As more and more tracks have opened their doors to noncompetitive track days, a market has grown for streetable tires that are also fast and durable on course. Participants want to be able to drive their cars with confidence to, from and on the track. For many years, Hoosier–long a key player in North American motorsports–had no such offering for this market segment.
Until now.
Photography Credit: Larry Chen
With much fanfare, Hoosier recently announced the TrackAttack Pro, a tire aimed squarely at track rats, especially those driving the highest-performing street-legal vehicles. We’re talking about the Porsche GT3, Corvette Z06 and ZR1, BMW M-branded machines, Mercedes-AMG and pretty much any exotics. If you want the quickest laps on track–and with OE levels of street suitability–and are willing to pay a premium price for that combo, this tire is for you.
But wait, you say, doesn’t this tire carry a 200tw rating? Can’t I use it for SCCA autocross and time trials in the street tire classes?
The answer is no, mostly because the tire does not meet SCCA’s required 7/32-inch minimum molded tread depth–part of the club’s litmus test for defining a legitimate street tire. And no, this was not an oversight on Hoosier’s part, though company representatives note they would certainly be open to a rules change.
The confusion comes from the fact that traditional, streetable track day tires like the Goodyear F1 Supercar 3R, Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R and Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R have carried a treadwear rating below 200. While those tires could all likely meet the 200 bar, they were purposely underrated by their makers to indicate their track focus. This also helps calibrate owner expectations regarding shorter lifespan due to these tires’ soft compounds and low initial tread depths, the latter being especially important given that each of the above was originally an OE fitment.
But Hoosier is a race tire company, and you won’t likely see this tire on any brand-new cars, at least not with Hoosier branding–maybe as a Continental version–so the company marked it aggressively. And before you call foul, Hoosier claims to have done the empirical NHTSA treadwear test loop multiple times during development, showing that the treadwear rating is deserved.
[How are treadwear ratings determined? It’s not how you think.]
Development of the tire has been underway for some four years, with most of it being done in Indiana. Typically, race tire development goes much more quickly, but with Hoosier being a wholly owned subsidiary of Continental, anything sold as a street tire has to meet a rigorous set of internal, company-defined standards in addition to U.S. DOT minimums. Note that the tire does not currently carry the European E-Mark certification.
Performance goals for the development were pretty simple: Match the performance of Hoosier’s latest DOT-rated R-comp tire, that being the R7, while still maintaining suitability for proper street use. Usually there’s a major trade-off when that compromise is made, but the R7 is an old design. Using modern materials and techniques for the Track Pro, Hoosier has successfully built a tire whose performance on track is very close to that lofty goal.
So how quick is it? How does it handle when pushed to the limit? What’s it like on the street? Further, how does it compare to more traditional Super 200 tires?
To answer those questions, we’ve arranged to have one of the first sets of 245/40R17 production tires sent to us for our typical comprehensive track testing ritual using the Triple Threat ND Miata as test mule. Look for those results in print and online very soon.
In the meantime, we can give these initial impressions based on firsthand experience gleaned from Hoosier’s recent media launch at the Thermal Club race track in Palm Springs, California. We were able to experience the new tire and several competitors in a variety of exercises, including a slalom, emergency lane-change maneuvers, low-speed handling and the high-speed track laps.
Photography Credit: Larry Chen
Steering response is very linear and immediate. Turn the wheel, and the car moves right now. There is no progressive buildup as with most of the tires in this category. Grip is very high and stays very consistent, even when pushed for longer stints on track. And finally, the tires appear to be fairly durable based on the end-of-day remaining tread.
And one final note on that launch: This tire is a really big deal. Rarely does a tiremaker put that kind of effort and expense into marketing products in our amateur motorsports space. But Hoosier realizes it has a winner and, being new to this category, wants everyone to know. The company has certainly been successful at raising the excitement level, and we eagerly await our own testing of the latest tire to enter this segment.
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