Pirelli v Avons

[omsracer]

Looking to get new tyres for this season and noticed many people switching to Pirellis last year. Has anyone got any feedback on the Pirellis and whether they would be better suited to my Reynard. My understanding is that they were cheaper then the Avons. Is that still true? Any feedback welcome.

Thanks
Peter

[andrewcliffe]

Yes, they are cheaper than Avons, by approx £ 100 if memory serves.

F3 Cup moved to Pirelli last season after several seasons of using a spec. Avon tyre and the tyres have proven to be faster and also more durable. Some Mono cars have used the softer Avon compound and the Pirellis are certainly more durable than those as well.

They do take a couple of laps getting up to temperature - so you may need to tweak setup slightly.

Worth trying a set - you may be able to pick up lightly used sets on from a BRDC F4 / British F3 team cheaply to try, before committing to a new set.

[omsracer]

Thanks Andrew, that pretty much ties in with what I have heard. Do you know sells them commercially?

Peter

[stevenconnor]

http://www.f3cup.co.uk/news-archive/201 ... tails.aspx

As F3Cup are at the same meeting (but not the same races) as Mono at Brands Indy, Pirelli may be present.

[Redracer77]

It is about time Mono looked to reduce costs for drivers and teams and set a tyre structure for the formula. Having it currently open adds massive cost to being at the front when it doesn't need to. I would be interested to see what other peoples thoughts are with having Pirelli as the regulation tyre for certainly Mono F3 and Classic?

[jergar]

What about older Classic cars that were never designed to run radials?

[andrewcliffe]

The argument against is that its kind of against the historical ethos of Monoposto.

Currently many people run different tyres and get good results from each - Avon, Cooper, Pirelli, Michelin, Dunlop, Hoosier, Yokohama are all seen, and there is no reason why people couldn't try Hankook or Kumho F3 tyres if they wanted to - also not all sizes are available in all makes and compounds.

Gradually people automatically migrate to what is currently regarded as 'best', and for F3 derived cars that is probably the Pirelli slick as used by F3 Cup and whatever BRDC F4 chooses to call itself - but if someone wants to try and buck the trend buy using Hankooks for example, I'm all for letting them try, and if they succeed, people will start migrating towards that tyre.

The advantage of a spec tyre is that the method of identifying tyres is easier as they all have the same barcode system, and makes policing the policy of dissuading people from throwing new tyres at a car during a race weekend.

[Redracer77]

Just seems crazy for me to have so much option. It just opens the door to running hill climb soft sticky slicks in qualifying and then a longer lasting Avon or Pirelli in the race and then have 3 or 4 different versions of wets to suit any condition?

Just seems a waste of money. I will buy what ever the regs allow me too but we should be looking to make it affordable for everyone as that is what brings people in to the formula. I know the tyre regs put off a lot of my friends from moving on from Formula Ford as they don't want to carry 5 & 6 sets of tyres to make sure they can compete.

Making it simply Pirelli wets and slicks will answer a potential negative for joining the championship and we want bums on seats. I am sure Pirelli would even come to meetings and they would support the club with funds if we did that. Would that not make it a better formula?

[andrewcliffe]

I think the majority simply have two or three sets of wheels - a set of wets, a primary set of race tyres and possibly an extra set of older tyres for transit or in case they receive a puncture or damage.

There are regs which can be imposed if people abuse tyre allocations.

[Paolo Mantegazza]

Chris u are on drugs if you really think FFordsters have 1 set of tyres on the van and the mono tyre situation is stopping
them moving into mono series!!!!
There are people that race saloon cars and not single seaters
there are people that race FFord and nothing else.

If you are worrying about tyres that much then you shouldn't get out of bed in the morning to go to the race track.
In 3 seasons of racing in Mono 16 weekends of racing with 5 test days 3 Non champ events I have bought 4 NEW sets
of slicks 1 new set of wets and I have 2 cabinets full of trophies and the overflow in cardboard boxes.

There is a specific rule in place to stop qualifying tyre and race tyre situation for a reason and it can be implemented
like flicking switch.

[Anson]

Chris u are on drugs if you really think FFordsters have 1 set of tyres on the van and the mono tyre situation is stopping
them moving into mono series!!!!
There are people that race saloon cars and not single seaters
there are people that race FFord and nothing else.

If you are worrying about tyres that much then you shouldn't get out of bed in the morning to go to the race track.
In 3 seasons of racing in Mono 16 weekends of racing with 5 test days 3 Non champ events I have bought 4 NEW sets
of slicks 1 new set of wets and I have 2 cabinets full of trophies and the overflow in cardboard boxes.

There is a specific rule in place to stop qualifying tyre and race tyre situation for a reason and it can be implemented
like flicking switch.

It is rare for me to come out in Kev's support but he's 100% right on this one. There is not a tyre war in Mono and yes, of course some of the front runners run new tyres each meeting but equally some of us don't - I run used Pirellis slicks from a F4 team and 5 year old wets. There is a rule there which the committee can invoke to limit the number of new slicks being used if it becomes a problem but it hasn't yet become a problem so they have not invoked it....simples.

[Paolo Mantegazza]

Be careful Peter never a good idea to agree with me it will put you offside with the committee then they will arrange for you to park in the paddock away from everyone else on your own

[Duncan36]

Hi Peter

I'm running on used Pirelli's and have sets available if you'd like to try some. They have an average of 115 km's on them and are £100 a set. The wets are available but aren't as good as the Michelins, which is also have if you need some.

many thanks

Duncan

[omsracer]

Hi Duncan,
If you reply to omsracer@gmail.com or give me a call on 07710 571463 I would like to try a set as I have a spare set of rims I can put them on. Let me know where you are so I can arrange to collect etc.

Kind regards and thanks for the reply
Peter

[AndyY]

Can someone tell me what the sizes and compounds are for the Pirelli F3/F4 tyres please.

Thanks