[Msquared]

Originally Posted by DaveC113

After being disappointed in how quickly my RT660s dropped off, I'm no longer using 200tw tires to drive on the street. I can get 2 behind the front seats and 2 on an old hitch-mount bike rack I converted into a tire carrier. It's more work but I'm cheap.

I do the same, except it's three on the carrier and one in the trunk.

[rotis]

Originally Posted by Msquared

I would have to hold my nose to buy tires made in China for $60 more (each) than Bridgestones, but that may be where I'm headed.

If it matters, these Nankangs are made in Taiwan. They are not so cost competitive these days because they are getting hit with a 20% tariff. The original CRS was a good deal before the tariffs landed, they got in trouble for dumping or some other trade shenanigans.

Originally Posted by DaveC113

Nice driving, you kept it down to little corrections, looked good.

Congrats on the 3rd! Unbelievable Dave won by 1.4s. And a T4 in 2nd... I almost got a T4. It's cool Randy Pobst bought one, but I don't regret going SS 1LE.

Yeah, it was really cool to see the top 3 spots were just different drivetrains of 6th Gen Camaros.

Solostorm said I fixed ~6 tenths worth of mistakes on my 3rd run, but gave it all away with 2 blown corners. My driving on the first day was also sub-par, coning my first two runs and then putting in a 3rd run that was 6 tenths slower than my first run. I can't recall ever having my fastest runs at Nationals being my first run on each day. Something I'm doing wrong here for sure.

Dave drove great and has built a killer car, 350 lbs lighter than mine across the scales, but in the end I can still point to my own lack of execution for the huge gap.

It was a lot of fun, not sure what's in store for next year, might do something goofy.

[Camaro Fanatic]

Slightly off topic but I would love to see pictures of your bike rack/carrier conversions.
I never considered a solution like that.
I've only seen tire trailers or trying squeeze all 4 tires in the cabin/trunk.

Thanks!

[Scargoes]

Originally Posted by rotis

If it matters, these Nankangs are made in Taiwan. They are not so cost competitive these days because they are getting hit with a 20% tariff. The original CRS was a good deal before the tariffs landed, they got in trouble for dumping or some other trade shenanigans.

Another thing to note for people concerned with buying "Chinese" made tires, For quite a while now Nankang has been working closely with Yokohama on tire technology and production of some passenger and commercial tires.

I guess my tire guy likes me, I got my last set of 315/30R18 V2s for $1650 installed. A bit more than the $1400 I paid for V1s but not too terrible. Tire Rack's price sent me into sticker shock.

[Msquared]

I didn't mean to sound like an anti-Chinese-import guy. I'm aware that good products can be made in China if the company specs it properly and makes sure the factory actually adheres to the specs. I just meant that a product made in China shouldn't be way more expensive than one made in Japan or the US. But I didn't realize these Nankangs are made in Taiwan, and I wasn't thinking about tariffs. And no, I don't want to get into a political discussion...at all!

Originally Posted by Camaro Fanatic

Slightly off topic but I would love to see pictures of your bike rack/carrier conversions.
I never considered a solution like that.
I've only seen tire trailers or trying squeeze all 4 tires in the cabin/trunk.

The thing you have to keep in mind about a cargo carrier is that it's a lever arm on the hitch. That makes it different than tongue weight, which just pulls straight down. So a hitch rated for 200lb tongue weight may not hold 200lbs of loaded cargo carrier. FWIW, I am using the Draw-Tite 24938 trailer hitch and the Curt 18110 cargo carrier. I used that hitch specifically because eTrailer assured me it could handle the leverage of a loaded cargo carrier without a stabilizing strap. The strap would be difficult or impossible to mount to the car in a way that wouldn't damage something, so I wanted to avoid that. I mounted three of the cheap plastic wheel chocks to the rear edge of the carrier and the tires wedge in between that and the front edge of the carrier. I use two self-rewinding ratchet straps diagonally across the top of the three tires on the carrier to hold them in.

It works well enough, but you have to watch driveways that it doesn't scrape. The metal plate that forms the main high support does bend down under load, but it doesn't bend to yield. The curve of the neck in the cargo carrier helps raise it up usefully so it doesn't drag over dips and bumps in the road. I might pull the hitch off and try to reinforce over the winter so it doesn't bend down as much under load.

[DaveC113]

Originally Posted by rotis

Yeah, it was really cool to see the top 3 spots were just different drivetrains of 6th Gen Camaros.

Solostorm said I fixed ~6 tenths worth of mistakes on my 3rd run, but gave it all away with 2 blown corners. My driving on the first day was also sub-par, coning my first two runs and then putting in a 3rd run that was 6 tenths slower than my first run. I can't recall ever having my fastest runs at Nationals being my first run on each day. Something I'm doing wrong here for sure.

Dave drove great and has built a killer car, 350 lbs lighter than mine across the scales, but in the end I can still point to my own lack of execution for the huge gap.

It was a lot of fun, not sure what's in store for next year, might do something goofy.

My first runs were also my fastest at MidDivs, stupid Falkens went right from cold to greasy, the warmer they got the worse they gripped.

That is a lot of weight reduction on Dave's car, I'm curious what it takes to do that...

[DaveC113]

Originally Posted by Camaro Fanatic

Slightly off topic but I would love to see pictures of your bike rack/carrier conversions.
I never considered a solution like that.
I've only seen tire trailers or trying squeeze all 4 tires in the cabin/trunk.

Thanks!

I'll take some pics on Saturday. It's a very old Thule T2 bike rack with all the mounts and stuff removed, just the crossbars left. I use a few ratcheting cargo straps to attach the wheels to the rack.

On weight, I have the same Curt hitch GM sells as a Camaro accessory. 2 wheels is probably the limit for this hitch, about 100 lbs or so max.

[Dabjbr]

Originally Posted by Msquared

I didn't mean to sound like an anti-Chinese-import guy. I'm aware that good products can be made in China if the company specs it properly and makes sure the factory actually adheres to the specs. I just meant that a product made in China shouldn't be way more expensive than one made in Japan or the US. But I didn't realize these Nankangs are made in Taiwan, and I wasn't thinking about tariffs. And no, I don't want to get into a political discussion...at all!


The thing you have to keep in mind about a cargo carrier is that it's a lever arm on the hitch. That makes it different than tongue weight, which just pulls straight down. So a hitch rated for 200lb tongue weight may not hold 200lbs of loaded cargo carrier. FWIW, I am using the Draw-Tite 24938 trailer hitch and the Curt 18110 cargo carrier. I used that hitch specifically because eTrailer assured me it could handle the leverage of a loaded cargo carrier without a stabilizing strap. The strap would be difficult or impossible to mount to the car in a way that wouldn't damage something, so I wanted to avoid that. I mounted three of the cheap plastic wheel chocks to the rear edge of the carrier and the tires wedge in between that and the front edge of the carrier. I use two self-rewinding ratchet straps diagonally across the top of the three tires on the carrier to hold them in.

It works well enough, but you have to watch driveways that it doesn't scrape. The metal plate that forms the main high support does bend down under load, but it doesn't bend to yield. The curve of the neck in the cargo carrier helps raise it up usefully so it doesn't drag over dips and bumps in the road. I might pull the hitch off and try to reinforce over the winter so it doesn't bend down as much under load.

Originally Posted by DaveC113

I'll take some pics on Saturday. It's a very old Thule T2 bike rack with all the mounts and stuff removed, just the crossbars left. I use a few ratcheting cargo straps to attach the wheels to the rack.

On weight, I have the same Curt hitch GM sells as a Camaro accessory. 2 wheels is probably the limit for this hitch, about 100 lbs or so max.

Subscribed to see each your setups if you don’t mind!

I just don’t have the room for a trailer so the hitch/tray would be a better move. It would allow me to drive on my street tires to/from events and reduce how many heat cycles I put into my track tires. Plus, having space in my car allows me to take a passenger too!

[rotis]

Originally Posted by DaveC113

That is a lot of weight reduction on Dave's car, I'm curious what it takes to do that...

...a lot. His build thread is here- https://www.camaro6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=612790

[DaveC113]

Originally Posted by rotis

...a lot. His build thread is here- https://www.camaro6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=612790

Ok, wow... IDK how I missed this!

My thought was to just buy a used Camaro GT4R and salvage title it. They're $125k and ~3200 lbs. A bit too much for me right now, maybe someday.

[matter]

CR-S v2 hot pressures? Any data on running pressures at HPDE? Just got a set 305/30/19 and mounting them up now. Previously ran my 3Rs at about 31 hot. thanks

[DaveC113]

The new 18x12s w/295/35 RE71RS worked really well! I was definitely faster, and within .3s of the winning AS Cayman which was driven by a past nat'l champ at a BMW club race yesterday. I ended up 5th overall PAX, but this race wasn't as competitive as local SCCA races. My car is pretty much stock besides alignment and wheel/tire setup, so not bad for the new .827 CAMC PAX index.

Here's a couple of pics of the bike rack turned wheel carrier...

[joelster]

I've mounted 4 sets of new RE-71 RS's and they are the toughest I've ever messed with. Gave up on doing the fronts for a friend of mine. I was messing with his front tires for 5 hours over a few days. Then I did my own front tires and they were like any other tire, but did take way more pressure to fully seat. I certainly hope this isn't the new tire "trend". It seems that every year or 2 some new tire comes to the market that is faster than the rest, and is harder to install than the rest.

[VR Baron]

Originally Posted by matter

CR-S v2 hot pressures? Any data on running pressures at HPDE? Just got a set 305/30/19 and mounting them up now. Previously ran my 3Rs at about 31 hot. thanks

I can only answer for autocross, crs v1s and v2 s like 35/36 hot. And they can get softer as they heat up so keep pressure at those above. Road courses I was told the same psi but have never done one. They have a soft sidewall. But 37 and above get greasy and over 150!degrees lose time. Autocross anyway