Ferrari Speciale - Want to move to slicks

I would try Pirelli Trofeo R spec tires first. You can get them at Bob Woodman tires. I have never found 20" slicks and I am afraid that changing to 19" rims and trying to match up the slick tire profile to avoid traction control intervention is going to be hard.

 

Dennis, we met briefly at the Edge Adventures event a few weeks ago and recall your frustration with the stock tires. No suggestions on tires, but wondering if you had a chance to compile your footage.

 

I used Hoosier R6's on 19" Forgeline GA1R's at COTA without problems on my 458.

 

Talk about first world problems.....
A buddy of mine, god rest his soul, used to run pilot sport cups on his m3, daily.

The 458/speciale has to be a blast. Good luck.

 

How awesome that someone.actually uses speciale the way its supposed to be. Have never seen such thing in northeast. Only challenge cars on track with maybe few scuderias.

 

Slicks are nirvana when new. The problem is I have never found a pirelli, dunlop, or good year slick that had any decent heatcycle life. What truely sucks is chasing degrading performance. I would choose performance life over ultimate grip if you are not racing in a series. I think you will learn more and faster with tire consistency. A tire with more grip just makes everything happen faster and you got to keep up with that. That said my all time most favorite tire I every raced and still race in my class is the Hoosier A tire ridiculously far from Hoosier's recommended hot tire pressures. That's right A not R. I think a Hoosier A will put just as big a smile on your face as a slick and they come in many more normal tire sizes than slicks.

 

Running the A on road course as well. Out of curiosity, what (ridicuslously) tire pressure are you running, low I assume, 28-30 psi hot?

 

I mean no disrespect, I'm sure you're a very capable driver and this might not be new to you, but have you driven on slicks before? Have you tracked your Speciale yet? IMHO it's better to gradually increase your skill level before doing anything to the car, once you're at a point where the car is not as capable as you are, I would get slicks. Slicks have a very narrow window at their limit where performance drops off. If you're nowhere near the limit, then what's the point of the slicks, if you're toying with the limit you have to be extremely experienced to handle it.

Enjoy your toy and remember, shiny side up!

 

I disagree. I think slicks are marvelous!

As long as you are prudent in your building of speed, respect that the slicks are crappy when below their recommended operating temperature range (i.e. make sure to warm them up correctly, by aggressive throttle and brake, IN a STRAIGHT line) and tune the alignment to tire temp distribution correctly, they're wonderful.

I work with a LOT of drivers transitioning to slicks from a variety of experience levels, and I do not cotton to the idea that there is a "predefined" path in street tires>R-comps>slicks for proper or safe development of driver skill. The more competent you can make a car, the better tool it is to learn with.

I find the Pirelli DH work well and your best bet and resource is Bob Woodman or his daughter, Audrey.

Have fun!

 

If I may...
Any slick is better than road tire, and any drive with a slick is better and quicker. If nothing you won't get the squicking and with a same drive you just corner much faster brake much later and you'll drop your time at least 5-sec maybe more, as its said they are marvelous. Watched you'r video you will be much quicker with S...

As for the heating not really a science just drive them.

Have a'lot of fun.

 

Quite right, and I would add that the same applies with aero aids also

 

Saw dozens of Speciale, along with scuderias on the track at Mugello near florence, italy. They were there for a Ferrari Challenge event/ track day. It was awesome.

 

Thanks for sharing the vid! Nice driving.

 

After watching your vid- yes you will enjoy slicks. They do make tracking more costly, perrelli DH will give you 12-15 competitive heat cycles then not so good but useable to 30-35. Alignment setting must be changed to compensate (at least on 360&430- more neg camber)and every suspension component will wear faster- wheel bearings, ball joints, sway bar mounts and links. But if you don't mind the added costs- it's night and day. 1-2 laps are required to get them up to temp.
Nice lines, good driving.

 

Slicks are great. Call Bob Woodman. He should be able to help. Just watch the tire pressure.

 

I'm with Peter, had my (Porsche) race car built and ready to go when I was a green novice on the advice of Dan Jacobs (well known in P-Car racing) running Hoosier R3's at the time, and never looked back. Only reason I didn't run slicks is class rules and $$$. Talking $5K per race weekend for the slick boys and ya gotta have two sets, and that's amateur racing...