track day tire pressures

[sprintboy]

Hey all,
I'm doing my first track day on the 675 this Saturday and am wondering what tire pressures I should run. Any of you experienced track stars care to share your wisdom?

Sprintboy

[Will]

I hardly consider myself a track star, but I have wasted enough time, money and gasoline on the track to really screw you up good!

First of all, what tires are you running? If they are the OEM tires, I don't know right off. There will likely be a Pirelli rep at PR on Saturday. I think they are good at about 30 or 32 psi front and rear. Pilot Powers generally run 34 psi front and rear cold. I am running Bridgestones this year, and using 30 front, 29 rear for cold pressures. What you want is a roughly 10% rise in pressure from cold to hot. If you get less than 10% you are running too much pressure and the tires are not getting hot enough.

If you haven't done a lot of track days, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Street tires are plenty sticky for the beginning intermediate groups. I am only running race tires this season because I am actually racing and got a source for them. As far as lap times and tires, you should have no problems with street tires down to about 1:50 at PR. Start going faster, and the pressures will matter a lot more.

If you have a lot of miles on your tires, even if they have plenty of tread, seriously consider replacing them. Pushing too many heat cycles through a set of tires contriubted to my crash last year in a big way. According to the Michelin rep, I should have been able to finish the day no problem, but they were absolutely cooked to wood. He was pretty surprised at how badly they hardened up in two and a half trackdays and only 500 street miles.

The local vendors support NESBA very well, so you should be able to get a set of tires at the track as long as you have a way to pull the wheels.

I wish you were going to be there Sunday or I was going to be there Saturday, becasue it would be fun to share a pit space, and I have the tools necessary to pull your wheels. And if I am there, chances are my friend Paul will be there with his 675. He is racing it this season and knows much more about prepping and maintaining a track 675 than I do. I wimped out and am racing a Gixxer.

[sprintboy]

Thanks Will!
I appreciate the advice, I'm honestly not to worried about it because I haven't put many miles on the bike since I got it so I'll be taking it pretty easy just so I can get the feel of the bike. The last thing I want to do is crash it because I'm not familiar with the machine.

I am runing the OEM tires so I'll try to talk to the rep when I get there. I may come down on Sunday to watch, if I do I'll find you and say hello.

Thanks for the advice!

[Will]

It would be a lot of fun to see you. If you have the OEM tires and you are runing in the beginning group, then I wouldn't get too hung up on tire pressures at first. My guess is you will start feeling the red mist a bit toward the end of the day, and I guarantee you will be going a whole lot faster than you ever thought you would.

Oh, yeah, one other thing- kiss all your money good bye, because track riding is more addictive than any other substance known to man!

[Triumphant600]

any1 run nitrogen in their tires? i have them in my car tires only bc i used to work at a shop that used the service but the only thing i noticed was that they consistently held the same tire pressure for long periods of time... any1 else use it?

[wiayeman]

Will. I'm afraid I strongly disagree. I ran the same thread on the T3 forum so this perked my interest. Until last month, it had been 4 years since my last trackday. I didn't even think about the pressures and ran the OEM recommended pressures. During the 3rd session as speeds went up, I lost the rear and threw my bike down the track. The first question the head instructor asked was about my pressures.

Triumphant. I hope you made it through the day without any drama. Your pressures should be 32-30 max. The tyre rep at the track can give you better recommendations based on his knowledge, your tyres, track conditions and temperature.

I just finished another track day yesterday using 32-30. The bike was firmly planted and my dented confidence rose as the day wore on.

[sprintboy]

The track day went well! I had time before the first session and stopped by the pirelli reps tent he had a little sign stating what the tire pressures should be for that day for various brands and tire types. For my tires it was 28 front and 25 rear. I ran more like 33/ 30 and it just stuck to the track. Keep in mind that this was the first time I've been on the track with the 675 so I don't have much to compare it to. This bike just comes to life in the track!

Sprintboy

[Will]

Wow, that's a whole lot lower pressure than I am used to running. I am glad the reps at the track were able to get you better information. One thing to keep in mind- the OEM Triumph Pirellis are not the same tires the rep sells, even though they have the exact same name and tread pattern.

It sounds like you had a great time. NESBA puts on a great event and usually keeps things really well in hand. All of the control riders out here are great people, too, and they really will spend a lot of time with you if you ask them.

[TripleThreat]

I typically run 30/28 combo for my track days when running the SuperCorsa Pros I get from my tire vendor trackside. These pressures are for a fast intermediate group pace/slow advanced pace at a NESBA track day.

I was amazed at running those pressures when I first started, but as your speeds increase and the tires begin to be a muych more important part of the equation of keeping the bike rubber side down, they work really well.

Hope you are now prepared to become track poor!

TripleThreat