'07 Fray Car Tire Testing
This is an initial test of several brands of silicone sponge tires for this
years East Coast Fray Team. Instead of putting on and pulling off tire sets this year on the same axle, I wanted to try a new approach. All the current
magnet cars can put in new setups easily, thanks to slots in the chassis to the axle holes. So I built a T-Jet chassis with the same feature, and then
used polished brp Titanium axles with stock crown gears on each setup. Each setup was broken in with On-slot gear lube
and the test tires fitted.
The test car and tire sets...
The test track, a very good Fray style track, the Bowman Lunacy...owned by East Coast Fray Team driver, Lewis Wuori.
These are Tom Shepard's .350 small hub tires, which he calls "Outlaws". These tires have a hump in the middle of the tire and a very shiny finish. Lewis says they work especially well on sectional track.
These are Wizzard Greens, sized at .350, but by my measurement they are more like .355. They are wider than current fashion, but offer exceptional grip...even on dirty tracks.You can purchase Wizzard silicone sponge tires from
brp's website since brp is a Wizzard dealer.
The new .350 GoGo tires, have a rather different wheel, with a long extension, which gives a perfect width when pressed in. The extra plastic allows a legal way to add weight to the rear axle assembly under the current Fray rules. These tires were provided by Ray Etheridge.
This is Mike Briggs new tires, which I got from him at the Shootout. Labeled .342, my gauge had them at .345. These tires reminded me of Slottech tires, i.e. white rubber, black wheels and rounded edges.
Jack Rutherford's Fandango tires, are called Fangs and were in a .350 size, and a narrow wheel form factor. I got them from Jack at the Shootout.
John Babcock, a Michigan resin caster, supplied some sweet looking .345 tires on orange rubber and a small hub. John is a long time racer and sells racing T-Jet bodies, that are available at Jim Gase's website. He doesn't really like
making tires, and only reluctantly allowed me a pair for testing.
These are Lewis Wuori's new .350 whites, he only made 4 sets so far on his new lathe...they are good, might need to make some more!
The first maker to distribute widely silicone sponge tires in T-Jet sizes, Wizzard's blacks started everything going, towards the present in Fray tire design. The blacks are .350 and look the way a tire should look, in my opinion.
You can purchase Wizzard silicone sponge tires from
brp's website since brp is a Wizzard dealer.
| |
Lunacy - 1 |
Place |
Lunacy - 2 |
Place |
Bianchi |
Place |
| Wizzard .355 Greens |
8.596 sec |
8 |
8.323 |
3 |
4.106 |
4 |
| Babcock .345 |
8.442 sec |
5 |
8.158 |
1 |
4.025 |
1 |
| Lewis Wuori .350 |
8.371 sec |
3 |
8.186 |
2 |
4.191 |
8 |
| Fandango .350 |
8.327 sec |
2 |
8.457 |
7 |
4.085 |
3 |
| Mike Briggs .342 |
8.302 sec |
1 |
8.385 |
4 |
4.041 |
2 |
| Wizzard .350 Blacks |
8.414 sec |
4 |
8.401 |
5 |
4.176 |
7 |
| GoGo .350 |
8.486 sec |
7 |
8.429 |
6 |
4.140 |
6 |
| Outlaws .350 |
8.459 sec |
6 |
8.519 |
8 |
4.132 |
5 |
The first round on Lewis's Lunacy track, all the tires were as brand new...never having turned a wheel on a track. I ran 20 laps on each set on both Lunacy rounds,
trying to set fast time. Because of the length of the track, and my own learning the track, times were somewhat inconsistent. The Briggs, Fandango and Wouri tires were the top 3, all in the 8.3 second range. For Round 2, I scuffed both Wizzard
tires with Scotchbrite, to take some of the shine off. This is the recommended break in procedure for Wizzard tires. The other tires were left as they were, because
I wasn't aware of any particular break in recommendations from the manufacturer. You'll notice more of a spread between the times in round 2, as I'm getting in tune
with the track. All testing was in the Blue lane, and each tire was run for 20 laps. The Babcock and Wuori tires came out on top by a wide margin in round 2. Round 3 was back on my home
Bianchi track, testing was on the Yellow lane and run for 25 laps. I've run thousands of laps on this track, since it went into service in 1999, so I feel I can quickly get a setup up to speed, and
get the best that can be gotten. Because it is only a 4' x 8', it is a great testing track and you can quickly see the difference in different components. Babcock's little orange wonders again came out on top, followed by
Briggs and Fandango, all just over 4 seconds. All the leading tires were very impressive looking and performing...having a flawless, shiny appearance in the silicone. This
years crop has really made some improvements over what was available last year. Thanks to all the manufacturers for taking part! ...Tom
2007 East Coast Fray Team