great qualifying / TT tire, but not a race tire in my experience.  You guys are lighter so maybe it'll come closer to working for you though

yeah agree.. we also discussed that we could still use the dry RA1's until they were used up too

travis77 wrote I spoke to Kumho's director and they will offer a 2010 contingency for SCCA regional and NASA PT classes.  It will be similar, if not the same to the 2009 program. I've attached the 2009 form for reference.  Kumho doesn't make a 205/60/13, but make a 215/50/13.  I believe Jim Wise currently runs these tires and could comment on performance and life of these tires. The Ecsta V710 in 215/50/13 is $161 per tire at Tire Rack They make a wet too WV710 is $186 per tire at Tire Rack to compare - Hoosier 205/60/13 is $172 per tire

Here is my take, I ran RA1's for a while and there is no doubt that they are long lasting and stay consistant. I then switched to Hoosier and liked them but they were not as long lasting as the Toyo. I started using the Kumho's about 2 years ago and am really happy with them, compaired to the old Victorcrap you used to run this tire is as long lasting as the Toyo, they stay just as consistant too. While I havent had the seat time nor do I run as fast as most in SRX7, but for me they are a good tire. The down side is that they are NOT even close to being a suitable wet tire, I still have RA1 full tread tires for rain.

A 50 series tire may have a bigger affect than expected. It will change gearing, so top speed will be down and the revs will climb faster. Watch your shift points and revs. Ride heights will drop, depending on how close your car setting are, you could drop below minimums.  Reduced sidewall (flex) would aid a balanced car, just the opposite if the car pushes or oversteers.  Overall, faster acceleration, lower top speeds and tighter handling.

Sorry Chris, but I gotta pipe in and correct your math.

The 50 or 60 has nothing to do with millimeters, it has to do with aspect ratio compared to tire width (which is in millimeters).  The 215/50 is actually 1.2" shorter than the 205/60, so more than a 1" drop.

Specification  Sidewall  Radius  Diameter  Circumference  Revs/Mile  Difference
215/50-13         4.2in  10.7in    21.5in         67.4in        940        0.0%
205/60-13         4.8in  11.3in    22.7in         71.3in        889        5.7%

My issue with them was they'd overheat pretty easy, get greasy, and never come back.  Much worse than R888s do in that regard.  And this was at Mid-Ohio in mid- September, not TWS in August.  Granted I have about 300lbs on you guys with a similar size tire (205/14 at that time), but I can imagine as hot as the track temps are down here that this might be a challenging tire to manage.

I did like how they were fast right down to the cords, but that was also only 15 heat cycles for me.  Again, heavier car and all, but still a somewhat valid data point.

Its a shame the BFG R1 doesn't come in the right size for you guys - I've heard that would be just as good if not a better spec tire than the RA1 was/is.

Heard from Hankook.. they do not offer a 13" tire.

so at moment this is what is available for our tire size

TOYO

Hoosier

Kumho

Goodyear ( I beleive Matt S. spoke to goodyear guy and they make a tire in our size.. close to same price as Hoosier and Kumho..) Matt do you remember price

Travis - where are you getting your Goodyear pricing / etc from?  Google isn't helping in finding much information, just a retailer in OK to call for our area, ugh.

We were looking at the Spec Racer Ford tires.  Looks like the MSRP is $166.  Being a spec tire, I bet that's what they cost.  The budget side of that is that you could run SRF take off's to keep the cost down.  This may not be a bad option.  The biggest down side I see is having a different tire for rains.

http://www.racegoodyear.com/tires/pdf/sports_car_spec.pdf

Toyo just reinstated their contingency for club racing in 2010.