kool pics

 

Looks nice, and the parts are pretty amazing, but why would you spend top dollar on every part but then choose non-competitive tires? RT-615s are great stock replacements for daily drivers who want to save some money, but they are no good for time attack. RE-01Rs or Neovas should be on any car like this unless required to run Falkens (or Hankooks like that other event).

 

i think 1 is phillip was running street class which has tire limits and he prob was sponsored by falken also

 

my thoughts exactly.

 

The tires I listed are street tires - that's the whole point. Falkens are not competitive in street tire class. If he's sponsored by Falken, then maybe, but that would be a strange sponsor to get when it only ensures that you lose vs cars with much better tires.

 

Yes, I am sponsored by Falken, and have been for a long time. I knew coming into the event that the RT-615s would not be as competitive as the other tires but tried to stick it out with the Falkens anyways. Falken has always been very good to me and I did not want to cut that relationship.

 

Tough situation then. Why do you have a sponsorship with them if they don't make competitive tires? What's the sponsorship for? To have free daily driver tires? Believe me, I know it's difficult to get a tire sponsorship - it's about the only thing I don't have - but I don't know what would have led to a direct Falken sponsorship when they don't have tires that can help you win anything.

Have them read this thread and see if it will light a fire to get them to make a better street tire for you...

 

there are rumors from the falken peeps that there might be r comp tires from falken next year, they have the technology, just need to make it

 

Well, that doesn't help in street tire class. It also doesn't mean the new tires will be competitive just because they're r-comps. The top ones right now are the Hoosiers and Kumho V710s, so it will be interesting to see if they try to compete with the DOT slicks or the 100+ treadwear group (e.g. RA-1, NT-01).

 

I won street class by 2 or 3 seconds last year at Summit Point on Falken Azenis 615 so there goes that theory.

 

I believe what Warrtalon is saying is that since better street tires exist on the market, why handicap yourself and start by using the 615. I agree that there are much better tires out there for the street class - Neova, RE01R, not to mention all the untested ones that came out at SEMA.

 

Well that I understand. I still don't feel that in the street tire dept that the falken is so outdated that forgoing sponsorship is worthwhile for whatever gain might be made.

 

I have yet to see a head to head comparison between what I would consider the top three "Street" tires (based on results at our Time Attack events):

Falken 615
Yokohama Neovas
Bridgeston RE01R

Up until recently, the Falken 615 was winning just about every one of our Street Class divisions at every event.... The Neovas and the RE01R are relatively new, and more people have been using them, so that means that more people will win with them, not necessarily that they are a "better" tire than the 615.

If those three companies want to donate a few sets of tires each, I'm sure I can find a car to do some testing with. :-)

 

I can't really comment on the Falken but I ran Street RWD for all of 2007 on the Bridgestone RE050A Pole Position and loved them. I won 2/3 time attacks on them as well. When I got the EVO I put on the RE01R and I must say that they just aren't as good. Now, this past weekend, I also got to do a little testing with the un-released 140 treadwear Toyo R1R street tire and they blow the Bridgestones out of the water. They run about 10mm wider than advertised though so be aware of that when they come out. I will be running them next year in the Street AWD class.

 

In autocross circles where there has been a lot of back to back testing in STU class (mostly street tire STi's and Evos), the Falken is widely regarded as the inferior tire to the RE01R. The best feature of the Falken is the low price, but once you get into the 18" sizes the savings is much less.