Oh Matt....don't be silly....you stand a decent chance to get contigency in BSP. SM is a little more work, although Travis may take his Civic and run SM2 to get away from Mark!!

 

Haha, thanks for the kind words. But Kristin and I have our wedding in July, so our funds are a joke right now! I'm gonna be on burnt out 255s for most of the year. If I can spring for tires - once I write another $10k++ check - they will be Victos, so I still wont be competitive.

Plus you and Kev are both excellent drivers! I'm still a long way behind you guys in that dept.

IIRC, Kevin kept up with Chris Travis at the NeDiv we were at last summer. I'd like to see the two of them square up again with Kevin's new setup as well as you in your better prepped car too.

 

Matt,
Kevin may have some 285/30-18 take-offs you can run if your wheels fit. I'll have some but they will have about 20-25 events on them, figure about 120+ runs...pretty shot. Kevin always gets rid of his sooner.

As far as keeping pace with Chris, I was faster than him and Nelson at the Devens Tour and every other local event we ran. Kevin and Jan were both very close to him. He is also on Hoosiers now and will be running that crazy 275 width 15 they are releasing, or at least he will test them out. You can also count on my car gaining some speed too, just got approval from my accounting dept today .

John

 

john did u and kevin switch to bsp? or is it just for DC?

i think it would be worth it anyway being how competitive evos are in the class.

good luck guys!!

 

romulus, NY Pro solo is now open for registration also.

http://www.scca.com/Event/Event.asp?...2C13D0&Id=6705

Mark

 

Just signed up for the Romulus Pro, as well as the 2 mid-west National Tours. Looking forward to meeting all you guys! (well, some I've already met a nationals this year)

 

I might sign up just so I can do the Finale, but there's no way I can travel this far to these events.

 

You had recommended I jump right to 18x9.5 to use the 285 V710. I decided, purely for cost reasons, to go with the 275x40x17 size on my 17x9 5zigens. It opens up multiple brands/models in that size for me to use - V700s, A6s, V710s, Hankook Zxxx, RA-1s, etc - not all of those tires come in the 285/18 size. Not to mention they're signifigantly cheaper. Downsize is less width, and higher profile.

I hope I don't regret not taking your advice

John, I'll hit you up on AIM messenger one of these days to chat. I'm curious if my accounting dept. would authorize similar "capital improvements". My bean counters are tough SOB's

 

Matt, the problem with 275/40s is how tall they are. They do not fit well without modification. Have you already raced on them? I'm sure a lot of us would rather stick with 17" rims for the sake of cost, weight, and ease of finding tires, but many of us bumped to 18s so that we could use 30-profile tires that are significantly lesser in diameter, which allows us to fit them without rubbing against the suspension. Have you already raced on these and had no problems?

 

Nope, I've been in A-Stock for the last 45 events over 2 years. I've also been a car ***** driving a lot of different hardware. Prefer to drive than worry about setup.

I noted the downsides in my post of the 17" - width and profile. The inital cost of lightweight 18x9.5's and tires, as well as replacement tire cost, made the 17" sizes the way to go. Especially since I do 25 events per year, with 90% of them with a codriver, cost is a big factor.

 

Matt,
Don't forget that those 17x9's will be great for a set of Hoosier Wets! What do you think mine are waiting for?

If you really plan on being competitive in SP or SM for that matter you had better start doing research and "worrying" about setup, because even SP, IMO of course, is crazy.

If you want to talk on AIM: talus9998

John

 

I understand the cost factors, because they were a big part of my decision process, but in the end, the setup you have wasn't supposed to fit. But what you're saying is that you've run that exact setup for 2 years and the 275/40s never rub on anything?

 

The setup is illegal in A-Stock. I have run 17x8 stock size wheels with 255s the last couple of years.

 

Ok, bah, but the real question is...you race on these 275/40s without any rubbing on the suspension?

 

The 275/40-17 will rub in the inner liner in the front. Other than that they aren't so bad. Not sure about the rears since my friend ran a staggered setup with 245's rear, I think it's pretty pbvious they would rub though. We have all since switched to the 285/30-18's.