I was planning on ordering a T2R from Sam Strano Jr. in a couple of weeks after I get paid. I'm an ME co-op in school right now. Then I found out from Sean and later Strano that they were going to run out of T2R which have been on backorder forever. Well it looks like I'm going to get a T2R anyways. Sean Garnett (sgarnett), knowing my situation, went ahead and ordered a SECOND T2R for me-without me asking! He's going to hold it for me. Thumbs up to Sean, good competitor and friend. I will also be racing against Sean next year in ESP. You meet some of the nicest people at events like autocross and open tracking too I'm sure. BTW, I don't think Sean is going to order anybody else a T2R so don't solicit please.

sounds like a nice thing to do

Pretty slick move Sean.

Big thumbs up!

Little do you know Sean is going to remove the biasing in your unit . . .

Shhhhh, he doesn't know about the "special" mods yet.

Besides, if he had to postpone his swap to ESP-legal gears until more T2Rs came in I woulda hadta protest him, and that's too much hassle

LMAO! Maybe I should've called up and told Arlyn to put tamper evident tape on the boxes. I think the 3.73's helped at most courses, but at tight courses like legends and papa john's they hurt. BTW Sean I read your post about 265 or 275's on 16x10's. Are you thinking of going to the darkside-hoosier(275)?

I don't know what I'm going to run yet. If the Tirerack specs are correct, the new Kumho 265 is wider than the Victoracer, and very similiar to the old Hoosier except for the belt package.

Both Kumho and Hoosier are going to nylon carcass plies, (like the old Hoosier), steel belts (like the Victoracer), and two circumferential grooves (like the old Hoosier). Kumhos are going to be shorter lived, Hoosiers may be longer lived (relative to each vendor's old tire). Kumho is getting a little lighter, Hoosier is getting a little heavier. I'm not sure there's going to be much difference between them, other than (collectively) a total of three different compounds to choose from. I think the gap is narrowing.

The new Hoosier has a rim guard which would be worth a (very) little extra to me with those wide rims. I'm not worried about curbing (the rims are already "beaters", and there aren't many curbs on an autocross course), but I don't really like to lay my rims directly on pavement or let them scrape together on the trailer.

There's a guy in Lexington who sells Hoosiers slightly cheaper than Tirerack (not sure if he charges for shipping) and does the mounting and balancing cheap. Clevenger has hinted about some kind of new tire deal that he's going to annunce this weekend, but I don't know whether that's for Kumho, Hoosier, or ???

I will probably go with one of the new tires. Since I'm going to a new combo anyway, I might as well sort it out with a tire I'll still be able to buy next year. That doesn't necessarily rule out Victoracers, but probably does rule out the old Hoosiers.

You think Papa John's is tight?

Well Papa John's was tight the time the course was nothing but 180's. Otherwise it isn't tight. I liked the UPS courses the best last year. I would've liked Papa John's the best had the grip been there.

I'm fairly sure the endless 180's course was at UPS.

I'm definately talking about a papa john's course. I believe was the one that followed the vortex/450* turn. David Kutney was there that day. I'm either going with Victoracers or the new V710. It sort of depends on what Clevenger is talking about when he says wait to buy tires. I hope it's a good deal on new not used tires.

Good news: I found the factory 3.42's from the previous owner and they look to be in good shape. They supposedly have 27K miles on them-I don't think there is any harm in re-using them on an autocross car.

OK, I think I know which course you mean now. I was able to get through that with a shift or two less than you needed. Like you said, though, the 3.73s were actually hurting you at Applebee's Park, and would at EKU too.

You are going to have to adjust your launch technique a bit with fresh, wider tires, a better limited slip, and taller gearing, especially at the grippier sites.

Actually, it should be interesting this year. Jim has a lot less power than we do, but a little less weight, independant rear suspension, he's the only one with "enough" camber, and he should be a lot faster now that he's got 4 good shocks instead of 3. Your engine has better bottom end torque (especially since my tranny causes false knock retard at the low end), is probably a better match for the 3.42s than mine, and your car is lower with a lot more camber. I've got more horsepower and more area under the curve, and a setup that works especially well on the slick tracks.

If John puts tires on that blown Mustang Cobra he could be a lot faster, and I gave Sam's card to Joe (the guy with the red 3rd gen). Now if we can just keep all the Evo's and Sti's in stock or SM...

That's why I opted for a T2R because of an STI or EVO threat. I think most WRX and EVO owners are going to go straight to SM from stock, because they love to turn up boost. I didn't mention this before but Jeff (Thompson?) that had the white NA Mustang Cobra and KYR events was considering a move to ESP. He didn't like SM anymore than I did. He was also pretty fast if you know who I'm talking about. I outran him a couple of times but there was an event where he blew me away. I hope he stays in SM. He's citing the Ford TSB or something like that so he can run SFC's in ESP. Is Jim getting new tires? It'll be an interesting year indeed.

I assume Jim is getting new tires - his Hoosiers from last year have most of a season on them.