Silverstone Slick Tyres

[RF_Racer]

Anyone tried these yet? They are half the price of Avons, I am not going to write them off on that basis but would be good to know if anyone has done back to back tests...

[tristancliffe]

I have.

Avons are around 2% faster, and much more predictable. However, Silverstone were aware of this at the end of last year, and had big plans to change the construction and tweak the compounds.

The major difference is the stiffness of the tyre shoulder - the Avons are soft and flexible, whereas the Silverstone is more of a semi-crossply. I found that whilst outright "on the limit" grip to be about the same (only a little less), I had little confidence in the car. Could possibly be solved by running much softer springs and changing the damping to suit, and the cambers and toes and rollbars etc, but that's a lot of work to achieve.

They are also silicone based, so the release agent is like ice. Even warned by two people that they would have no grip for a lap or two, and that the first corner would be mad, I still managed to spin at 20mph at Croft. Never EVER under ANY circumstances start a race on fresh Silverstone tyres unless you want to kill someone (and yourself). They must be bedded in for at least 5 laps in my opinion to become vaguely safe for a race start, and even then they won't switch on for about 10 laps.

Speak to them - if they have changed the construction then what I claim might no longer be valid. If they haven't, I'd personally give them a miss until they do, but it depends on the car you want to use them on.

Saving £400 per set is great, but you'll probably end up going £400 slower.

Sorry to Silverstone Tyres for the less than glowing report, and I hope that newer constructions or different applications bring more success.

I should add that some Global Lights cars are using them, and are loving them, especially the wets.

[darvi]

We're thinking about tyre supply and Silverstonbe have offered a cost effective solution - but do they still suffer from the problems above? Does anyone know whether they are radials or crossplies?

[tristancliffe]

They are radials, but with a very, very solid shoulder. As far as I'm aware (although I haven't tried them myself) they are very similar now to how they were.

I wouldn't use them if they were free, but I don't want to be 3 seconds per lap slower.

[darvi]

OK, thanks for the feedback - they sound worth avoiding!

[tristancliffe]

One thing they said when we were using them was they'd be willing to reverse engineer another tyre - say, an Avon - to improve. So you could end up with cheap tyres and a technical collaboration, leading to tyres perfectly suited to you and your car. The sort of thing that only happens in F1!!!

That could appeal, if you like that sort of thing and were willing to sacrifice some time (1 season? 2? 3?) to the development.