For last 17 years I have been in Parking lot Autocross ( Miller Park), Drag Racing (Great Lakes Dragaway), and Time Attack Track days at places like Blackhawk and Road America. It's always been a low budget operation. If I didn't drive someone elses car I drove my low option '95 V-6 Mustang or older 914 and 924 Porsche. From '99 to 2001 I drove a 1973 stock class 914 that I got complete with 2 sets of race tires for under 2 grand. (Stock class cars run DOT race tires in the SCCA and other clubs, something that's expensive and hard to explain to newbies). I did very well even though my competition was new Miatas. For the rest of the decade I drove in the locally popular Street Tire classes in a 924, a Ford Probe and a variety of Mustangs. Accept street tires are not really street tires since the Falcon Azenis came out 10 years ago. Of course everybody that was competitive had these tires and the other companies followed suit. This tire's extreme performance soft compound is barely street legal, and although less expensive than an r-compound, more expensive than the orignal gummies the car comes with.
In looking into what I can or can't do in racing this year, I noticed that most of 13 to16 inch tire sizes that fits on the ageing junk I run, has been discontinued. In 2009, I threw 17" wheels on my old Mustang and beat the poor thing halfway to the glue factory. It moved me into another class and most days I came in last. (They shoot old horses don't they?) So, going back to Street Tires is really not an option. Race tires are still made, but they've gone up nearly 30%.
Because I have Terminal Gearhead Disease (TGD), and I have whimsically looked at the new stuff out there. It is an exciting time to be a gearhead with money. I've checked and even test drove the 2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe, Mustang GT, both w /Track Pak options. Mini Coopers/ Challenger R/T and the New Camaro V-6. (304 HP!) But, even the Mini has 17" wheels. The above Pony cars have 18 to 22" wheels. Apparently nobody told the car manufactures that we are in a recession, net incomes of the middle class is way down and disposable income is going out of style like a CD boombox. Case in point. The Hyundai and the Mustangs 19" wheels take $385.00 street tire and race rubber is well over $400.00 each. Another negative about new cars. All of them, from economy cars to the muscle cars are too heavy. Reality is, I can't swing car payments for anything newer. If I could , I couldn't afford the rubber. So, after 17 years of banging gears and clipping apexs, it looks like I may be reduced to spectator for 2010. I'll be easy to find though, I'll be the one peering through the fence, just like I did when I really was The Milwaukee Kidd.....
Larger wheels are heavier, and additional weight hinders performance. To examine the effects of installing larger wheels and tires, also known as “plus-sizing,” we tested five wheel-and-tire combinations—ranging from 15 to 19 inches—on a 2010 Volkswagen Golf and got a good sense of what is gained and lost in the process.
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