Grassroots Motorsports
Issue link: http://grassrootsmotorsports.epubxp.com/i/501675
Grassroots Motorsports 126 That original BFGoodrich Rival found some huge fans on track, but its reception among the autocross community was spotty. In particular, the Rival seemed to have issues with the rubber laid down by stickier R-compound tires and slicks. At a road race event, where different classes share a track over the course of a weekend, drivers have a few laps to lay down their own rubber. In autocross, this can't happen as the classes are intermingled. BFG responded by developing several alter- nate versions of its Rival and then inviting key SCCA national championship competitors to a test day held just after the Tire Rack SCCA National Championships–on the same courses, even. It was a stroke of brilliance from both a development and marketing standpoint: BFG came back with data where they needed it most, while those competitors left knowing how much time they'd gained. What the drivers did not know was which tire would be put into production–and any further tweaks it might receive. We were part of that test in Lincoln, and we can now confrm that the new Rival-S was indeed the best of that bunch. This tire's forte is big grip–no, check that, massive grip–for a street tire. This became immediately apparent on the skidpad as it set a record, dipping slightly into the 9.4s. And while it never repeated that one cold-tire fyer, it did outpace the feld with consistent 9.5s and low 9.6s. Like some of the others, it cared little about how much air was inside: Pressures ranging from 24 to 32 psi worked fairly similarly. Feel at the limit is best described as rubbery. Those who have run on the Toyo R1R will find familiarity here, though the BFG's breakaway is easier to predict, thus minimizing tire wear from overdriving. Riding the circle was super easy, though the tire ran at larger slip angles than the Bridgestone. How big was the grip? Andy began to complain that the seat padding had bottomed out and the frame was now hurting his ribs. On the test course, anticipation was high and the Rival-S delivered in spades for David. With the Miata set up for Toyos, he was able to extract gobs of hidden performance from the Rival-S, consistently lapping in the mid-to-high 23s. His full-course average was a solid second faster than on the Bridgestone, although his single-lap delta was only two-tenths. Andy's results were also consistent, but slower: low 24s across the board, but only a few tenths quicker than the RE-71R on aver- age. The single-lap nod went to the Bridgestone. Both drivers described the tire as extremely forgiving, very linear, and capable of doing everything well. If the RE-71R is a better ZII, then the Rival-S is a better Toyo R1R. SOURCES 949 Racing: 949racing.com, (949) 716-3111, wheels Auto-Spec: automotive-specialist.com, (512) 472-4977, pre-test tire mounting BFGoodrich Tires: bfgoodrichtires.com, (877) 788-8899, tires Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations: bridgestonetire.com, (866) 775-6480, tires Dunlop Tires: dunloptires.com, (800) 321-2136, tires Texas Track Works: texastrackworks.com, (817) 926-8863, onsite tire mounting Yokohama Tire Corporation: yokohamatire.com, (800) 722-9888, tires BFGoodrich g-Force Rival-S average run best run best lap expert driver: 47.6 47.4 23.6 guest driver: 48.6 48.4 24.2 (all times in seconds) FEATURE: STREET TIRE TEST