Best trackday tire without warmers? | GTAMotorcycle.com

Best trackday tire without warmers?

zx6rr

Well-known member
I Know warmers are best - but I don't want to deal with the hassle of gens/warmers, or spend the money at this point (something to consider in the future perhaps). My GP211's are pretty much unridable without warmers, especially this time of year and I spend half the session trying to get them up to temp.

I've had an amazing time on Q3's, they last forever and give great feedback on the track without having to buy tire-warmers or lug a generator around. But how will they perform in colder weather (Oct track days), especially early morning when the weather is 4-6 degrees and the bike has been sitting in the trailer getting windblasted for 1.5 hrs.

Any other alternatives to consider? Pirelli Rosso Corsas?
 
Q3's are quite awesome. I rode in advanced at Calabogie with them and was very impressed (I normally run GP-A's). As for cold weather, with any tire you should give it time to warm up on the track. Don't expect to go balls to the wall on the first lap. Being a street tire I wouldn't expect any issues. Just feel it out and see how it goes. Early morning you have to worry more about a slick track because of moisture.
 
+1 on the Q3s. Yet to see any credible evidence that there is a better street tire for track use at upper intermediate / lower advanced group pace. A that level on a hot day when pushed they can get a tad greasy, but are otherwise excellent. Wear well too.
 
+1 on the Q3s. Yet to see any credible evidence that there is a better street tire for track use at upper intermediate / lower advanced group pace. A that level on a hot day when pushed they can get a tad greasy, but are otherwise excellent. Wear well too.
Dangerously greasy at a good pace, ask Jay Vincent and his ribs. However it is a lot colder now.
 
Pirelli SC SP. Can take the heat better than the Q3. Q3s warm up better on the street but get greasier sooner on track. Ran them both back to back at Bogie this summer. SPs on an 1199s and Q3 on an S1KRR. Super Corsas FTW
 
+1 on Q3's. The Pirelli SC SP (V2) may ultimately take the heat better but they take a LOT longer to warm up than the Dunlops. I'd rather slide around on hot tires than on cold, YMMV.
 
+1 on Q3's. The Pirelli SC SP (V2) may ultimately take the heat better but they take a LOT longer to warm up than the Dunlops. I'd rather slide around on hot tires than on cold, YMMV.
The difference is that you are going on cold tires, you know they are cold and you take it easy until they warm up, instead of having tires working really well until they get really hot and the high-side the crap out of you out of a corner when you get on the gas.

Anyways, question of preference as each person has their own experience and opinion.
 
You summed up what I was going to type. Agree with you 100%.

The difference is that you are going on cold tires, you know they are cold and you take it easy until they warm up, instead of having tires working really well until they get really hot and the high-side the crap out of you out of a corner when you get on the gas.

Anyways, question of preference as each person has their own experience and opinion.
 
There should be an auto-delete function on all new tire related threads. haha...
 
**Disclaimer - As its been stated already, tire/oil threads on forums will vary in answers as they are all opinions based on peoples experiences, so take them all (including mine) with a grain of salt. ;)

The Q3 (or any of the current crop of Hypersport street tires - PP3, S20, etc) will perform admirably compared to any previous generation tire from this category, the recent developments in this category has been nothing short of astounding . That being said they are still a Street tire and a large part of their design will compromise track performance for street attributes; therefore they will still not perform to the same level as a dedicated trackday tire.

If its a trackbike where tire warmers are out of the budget, and you are running at anything above a novice/intermediate pace I would try and look into dedicated trackday tires. Some of the popular offerings are the Michelin Super Sport or the Bridgestone BT003 RS, I run both of them on my 600s with a variety of different riders. Among the faster riders the feedback has always been positive in relation to anything from the hyperstreet category, with the slower riders the difference is imperceptible.
Remember that tires are a safety item and having more grip is preferable to having almost enough grip.
 

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