So I went to France last Sunday to visit the Pau-Arnos track. Only 3 km long but perfect for 250s.

Beautiful day, maybe too hot, and ended up chasing and taking over a couple of bigger bikes. Quick guys were turning at 1'30" and I was lapped at the beginning of the day at 1'51". Think by the end of it I was below 1'50". Honestly, I really enjoyed the day and was really sad when I saw the last red flag.

I do not have good pictures to post but I have been recorded on video (which I do not have yet with me), only these two of the tyres. Yes, still not hanging out enough, but all will come in time.

The bike performed very well. I can not comment on the rear side, not noticed it at all. But there's one hairpin where I whish front end was more robust, I mean it held the bike better. And I was overgeared with std sprokets. Out of this hairpin first was too short and second too high. I just hate how all bikes pulled away exiting corners but I could keep pace with most inside them.

Well this is a novice report from my 2nd track day. Next sceduled is 26th october in Motorland (yes, moto gp track) and you are all invited since there is an event called 'classic motor' and NSRs are admitted as clasics.

PS Do you think these tyres have any life left?
PPS I think my bike was the most admired bike in the day, and there were more than 150!
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Those tyres look fine to me. How did they feel? If you've lost confidence in them then replace them - no matter how they look.

Confidence is EVERYTHING on track. Once you've lost it your riding standard will drop off and lap times rocket.

I think your tyres were getting too hot and thats why it has balls of rubber peeling off . You can go up a fraction on the tyre pressure and monitor it from there .
I don't know those tyres but they look flat ( hardly any angle to them for going around corners ) .
I find that the Pirelli super corsa's work well . Diablo i think

Thanks for the advice.

Rear is BT090 and front is Alpha 10. The tyres felt very well, I think I kept increasing my pace throughout the day and ended it with a lot of confidence.

In my previous track day I ground the the front tyre sides but rear was almost untouched (50ish hp plus 65 kg for me). For this time I set pressures at 2.25 on both tyres when cold, and once at the track I decreased 0.2-0.3 bars on the front. The rear was left as it was due to the previous experience. Again, the feeling was very good, I did not notice slipping at all on either wheel.

My lap times are slow, but I think it is due to not being aggressive on the fast portions of the track. You can loose a lot of time there. However, once inside turns I could keep up with some of the other bikes. That, combined with my inability to hang off the bike is my explanation for the wear of the tyres to the limit.

Neal, wrt temperature I have to tell you that the day was hot, around 30ºC. Will that affect pressure settings?

Dave, my concern is that I was very confident on those tyres and I don't know if the tyres in such a state will let go suddenly. Or, I keep getting more and more confident until I hit the wall. Lap times are secondary to me (for the moment).

Are the remaining groove depth a good indication of tyre wear on the track as on the street?
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The grooves are for dispersing water , I have used my tyres in an endurance race and run them down until there were no more grooves on the side by the end of a 200 km race .
If the track is hot we increase tyre pressure slightly , if it is cool we lower tyre pressure to get the heat into the tyre

Understood that grooves are not necessary on a dry track. So, when do you decide to change tyres?
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Just to add to the confusion, I got told at a tack day that the wear I had (similar to that) is cold tearing. I was told to drop the pressure by a couple of psi.

I replace my tyres when they reach the tread wear indicator or when they start to go hard, more as an economic driver than performance.

If you don't have tyre warmers then take it easy for the first laps . Blast it whilst upright and brake hard for corners whilst upright to generate heat in the tyre .
Each time the tyre has reached it's specific heat and cools down means that the next time you use it you have to exceed the previous temperature gained for the tyre to work properly and shed a layer of rubber .

Being old enough to look primarily for safe returns home, I think I'll get new tyres for the next track day and keep the existing ones for the road.

Honestly I am unable to judge how much life there's left on them. They may seem to be usable but rear one has two track days on them. Motorland Aragon is a fast track and the front one may die during the day. And that's something I would hate.

I will keep on taking pictures of used tyres. Maybe in the future we can make a map of tyre status in a way similar to what people do with spark plugs...
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Those tyres look absolutely finre, the balling on the edge is just a result of normal track ware and the lump in the centre are just pick up from others shed rubber. There is plenty of life in them but check to see if their profile is even as they can wear more on one side on a track with more of one corner (left or right).

I would say however that mixing the tyre makes can cause a few handling problems as front and rear tyre profiles are designed to compliment each other and each manufacturer has their own particular profile. Not sure if it is the same over there but here the Alpha 10 has been discontinued so i would consider match the front to the rear you have.

as a rough guide i tend to through 2 rears to 1 front.

Thanks Paul

You and I do things differently (and I probably do them wrong). I have run through two fronts for just one rear! I guess I do not set pressures correctly.

Next time I will stay with 2 bar at the rear but will lower to 1.8 bar (instead of 2) at the front.
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Those tyres for the track should be about 31 PSI front and 25-28 PSI Rear Cold temp.2.1 bar front and 1.8 rear i think thats the right conversion.

hello ,

Pau-Arnos is a beautiful circuit and perfect to go fast with our small bikes.

large four-stroke suffer against us .

This summer I rolled 1'36 with my nsr MC21stock.

Here are my videos (with hight side).

good read

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xs4dul_pau-arnos-1-raphatoc-2-juillet-2012_auto

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xs4tkb_pau-arnos-2-raphatoc-2-juillet-2012_auto

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xs4dvp_pau-arnos-3-raphatoc-2-juillet-2012_auto

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xs4dw5_pau-arnos-4-raphatoc-2-juillet-2012_auto

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xs4dwh_pau-arnos-5-raphatoc-3-juillet-2012_auto

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xs4tkn_pau-arnos-6-raphatoc-3-juillet-2012_auto

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xs4tkw_pau-arnos-7-raphatoc-3-juillet-2012_auto

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xs4tl9_pau-arnos-8-raphatoc-3-juillet-2012_auto

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xs4tlc_pau-arnos-9-raphatoc-3-juillet-2012_auto


pipoff

carbonpaul wrote:Those tyres for the track should be about 31 PSI front and 25-28 PSI Rear Cold temp.2.1 bar front and 1.8 rear i think thats the right conversion.

I was running 2 bar on each (cold) and it was a hot day. Do you think I was too low on the front and that's the reason for the 'tearing', as Neal suggested? nsxr20, you are on the other side...

pipoffnsr wrote:hello ,

Pau-Arnos is a beautiful circuit and perfect to go fast with our small bikes.

large four-stroke suffer against us .

This summer I rolled 1'36 with my nsr MC21stock.

Here are my videos (with hight side).

good read

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xs4dul_pau-arnos-1-raphatoc-2-juillet-2012_auto

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xs4tkb_pau-arnos-2-raphatoc-2-juillet-2012_auto

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xs4dvp_pau-arnos-3-raphatoc-2-juillet-2012_auto

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xs4dw5_pau-arnos-4-raphatoc-2-juillet-2012_auto

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xs4dwh_pau-arnos-5-raphatoc-3-juillet-2012_auto

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xs4tkn_pau-arnos-6-raphatoc-3-juillet-2012_auto

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xs4tkw_pau-arnos-7-raphatoc-3-juillet-2012_auto

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xs4tl9_pau-arnos-8-raphatoc-3-juillet-2012_auto

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xs4tlc_pau-arnos-9-raphatoc-3-juillet-2012_auto


pipoff

Hello pipoff

You are doing well on 1'36". This was my first time at Pau and started turning on 1'50". I guess I was at least a couple of seconds faster at the end of the day .

I was sharing tent with a couple of guys that turned at 1'25" on their 600 track bikes. My mate turned at 1'32" on his stock RGV on slicks (before the new tarmac was put on) back in '92, and he is fast...

Your NSR must be almost stock except for what is shown on the video . No speedo, clamped brake fluid reservoir...

I am sure you can teach me some tricks on the track! Give me a shout next time you go there and I'll join. We'll have fun! And I tell you, my bike was admired by a lot of people.
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