CAMARO6 - View Single Post - Firestone Firehawk Indy 500's Review - UPDATED -

DetCam · 05-08-2017, 05:07 PM

Since we're updating our impressions of the indy 500's: I got my first two days of autocross use on these. One short day of a Test and Tune, and good day of autocross with 5 runs that "counted" and 3 "fun runs".

First impression: oh crap, what did I just waste my money on. I was 1.5 seconds slower around a 52 second course than the cars I normally am close to, and the abs was kicking in way sooner so I knew I was sliding more.

BUT: these were still new tires (less than 150 miles on them), and it was cold out. (40's to low 50's). Things got better as they got broken in and warmed up, (and I learned how to drive the new tires). Near the end of the 2nd day, the sun came out and it was upper 50's. In my last "fun run", which unfortunately didn't count for the competition, I shaved of a full second from my earlier best time and ran a latp that was only 0.3 seconds slower than the guys I usually battle with. (They run a 2003 BMW M5 running the autocross favorites: RE-71R, and I will admit, they are both better drivers than me).

So, I have not given up hope, they may be "fairly" competetive in Autocross and track days yet.

05-08-2017, 05:07 PM	#22
DetCam Drives: 2016 1SS (12/10/2016) Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Troy MI Posts: 169	Since we're updating our impressions of the indy 500's: I got my first two days of autocross use on these. One short day of a Test and Tune, and good day of autocross with 5 runs that "counted" and 3 "fun runs". First impression: oh crap, what did I just waste my money on. I was 1.5 seconds slower around a 52 second course than the cars I normally am close to, and the abs was kicking in way sooner so I knew I was sliding more. BUT: these were still new tires (less than 150 miles on them), and it was cold out. (40's to low 50's). Things got better as they got broken in and warmed up, (and I learned how to drive the new tires). Near the end of the 2nd day, the sun came out and it was upper 50's. In my last "fun run", which unfortunately didn't count for the competition, I shaved of a full second from my earlier best time and ran a latp that was only 0.3 seconds slower than the guys I usually battle with. (They run a 2003 BMW M5 running the autocross favorites: RE-71R, and I will admit, they are both better drivers than me). So, I have not given up hope, they may be "fairly" competetive in Autocross and track days yet.