best tires for short course racing

FabMan

Member
I was wondering what style of tread is best & mostly used by you guy's racing short track. My son & I raced karts on dirt for years & I know we had to have many different compounds & tread designs to be competitive. By looking at alot of your machines, it looks like you run more of an offroad type tire design than say a Holeshot type tire. It does look like most tracks you run on are heavy and I can understand that type of tire. If you guy's run on a track that is say, hard packed clay, would you still run the offroad type tire or go to a Holeshot flat track type tire?

I live in the midwest where we are finally getting some UTV racing and I am building my Teryx to MWRA rules. I have the cage bent & welded in, lowered seats, widened body mount tubing in the rear, bumpers, fuel cell ect. done Right now, But I still have alot to do. I would have to travel about 5 hrs. 1 way to race now but I hope by the time I get this thing built, there will be racing closer to central Missouri where I live. Any help with my tire selection would be very much appreciated. Good luck to everybody out on the track!
 
i agree with 07fj if you are running the factory motor.. they are the lightest tire you can get, and offer a good amount of wheel speed with less lugs to help keep the tires spinning.

for hard pack or blue groove, i would run more of street style tire like the sprint cars do, but i have yet to see a utv track like that. they are mostly more of a soft dirt, where you need lugs to dig in.
 
Thanks guy's. Yea my goal with this thing is 6+ LT & an 840 kit with Muzzy pro pipes and all the hundred other things it will take to make this thing work & stay together,HaHa. I am thinking it will be next season before I have this thing done so maybe I will just see where it is I will have to run , check out the track and decide on tires at that time. Do you guy's run 12" or 14" beadlocks? I appreciated your help.
 
i run 12'' but that is because my car was set up for desert and i get less pinch flats on rocks with the larger side wall. However, i am now in the short course scene and i will be switching to 14s when i get the money for less tire roll around corners and a little bit less tire collapse
 
I agree, 12" beadlocks.

they do work great with a blue groove also, Elsinore got that way in some corners. these tires are also very predictable, they don't keep grabbing then all of a sudden give up, you can sense what they are doing very well.
 
Thanks again guy's for your time answering my questions. It is alway's nice to get your information from the source, the guy's out on the track racing these machines. Anymore info on tire & wheel selection is appreciated.
 
14"s are heavier too. rotating mass and unsprung weight, gotta be considered in a low horspower to weight ratio car.
 
i dont think i saw many cars with 12" or the maxxis 4speeds this season.

looks to me that all the guys with the power are running 14" for less tire roll in the corners and running bighorns or even the new ceros I have seen on a few cars.
 
Me personally I would try the holeshots- they look like a decent tire for the track- not sure if many have tried them
 
i have the 25" holeshot SXS on 12" wheels and they worked good for me last weekend at the Lucas track.

i ran the 26" tall holeshot ATR's last season for MX track racing. seemed to work ok with the stock poo motor.
 
Last season when we were still running a Rhino engine we ran ITP Holeshot ATR's on a 12" BS wheel and they worked pretty good for us.

This year were using the same wheel (due to $$$) but using 25" ITP Holeshot SXS's like two other SR1's.
 
i dont think i saw many cars with 12" or the maxxis 4speeds this season.

looks to me that all the guys with the power are running 14" for less tire roll in the corners and running bighorns or even the new ceros I have seen on a few cars.

really, look at the pics, bobby has them, austin has them, chad has them
 
Is everyone in the SR1 class going to 14" rims? I cant afford trick light weight 14" rims right now, would I be better off staying with the 12" rims? or getting 14" ITP T7 beadlocks?

I currently have sets of 25" 4-speeds and 26" bighorns 2.0s. I think the 25" 4-speeds are just too small for the R1 power though.
 
i would run the 4speeds, but i still have a few holeshots left. next set of tires will be maxxis. much lighter. as light as possible while still being durable, a huge key to being fast in short course.
 
Is everyone in the SR1 class going to 14" rims? I cant afford trick light weight 14" rims right now, would I be better off staying with the 12" rims? or getting 14" ITP T7 beadlocks?

I currently have sets of 25" 4-speeds and 26" bighorns 2.0s. I think the 25" 4-speeds are just too small for the R1 power though.

run your 4 speeds on the front, Cerros on the rear
 

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