If you've got a spare set of wheels with track tyres...

[bramley]

This is probably quite obvious, so go easy on me

I've got a spare set of alloys with R888s on for my E30, and it came with some crappy Nokian tyres for the road. I'm a bit of a tyre snob but this didn't bother me as the Nokian's were suprisingly ok on road. Fast forward to last week and I needed two new tyres, and my local garage mentioned the bottom of the range brand they had, and the next one up was Uniroyals, I was pushed for time and they were quite cheap so I went with them.

Then it struck me, Uniroyals claim to be 'the rain tyre'. If I went to a trackday I would use the R888s obviously, the only time I wouldn't would be if it absolutely chucked it down with rain. Aha! In such a scenario you'd want a tyre that performed well in the rain.

I'm willing to sacrifice a little bit of dry road performance for the extra performance in the rain (specifically on that car).

So, my advice to those that use track wheels on a track, is to consider getting some tyres that perform well in rain on their road wheels to cover all bases.

(must say I haven't read any reviews of the uniroyal tyres so can't be 100% sure if they're better than 'normal' tyres in the rain - but the prinicple is sound )

[kusee pee]

Agreed in general. I have slicks for the track so my main concern for my other tyres is wet weather performance. That said, I also have to use these tyres when visiting the Ring so they need to be reasonable at least in the dry. When the Ring is wet I'm just happy to stay on the road and get round in one piece - ice-rink would be an apt description!

[iguana]

New 888s were far better than road tyres in the wet on track on my e30. 888s & rain slicks woudlnt be a bad idea tho... Well ideally 1 set 888s, 1 set slicks & 1 set wets, but 3 sets of wheels to lug about is a pain.

[tertius]

iguana said:

New 888s were far better than road tyres in the wet on track on my e30. 888s & rain slicks woudlnt be a bad idea tho... Well ideally 1 set 888s, 1 set slicks & 1 set wets, but 3 sets of wheels to lug about is a pain.

I agree R888s are not half bad in the wet. In principle its a reasonable idea but I think the "wet" tyres would be better if they were more like a Michelin Pilot Sport - sort of halfway between an R compound track tyre and a standard road tyre (and I know the MPS is a normal road tyre before anyone starts ...)

[Ferb]

I'm going to cut ex BTTC slicks to a similar tread patten as 888's, I wonder what they would be like in wet conditions?

[kusee pee]

Ferb said:

I'm going to cut ex BTTC slicks to a similar tread patten as 888's, I wonder what they would be like in wet conditions?

I'd be interested to see how these work out for you. They're certainly much cheaper than 888s. Let us know.

[Ferb]

kusee pee said:

Ferb said:

I'm going to cut ex BTTC slicks to a similar tread patten as 888's, I wonder what they would be like in wet conditions?

I'd be interested to see how these work out for you. They're certainly much cheaper than 888s. Let us know.

My 888's cost £650, the BTTC slicks cost £100. I w'not be using them till July at Spa with BaT. They d'not allow you to use slicks with out a rollbar, hence cutting tread into them

[Wh00sher]

I have a set of `Silverstone Wets` as my wet weather track tyres and 888`s for when its dry. The best things I ever bought, since I`ve had them, every trackday I`ve done has been dry

I`m not as apprehensive about wet trackdays now I have some decent wet tyres, I used to rung Eagle F1`s or Parada Spec-2`s as my wet tyre, but neither really inspired great confidence on the track.

[mmm-five]

Ferb said:

kusee pee said:

Ferb said:

I'm going to cut ex BTTC slicks to a similar tread patten as 888's, I wonder what they would be like in wet conditions?

I'd be interested to see how these work out for you. They're certainly much cheaper than 888s. Let us know.

My 888's cost £650, the BTTC slicks cost £100. I w'not be using them till July at Spa with BaT. They d'not allow you to use slicks with out a rollbar, hence cutting tread into them

Are you sure they'll let you use 'cut' slicks?

I've used Silverstone S585 tarmac rally tyres before now which have little slots in them, rather than grooves to the edge of the tyre, make a lovely roar.

I've also had used Pirelli P-Zero Corsa/C tyres from the Porsche Cup cars which had lots of grip but last about 20 minutes in a car that weighs 500kg more than they were intended for

And finally, for airfields, I've used the cheapest tyre I could find.

In my M5 is was simple to carry a spare set of wheels. In the Z4MC it's not so easy.

[Ferb]

mmm-five said:

Ferb said:

kusee pee said:

Ferb said:

I'm going to cut ex BTTC slicks to a similar tread patten as 888's, I wonder what they would be like in wet conditions?

I'd be interested to see how these work out for you. They're certainly much cheaper than 888s. Let us know.

My 888's cost £650, the BTTC slicks cost £100. I w'not be using them till July at Spa with BaT. They d'not allow you to use slicks with out a rollbar, hence cutting tread into them

Are you sure they'll let you use 'cut' slicks?

Spoke to Sarah the other day and she said ok

[VTECMatt]

R888's are fine in Damp/wet conditions but when there is heavy rain inparticular standing water in my Elise you Aqua plain. Having driven on Wets they are unbelievably good, but quickly go off when it dries.