havent been there but want to hit a trackdaz event in jan....i was wndering how the traction was....can i get away with the corso rosso's that are on now...2 trackdays on them with 80 % left....or get some dot races..it should be fairly cold out there around then.
I can't tell you about those tires, but I was there a couple weeks ago, and the track has awesome grip, even in the cooler temps of the early sessions, the track had grip. Just get your tires on warmers and take it easy the first couple of laps.
Chuckwalla has really good traction and is easy on tires. Although I don't, lots of people were running street tires at the Star school I attended yesterday. BTW it was 75 degrees there.
You will love it there and its a fun fast track. My tires came back baby smooth when I went and I ran Dunlop slick.
Without seeing your tires, my guess is you're probably fine. The cool thing is the Pirelli guys will be there if you end up needing replacements.
I wouldn't put warmers on street tires for more than 15 minutes or so. Too much heat on a street tire can turn it to a slippery goo. Found out the hard way Best to let it warm up on a lap or two on their own. Even if you use warmers, you'll loose most of the surface temperature as you're rolling from the paddock to the grid (assuming it's a cold day).
There are 2 spots on the track that where a little slick when I was there at the end of OCT. Both spots are new gray patches on the track I was running BT-003 type 3 with 3 days on them. Going Clockwise The exit of turn 5 Rear spin and going down the hill through turn 12 front end slide.
chuckwalla ate up my tires. but i think it was from having the wrong compound but street tires are just fine there!
Chuckwalla grip/tire wear I have run Chuckwalla many times on both bridgestone and dunlop DOT's. The track has amazing grip. I did not experience any slip or push on any corners while running 2:04's on my 600. The AMA riders are aparrently running 1:57's on their 600's, so I may not have being going fast enough to find out! It is true that Chuckwallay did eat up tires when it was a new track but I am now getting six full track days out of a set of N Tec's compared to just two track days when the track was new. Faster riders (particularly on 1000's) will see worse wear rates. The track really has improved greatly with use and time and is now the most economical track I use (for tire wear). You can use tire warmers, but you don't need to....Jason Pridmore and his coaches didn't during Star school two weekends ago. Jason was probably running 1:55's or quicker on a fairly stock GSXR 1000 (with mirrors!). I think they were all on Qualifiers; they didn't use tire warmers. Tire warmers allow you to go faster on the first lap, which is pointless on a track day. The real benefit to track day riders (like myself) is that it reduces heat cycles, improving tire life, saving money on tires and unexpected accidents on cycled tires that still show usable tread. I have learned from bitter experience that poor tire wear is often associated with incorrect hot tire pressures, incorrect suspension settings and abrupt (late) throttle action exiting corners. Show your tires to the In House suspension guy (at Chuckwalla) after the morning session and he might give you a better set up. I did and ran three seconds quicker the same afternoon and my tire wear has improved. I agree with the earlier comment..I see lots of people using tire warmers that then go out and run 2:15's. This is a complete waste of time and money and its dangerous (race tires don't hold heat at that speed)...you might as well be on a street tire at those lap times. Good luck at Chuckwalla..see you there 1/7 and 1/8.
When I was there, they were saying Ben Bostrom was doing 46's. Thats just what I heard, but we weren't pushing it too much either and doing 58's, so I don't know how true that is.
ah just saw pigs post. I was there in december and Josh Hayes and his wife Melissa Peris were doing from what I could tell high 1:50s but I do not think they were pushing it very hard
Race times for lightweight twins will likely be in the 1:58 to 2:00 range. A few of us were turning 2:04 - 2:05's on SV's with 75-80 hp while getting to know the track, and I'm not a particularly fast SV guy.
