Hi all looking at doing my first track day at blyton park. My recently purchased mx5 mk2 is still on winter tyres with a decent amount of tread left on. As I’m on very low budget I am reluctant to change them. I’m not interested in being fast but just looking for fun without getting in anyone’s way. Frankly I’d like to trash the tyres on a circuit and then just stick summer tyres on as i have other car to use in winter. I know there is a risk of winter tyres overheating if i am out too long on track but what is the general opinion on keeping them on? Blyton is in October so weather will be cooler then… Thoughts appreciated
You’ll be the equivalent of Lewis Hamilton on “supersofts”. If it’s a dry track and you drive harder than on the road you’ll probably not get much life out of them at all.
My son arrived with new “all season” tyres on his car at the Bruntingthorpe trackday. They went “off” after about three laps, the rubber on the treads was beginning to melt. Mind you, his car does have 250 hp under the bonnet so they were working hard.
We changed over to his semi-slicks and they coped much better.
But… you said are about to replace your winter tyres with summer ones. We’ve just lit our wood burning fire for the first time since last spring… I was thinking it will soon be time to fit my winter wheels!
Winter tyres are very soft and have big blocky treads, on a track they’ll seriously overheat and you’ll end up driving on jelly babies. In my opinion it’s dangerous.
If you’re spending money on a set of summer tyres as soon as you thrash the tyres, why not just spend the money before the trackway and have more fun in a safe manner?
I’ve done 15,000 miles of HARD street driving (A power slide a day keeps the chassis happy) and 2 trackdays on my AD08R’s and I’ve still got a 2-3 mm left on each tyre. I’ll be replacing them after Bedford in a few weeks.
