R888 race report + lap record
Ran the R888's at VIR last weekend. Some observations.
Conditions - mixed wet/dry - with on and off drizzle enough to get some small rooster tails in the wetter sections and or sessions. Temp hovering around 35 degrees all weekend. 888's shaved to 4/16"
Initial impressions:
1) In the dry sessions, 888's offered significantly improved grip over the RA1's. Braking traction was the most impressive improvement - easily going 200 feet deeper than the faster miatas on the VIR front straight (3000+ feet)
2) Cornering grip in the slow corners also felt significantly better compared to the RA1's that I ran in a wet/dry previous session.
3) Long/fast sweepers felt a little better than the RA1's, but not significantly faster. However, understeer did seem to be reduced
4) Breakaway chacteristics on dry pavement was less benign than the RA1, but easily handled for both understeer and oversteer
5) even in steady drizze, shaved 888's showed very nice levels of grip - pleasant surprising. Shaved RA1's would have been all over the place. This was true both in cornering and acceleration.
6) Gearing change due to the larger diameter of the 888 was very noticable. Acceleration was definately down - 2nd gear could be used everywhere. 5th gear was unusable on what I believe is the fastest track on the east coast. Wasn't running my data logger, so I have no objective data to back up my runs on the RA1 vs. the 888 - but it would have been a tough comparison anyway as track conditions were changing lap to lap due to weather.
7) 888 wear looked pretty good. Not sure if it will be quite as durable as the RA1's, but I think overall it was a faster tire. Definately felt better and certainly was more confidence inspiring.
8) New lap record for VIR full course config: 2:26.943
Linear Mode
