I've just gotten back from BMW CCA's Oktoberfest in Indianapolis. What an event; the Hoosier Chapter really put on a great show. Makes me excited about the possibility of our trying to co-host one in the future at Mt. Tremblant. I attended O'Fest as the Canadian representative on the Club Racing Advisory Committee (CRAC). We met for two days and I have submitted a full report to the National Directors of the BMW Club of Canada.

The position I maintained throughout the meetings was that club racing needs to continue its adherence to the principles of gentlemanly racing as exemplified in vintage racing and emphasized in the 13/13 rule regarding off track incidents and car-to-car contact. I also maintained that efforts should be made to encourage participation by making the series as accessible as possible to experienced, capable, and willing driving school participants. Such factors as the financial costs and time to prepare a race car, entry fees, incident rates, and so on are all aspects of accessibility. Finally, I maintained that there needs to be an active, cooperative relationship between the organizers and participants in club racing and the organizers and participants in driving schools.

I am pleased to report that Club Racing (CR) and the Club Racing Advisory Committee voted unanimously to continue their support for a Canadian representative on CRAC. Furthermore, CR recognizes the contribution of the BMWCC to club racing in hosting two events in Canada. CR is committed to working with the BMWCC to further develop the Canadian program and to foster more Canadian license holders and event participants.

During a break, I ran into Dave Sanders of BF Goodrich. We spoke briefly about their DOT-R competition tire, the g-Force. He said the company was pleased with the performance of the tire in smaller diameters (i.e., 13"-15") but were planning some changes in larger sizes (i.e., 16"-18" diameters). He emphasized that the g-Force is especially well suited to cars which have not undergone extensive suspension modifications in keeping with the tradition of the venerable R1.

Late last winter, when I was preparing my Ultimate Newsletter article on DOT-R competition tires, I contacted tire manufacturers including the folks at Pirelli Canada. Peter Koursos and Nicki Ruccolo were more than happy to talk with me and provide information about the Pirelli P-Zero C, their DOT-R competition tire.

Little is known about the Pirelli P-Zero C here in North America although it is not a new tire and has been around in Europe for about a decade. I've heard that members of the Porsche Club of America, Rennsport Region, use it with success at Le Circuit, Mt. Tremblant but other than that, I was not able to find much in the way of written evaluations or objective evidence. So what about our doing a tire test to find out the facts?

Pirelli Canada has recently renewed their commitment to grassroots motorsports and single marque clubs like ours. They obviously stand behind their products too. They did not hesitate to offer a set of P-Zero Cs so that we could test them ourselves and report our findings to you.

Initially, I was to do the testing on my J-Stock E30 M3 club racer. Unfortunately, Pirelli no longer makes tires in fifteen inch sizes preferring to concentrate on providing competition tires in larger diameters. Unfortunately, fifteen inches is the size I run at competitive events. And we needed to do the objective testing-timed laps-at the track during events where timing was allowed. This, of course, eliminated our using a BMW CC Performance Driving School.

I readily convinced fellow club member, national director, and club racer Frank Gray to test the tires and report back. Frank tested a set of four sixteen inch tires on his A-Modified E30 M3. It is fully raced prepared and includes a Eurospec E36 M3 engine.

The initial testing was done in June while the two of us and club member Lee Vuong were at Lime Rock Park for the two days of club racing hosted by the New Jersey chapter of the BMW CCA. We got lots of very accurate times there for all our practice, qualifying, and race laps.

For all club races, cars are equipped with AMB transponders. Cars passing over wires imbedded in the track surface allow accurate computer recording of individual lap times which are printed and distributed to all competitors after each track session.

The second set of lap times were taken by Frank while he was attending a Trackmasters lapping day at Watkins Glen. No transponder this time; back to the old reliable stopwatch.

Frank's evaluation, which appears below, suggests the tire is a good choice for driving school participants where long wear characteristics and good compliance/feedback are highly desirable. I would also add that pricing in Canada makes the tire a positive choice in larger sizes relative to other DOT-R competition tires. And it also bears emphasizing that when new, the tire comes with sufficient tread for it to see duty when track conditions are wet. All in all, then, a versatile performer.

Frank's reaction was more reserved concerning the performance of the tire for competition purposes. In particular, he was unable to achieve lap times which were comparable or exceeded those of the renowned BFGoodrich Comp T/A R1, which has now been succeeded by the g-Force.

I hope you enjoy reading Frank's report. Please don't hesitate to contact me with your feedback on this latest information or my earlier article on DOT-R competition tires.

Until next time...
See you at the track!

General observations: The Pirelli tire has considerably more tread that the R1. Clearly, this would indicate superior performance in the rain, although I did not have the opportunity to run them on a wet track. The process of heat cycling the tires is the same.

The first noticeable difference in the drive is the fact that that the Pirelli is much more "driver friendly". The ride is much more compliant than the R1, a feature that is particularly welcome on cars with stiffer suspensions.

It appears that the Pirelli tire gets to operating temperature about a lap sooner than the R1; not an insignificant fact when you consider the relatively short lapping sessions offered at some advanced Driver's Schools.

Tire wear: Like the R1, the new Pirelli tires required about four half hour sessions of track time before they began to get to their maximum level of grip. Based on about seven days of considerable use, the Pirelli tires clearly have a good amount of tread remaining. I would estimate that they have at least another seven or eight days of good track time left on them. Given this kind of wear, they appear to last about 60 to 70 per cent longer than what I have experienced with the R1 over the past five years.

Lap times: At Lime Rock, the R1's were about three seconds a lap quicker (1:05 vs. 1:08). The fact that the R1's were more ideally worn versus the new Pirelli was a definite factor in these times.

At Watkins Glen, the R1's were about two seconds a lap quicker (2:19 vs. 2:21). It is noteworthy that the lap time difference shrank considerably, mostly attributable to the fact that the Pirellis were more evenly matched wear wise to the R1's.

Conclusions: Under very similar conditions, the R1's were consistently quicker under actual timed lap circumstances. As mentioned, this difference shrank as the Pirelli's gained more track time.

The Pirelli's last about 60 to 70 percent longer. This is a major advantage for the Advanced Driving School and Autocross enthusiast, particularly so if they prefer to drive their car to the track on their R compound tires.

The Pirelli offers a superior, more "driver friendly" ride. The tire seems to communicate more as you approach the limit.

The additional tread depth of the Pirelli should make it the better rain tire. Again, a substantial advantage for those who do not bring a separate set of rains to the track.

Overall, I feel that the Pirelli R compound tire is the ideal choice for anyone who wants improved performance at the track or autocross without wearing out their street tires. Clearly, the additional life of the Pirelli over the BFG R1 makes it the better value choice. A set of these tires would almost surely last an entire season.