Next meeting we'll vote on the tyre for next indoor season. We can start the vote here as not everyone will attend next meeting.

We all know what Dirt Hawgs are like so I'll add my comments on foams and mini-spikes.

Foams
Pros:
- Great grip and feel.
- Low wear rate.
- Easiest to drive meaning less crashes and close racing.
Cons:
- Change size and shape as they wear with potential detriment to handling
- using traction additive increases wear and leaves black crap everywhere, not using traction additive is hard to police.
- A ball ache to fit.

Mini-Spikes
Pros:
- Good grip (a little less than foams) and feel.
- Closest performance to running outdoors.
- We have enough used sets for everyone.
Cons:
- Unknown wear characteristics.
- Probably require traction additive for good grip.
- Still require some throttle control (is this a Con?!).

If anyone wants to add options or more comments on the choices post here.

I enjoyed driving the foams, but I also enjoyed the mini-spikes and overall my vote goes to these because we've already got them and they're closer to outdoors and the grip level buggies were designed for.

well after trying the foams and yellow cut spikes im going for any type. . Doing the final on the hawgs was hard work (and down 4 laps) . I used a little bit of additive on the foams at the start and some on ians cut yellows much better than the greens i brought along . going on what rick said he doesnt use any on the foams . theres a tenner saved straight away . I would run cut spikes or foams myself given the chance .

well indoor isnt my thing (im planing on doing all summer meetings) but i thought the idea of the hawgs (even though they are poor) was to keep costs down and to make it fare racing for everyone,alowing other tyres just favours those willing to spend stupid money to find grip,but like i said i dont like it indoor so im not realy botherd what u do

I thought the decision to go to Hawgs was to prolong the life of the carpet, Mini pins shread carpet! But that choice pre-dates me. Hawgs are poor but I think worn spikes may be the way to go, i'd rather use them than chuck them. The only way to stop people spending the money is to regulate the whole class on motors and batteries as well as tyres, like the old 27turn class, but that never really worked as I can remember people getting a number of new motors for each meeting they went to. I don't think people would back that regulation now though. I think for the last meeing indoor I will try the worn out spikes and see how they go, people seemed to think they were OK. Any how look forward to seeing you at the summer meeting Dave, doing the regionals or are you busy with the large scale?

Foams for me, the hard ones never had addative, there's plenty of grip, so using adative would mean grip roll, so almost self policing! £13 full set, bit of a pain to mount, but wheels are easy to reuse, the soft foams had about 5 runs before the wheel got damaged, started at 80mm ended at 80mm

mini spikes were good, i like the fact we all have them, but it probably will end up with people cutting various degrees of spikes off, also i''m not sure how long they would last with some abuse!

I plan on doing as many races as possable Paul only a couple of 1/5 events to do alot of them are just to far away and im not rich lol,as for the regionals i am hopeing to do the NW regionals but im not going to the NE ones its just way to far to travel for 1 days racing and imagine if i got there and it was rained off!

I'm not going to vote as I don't really care - I'd be very happy to stick with dirt hawgs (I don't see any problems with them!), but as long as everyones running the same, the carpet doesn't get ripped up and a set of tyres lasts most of a season I'll be happy. Foams, for example - Many different manufactureres making them, which mens there performance will differ, as they wear there performance may also change, possibly forcing people to replace them regularly to stay competitive, and they chunk!



On another note, if/when it comes to testing tyres (or anything else) in the future we need to make sure this is more organised/policed to prevent it affecting (ruining) the days results!!!!!

i've not seen anyone else selling foams for 10th buggys, just get the club to buy them, mark them and use them, i tried my best but i didn't chunk the softs after 2 meetings, gearing will need to change maybe, but grip should stay the same what ever size balance might change a little when the rears wear.

The tests you have done have not been very scientific and I think you are missing a trick, as I mentioned during the last meet. The reason you have a better handling and steering is that you have gone from a wide hawg at the front to a narrow other tyre on a rim that is designed for 2WD buggies.

If you tried any narrow tyre on the front and left the hawgs on the year you will probably notice an improvement straight away.

The reason you decided hawgs was to protect the carpet and as a bonus create a more level playing field when competing against each other.

How are we going to police a warn spike (What is classed as worn)

Regards


The Chair

I think you're right that replacing the front tyres will help the handling, but not as much as replacing the rears as well. It's not only the wide fronts, but the high profile and flexible compound/construction of the fronts and rears.

I'm not sure on policing the spikes, but they can be visually inspected and if there's anything a pair of cutters can pick up they should be cut back. Whether freshly cut spikes grip better than worn ones I don't know, I need to try mine again after they've had some wear.

Not a massive turn out to the poll, but the winner is foams.

Basically we decided you can run any tyre except spikes or anything deemed to damage the carpet. So cut mini-spikes are fine, but will probably be slower than foams.

Hopefully Rick will post some advice on where to buy and how to fit/true them, but it's a while before we need to worry about it.

I'm not sure whether I'll run cut-spikes or foams, with foams, fast will mean stiff, low ride height, tyres trued down (maybe we should say one set per season?). It will be interesting to see how it pans out, I'd still happily run a cut-spike heat if there's enough, we'll have to see what people turn up with first meeting back.

As requested!

http://www.rc-direct.co.uk/-c-39_198_205.html

I've bought the hard 42 shore, and some 30 shore, my preferance is for the 42 shore, no addative has been used on them, and they just about give grip roll if you abuse it

2 Donuts make 4 tires, including wide fronts if your carefull cutting them as stuart will point out!

i held the tire in a vice lightly, marked the width of the rear wheel with white paint pen a few times around the tire, then cut slowly with a fine hacksaw

remove the 2 center ribs from the wheels, some people remove the inside rim too
clean the wheel, then wrap insulation tape around the wheel tightly with plenty of overlap
this means once the foams are done, you can just knife though the foam and tape, and peel the whole lot off

use evostick impact addisive, or wilkinsons do a tube of impact addisive that works well
i turn the foam inside out, coat the inside (now outside) of the tire with a thin coat of glue, and leave for 10-15 mins to dry, then coat the wheel, and quickly the tire, place the tire on top of the wheel and flip it back the correct way out, reposition the tire if it needs it then leave to set

I think stuart left his the correct way out and slid them onto the wheels rather than flipping them


The other option is if we get organised, and one of us orderes tires for everyone, supply wheels and i'll do them all so long as one or two volunteer to help out i'd just charge enough to cover the cost of the glue between everyone

i dont mind grinding up the wheels if that helps rick . I used 2nd hand wheels as they were getting the grinding treatment . Wasnt as bad as i thought it would be sticking them on . I got the 32 shore as the 30's were out of stock . i did use a little on the inside as i hadnt trued them up and im sure with a look at the setup my times can only get better (as long as i dont crash)

im not going to vote on this!! i have used foams b4 in the past and worked ok they are ok untill they get damaged then they can rip up fast..
im sure no matter what is chosen we wont make everyone happy.

which is why i'm leaning towards the hardest compound, and no addative, hopefully to make the last a long time