The new Hoosier Vintage FF tire arrives

[Tom Duncan]

I did change camber and toe, plus pressures, did not change caster. I let tire temps dictate the changes.

This is a bit of a digression as most of the Hoosier VFF shod cars will be the original FF's from the 1970s, but as some clubs are now allowing CF cars this discussion will be relevant for some.

My thinking is there are three principal points of compliance between the car and the track, with varying degrees of said compliance. I see them as the frame, the shock/spring package and the tire carcass.

In my case the car was set up with a stiff frame (significantly improved from original with the addition of anti-intrusion bars and other stiffening/additional bars), a stiff shock/spring setup (Penske 2-way, B/C valving, 350/300 springs, essentially Crossle 35 geometry) and in the case of the Hoosier a very stiff sidewall.

I have asked Hoosier about tire spring rates but have not gotten an answer.

I had to increase the shock settings way higher than what I normally use with American Racer AR133 tires to control the unsprung weight from chattering from the minor undulations of the track surface. I would normally run the shocks about halfway of the settings (3/6 bump, 12 of 24 rebound) but had to crank the shocks up to 5/6 and 4/24).

My thinking is the AR's would absord the high frequency low amplitude undulations with their soft sidewalls whereas the Hoosiers would just transmit them through. So I think I need to put some compliance into the suspension, in this case lighter springs being the first step. I'll control the subsequent roll with the bars.

The fast CF (Crossle 35?) of the two vintage weekends was using very soft springs, much softer than commonly used with AR's so this has supported my thinking to some degree.

If my thinking is correct the Zink may very well have the compliance needed built into the frame by default.

Tom

[scott fairchild]

I was comparing the difference to the Dunlop setup, since those are what most monoposto FF and CFL cars have experience with in recent years. I had plenty of time in those too. YMMV

[Yzracing159]

Just got done with my first weekend on the new Hoosier treaded tires. Before this I had only ran the Hoosier R60's. It was about 90 degrees both days at Blackhawk. I was the only one there on the Hoosiers and ran the same lap times as everyone else. I didn't change the setup of the car at all from the R60's and the car drove awesome used the suggested 15lbs all around and the tires were very predictable the whole race, which was 17 laps and the performance never dropped off!

[Layabout]

FYI, CSRG has approved Hoosiers for FF & the club is accepting CF entries for their Season Finale at Thunderhill, Oct. 29-30. There's also an afternoon practice session on Friday Oct 28, but that session is not included in your entry fee. There's a Saturday night dinner/awards at the Willows Veterans Memorial Hall that is included with your entry.

[Robert J. Alder]

Rocky Mountain Vintage Racing also has a tire rule change in process (rule changes take a while) which will add the Hoosier FF tire to the current Dunlop/Avon spec tire(s) for FF and CF.

In the meantime, we're accepting FF entries wearing the new FF Hoosier tires. No problem. This includes our upcoming Race Against Kids' Cancer (July 30-31) where once again we're inviting ALL FFs (Yes, even the new "Honda" FFs) for this annual charity event which again has a FF Featured Grid. Last year we had in excess of 40 FFs.

Complete event info here

And yes, there will be Grid Girls again this year!

[Roland V. Johnson]

We put the Hoosiers on Dan Cowdrey's Titan Mk-6 at SVRA Fontana, ran them also at the Sonoma Historics and last weekend at Indy. He ran up front at all three events and the tires still have a lot of tread left. We did not try a new set against the used tires we were running, but Dan couldn't feel any lack of grip.****disclaimer**** Dan's Titan is not a legal Monoposto FF so perhaps I should not comment on this thread. But the car did weigh 1132#'s with driver after the race with his aluminium head(1125 min wt) 175 # driver makes the car at 957#'s.

[Charlie Schmidt]

does anyone have a feel yet for how well the Hoosiers maintain pressure? I'm thinking of putting a set on my Westfield, but if I have to check pressures twice a week (like dunlops) it won't happen

[Tom Duncan]

I got a new set of Hoosier VFF's I ran at Sears Point 3 weeks ago and since sitting in my garage two have lost a half pound, two none at all. Very acceptable pressure integrity in my book, especially coming from American Racers, who's rears lose half their pressure overnight.

Tom Duncan

[Yzracing159]

Losing that small amount of pressure could be many factors! Temperature, bad seal on the bead or a leaky valve stem

[Tom Duncan]

Assuming you are referring to the large overnight loss with American Racer AR133s, nope. Crappy build quality. All of us that use/have used the tire in our regional club races have experienced the same thing. It's always the rears (though the fronts will lose the same but over a weeks time), and the type of rim or choice of rim from ones collection makes no difference.

Tom

[Ralph Z.]

I have been running the Dunlops for over 3 years now and have had no leakage except for one rear tire. I attribute this to a mounting issue with the rim. That being said, I guess any experience with the Dunlops is a moot point given their unavailability.

I'll be moving to Hoosiers for my next tire set. It seems they are delivering performance that is on par with the Dunlops. Has anyone had other experience???

[Albatross]

Ralph, we all pretty much agree with your thinking about the Dunlop tires. They were nice to race on, gave good performance and lasted quite well. Now that they are impossible to get and were ridiculously expensive, the new Hoosier VFF tire will do just fine at $775 a set to the front door. There have been a few now used with no negative comments. Next week, July 1-3, here in the Pacific Northwest, we have a big vintage weekend at Pacific Raceway (PR). Several of the drivers will be giving the new Hoosier a good 3 day workout. The weather is supposed to be good and with 15 FF entries and perhaps some late entries (doubtful), we should have much to report. "Set up" is the big question, however the rumor in question is longevity. My suspicions are that Avons will be history for next year and we'll all be on the Hoosier.

[tstrong]

Just finished fourth weekend and 3 test days (Buttonwillow, Autoclub, Indy, and Mid Ohio) on my first set of Hoosiers. Tread is about 2/3 worn and performance is still consistent. Obviously haven,t repeated any tracks for direct lap time comparison, but relative performance to other competitors on newer tires shows no performance drop off. Ran a set of 2+ year old, 5 weekend Dunlops and 2nd weekend Hoosiers in back to back testing. Times were very close with the avg difference being the Dunlops were about .3 secs faster than the Hoosier and the fastest lap on Dunlops being .6 sec faster (approx 90 sec lap) so I would argue that "new" Dunlops (which don't exist) would be a bit faster than the Hoosiers and the Avon are likely a little faster, That said the Hoosier price and performance is awesome. I applaud Hoosier for working with the vintage groups and producing a great tire that I hope becomes the standard/ spec tire for all vintage FF's.

As far as set up goes every car / driver will end up a little different, but starting with the same setup as Dunlop / Avon will be very close. I have ended up running about 1-2 psi higher pressure than the Dunlops and slightly less camber but the differences are very minor. Todd

[Don Denomme]

I run a VanDiemen RF80 in vintage. All my comments are based on this car and setup notes with non-adjustable Bilstein shocks. Ran the Hoosiers at Summit Point in May and Thompson, Ct last weekend.

Due to cold and rain I didn't learn much at Summit. At Thompson the temps were in the 80's and low 90's with a dry track all weekend. All data is based on tires filled with Nitrogen. Tire temps were done by an experienced crewman over five consecutive on-track sessions between practice, qualifying and races.

Initial camber set-up was 1/4 deg. fronts and 1/2 deg. rear and 14/16 tire pressures. First run tire temps were in the range of 145 inside, 135 outside and 155 or higher in the middle with 3 to 4 lbs pressure increase. Dropped pressures down to 12/14 with vast improvement in handeling and tire temps. Changed rear cambers to 1/3 deg. Also softened front and rear sway bars.

Lap times were identical to Dunlop times set previous year under similar conditions. Tire consistency from session to session and throughout the races was great. Set fastest time during last race. Had approx 9 or 10 total heat cycles on tires by end of second weekend. Ware rate was quite good. Based on bang-for-the-buck the Hoosiers are a great choice for me.