Pirelli tire selection

I am maybe using the wrong word here then. I had a very strange wear pattern on the right side of the SC2 (Grattan is a clockwise track) It looked like hot tearing, but it had some spaces in between the tears and the tears were at an angle. On the power it felt like the rear was "pumping" or bouncing. I got it to clean up a little by slowing rebound down, but it still did it.

SC1 didn't do it at all.

 

I was at Grattan last month. I'm sure it was a set up issue in combination with lack of rubber on the track. And I'm sure once they repave the the rest of the place the track will be more tire friendly.

 

Dang, I wish I'd have known you were there. Would have been great to get some knowledgeable eyes on it. I'm not blaming the tire whatsoever. I'm positive it's me, or something I'm doing. That's why I made the original post asking the question. I was wondering if there was anything I should be doing as far as setup when switching from a SC1 to an SC2?

 

I was hanging with Mongo n Ev on the WERA Sunday races for a few hours before I had to head north!

 

Hey Pirelli tire guys - Mark Junge is the local guy in my area but he can't get the rear slick I need to fit a Kramer. I'm looking for an SC1 180/55 (not the 180/60) to use this weekend at Nelson Ledges. Does anyone have one they can ship me? Thanks!

 

Hey Pnuematico... The tire vendor at Mid-O was out of SC1 front, and I wasn't confident I could try to order some in time for Grattan this weekend. So i went ahead and picked up a few SC2 fronts for the weekend instead. I tried an SC2 in May and didn't get along well with it. It felt kind of "numb" up front for me. Where as the SC1 feels great. However, I am basically forced to try the SC2 again, and after talking with a few guys who run Pirelli, a lot of guys really love the SC2 front Most of them are also a few clicks faster than me. So maybe they're onto something. Even at the ice rink Mid-Ohio a lot of the Pirelli riders were on the SC2. I had never been there before, so I didn't change my setup at all and used my last SC1 fronts for the weekend.

In your opinion, what is a good baseline for me to start with? I run the SC1 at about 35 psi off the warmers and its about 36-37 when I return to my pit quickly. Should I keep the SC2 the same? Leave the suspension the same? I'm a yellow plate with a ZX10R. Pace is about a 1:23-24 at Grattan (keen for a 21-22's this weekend)

I'm only asking because Pirelli rarely has a vendor at the Grattan rounds (at least lately anyway)...

The poor guy at Track Side Tires was swamped during VMD when I was buying about 8 tires and having him mount 4 of them.. so I didn't want to sit there and inundate him with questions while people were in line behind me. They also made him park next to the shitters and it smelled terrible over there.. I felt bad, and hope he made some money.. lol

Thanks for all the great info you've been providing.

 

I believe I have one in stock where are you located at? Mark is no longer a Pirelli vendor I believe.

 

SC2 is where it's at. I haven't really ever had to run pressure outside of the 37-38PSI window.

 

So, are you going to vend the sticky buns at Grattan this weekend?

 

Kory from Moto Station shipped him one weeks ago so he be good! But if he needs another here ya go.

 

FWIW, I always ran SC1 front and rear on my R6 and ended up trying the SC2 front for endurance racing and ended up leaving it on for sprints next day and still set a PB at RRR. Track temp was over 135 degrees and I had a few moments where I pushed the front but the feedback was even better then the SC1. It seems the SC1 has tons of grip but I have never noticed the front sliding like I did the SC2 which was predictable and I kept bike upright and went faster then I ever have at Roebling. At this point I'm gonna keep using SC2 front until I can't get any faster with it.

You can go really fast on the harder front tire even in hot days.

 

We know the SC2 has a firmer feel so maybe you just need to spend more time to learn it? But if you think the "numb" is because the tire is harder feeling then I would try 2lbs less and judge that change. And at this point I don't think you need to tweak the clickers.

 

I am not just a hair too far for me I covered it for 2 years and it’s a hard one for me.

 

Thank you for the reply. I will try it again and see what I can make happen.

 

Yeah on the Kramer tire I got one shipped and also picked one up at a Putnam track day a couple weeks ago (thanks Joe!) so I'm good for a while. Thanks all.

 

Oh that’s you ok then good deal.

 

Ok so the message here is Grattan is not getting enough racers for more than one tire vendor to show up to service the event? This is so sad, because for all of you eastern US racers this track flows and has a lot of elevation changes and is so fun. Sure the surface needs so help but damn it's a blast!

 

Yep the grids are very small and I think between both years I sold 12 tires combined in 2 years up there. I'm fine with breaking even for a year but losing 1k or more a weekend just cant cover it along with a 11 hour drive.

 

So as someone who raced back in the 90s and just got back into it, I was surprised how small the grids were at my first race back this year (Nelson a month or so ago). In one of my classes there were 4 entries and only 3 in the other. There was 1 tire guy there and back in the day there were usually 2, sometimes 3. It was less than half the number of entries that used to show up in the Glory Days. I don't think mx/offroad racing is having declines in entries anywhere near this and may actually be growing. Is the lack of interest in supersport bikes on the showrooms translating into a lack of interest for roadracing? Maybe and maybe not - track day entries seem fairly strong (except maybe this year with gas prices being so high) - those weren't even a real thing back in the 90s. I had an interesting conversation with a tire guy who used to work races but now only does track days - he said in general there's not enough racers at a regional race weekend to justify his cost of going, but he does decent at track days. He thinks the cost of racing vs. track days is the issue. I'm not sure if that's the problem - track days are like $200 and up per day and races are similar if you do 2 sprints. You do get more track time for your money in a track day but for me anyways, track days aren't nearly the same fun/challenge as racing.

I hope WERA is making enough money for it to be worth their time and would hate if it turns into a 'labor of love and not profit' because that won't last and I'd hate to see grassroots roadracing decline further. Cancelling the rounds out West seems like a bad omen...

 

This is an age old debate ever since TD's came out, but there's no refuting dollars per lap, track days are cheaper. 10th year doing this, 9 years doing WERA and TD's, and TDs are cheaper without a doubt.