driving is largely mental and only partly physical unless one has poor reflexes or vision.

What rim width do you run with your Yokos/Hoosiers? We are allowed, and we run, 6 inch wide rims.

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"it's always better to be uninformed than ill-informed"