I disagree. Sticky tires will benefit novice to pro. When I took all my classes to get my SCCA license no one told me to get tires that don't stick to be a better driver. Yes, good drivers can drive on anything but all drivers can drive sticky tires.
Also, I was told by Todd at Tire Rack that the reason they originally made the Hoosier in the OEM rear size for our GTs is that some of the GT testing was done on Hoosiers. That tire size only is for our GTs.
Ed
Thanks for your thoughts Ed, and although I appreciate your position, I still must respectively disagree.
First, let’s take the Goodyear tires out of the conversational mix for this thread. The OE F1 Supercar tires delivered on our car were good in the day but tire technology has come a long way in the intervening 15 years. Many owners (but not all) have migrated to the newer Bridgestone tires for our cars. They ARE better tires than the OE Goodyear’s.
Subjectively they are quieter running, have good traction properties and have a stiffer sidewall for cornering. In speaking to FGT development engineers over the years, the sidewall “compliance” the Bridgestone’s tires have is really what the development team wanted in the first place. Goodyear tired hard (remember twice through the alphabet on submissions) and the final “full-wrap” tire design did satisfy the program performance goals. But the newer Bridgestone design does a much better job with this (and other) tire characteristics. As an aside, Scott Almen’s new shock package for the FGT was developed and refined on a FGT with Bridgestone tires.
Oh and Todd at Tire Rack may think that Hoosier sizes were specifically targeted for the FGT program, but they were not. It is well known Goodyear REALLY wanted to be on the production car and went back to the design board many (many, many, many) times to vary tire/tread carcass construction which changed handling characteristics to satisfy the development engineering targets. The development team may have had a few sets of other manufacturer tires around during testing, but only as an incentive to keep Goodyear working to meet tire design goals. No other tire manufacturer was seriously in the game for the 05-06 FGT. Remember too, FGT tire development was soon after the Explorer, Firestone Wilderness tire fiasco and Ford was absolutely going to protect the FGT with a fully functional, SAFE tire from a well respected tire manufacturer. This is what we got.
When learning High Performance Driving (HPD), grip is not a key factor. In fact learning the “racing line” (ie quickest path around the track) is paramount in the learning development cycle. Knowledge development of the line can be taught in the rain or snow under low grip conditions just as easily as warm and sunny track conditions. Just at a lower speed. Being smooth (thanks rocketman) in driving technique, consistent linear throttle/brake application, understanding track terms (brake zone, turn in, apex, track out, trail braking, etc) and down track vision are (IMO) all more important than “grip” up through intermediate level HPD. Vehicle speed comes with comfort on the track; knowing what to expect from the car, where to place the car on the track for the next turn and vehicle feedback (audio and kinematic). The beginning student has a ton of other things to try to understand and process before he gets to grip threshold. This is why knowing driver experience level BEFORE jumping to grippier tire suggestions is really part of answering Fordcarsforfun’s original question.
Your premise “…all drivers can drive sticky tires” is true, but do they NEED them to have fun on the track. I think one can have a jolly good time on the track with the lower cost, rain weather protected and great handling Bridgestone tires. The FGT has so much inherent track capability in its OE design (with street tires) you have to be quite experienced at driving technique to push the car limits. Enjoy the track experience with Bridgestones.:biggrin