C-TECH

Tyres and Wheels

They’re the interface between you and the track. AFT champion Cory ‘C-Tex’ Texter shares his hard-earned knowledge to help you make a difference

THE TYRE THAT pro riders have been using in the Grand National Championship since Ben Franklin discovered electricity is the Dunlop DT3. When I started racing, it was branded a Goodyear, but it was the same pattern. But the American Flat Track (AFT) series spec tyre for 2020 is completely different in terms of shape, tread pattern, construction and thickness. The DT4 is the first new tyre to be used in pro flat track in the last 40-plus years. I tested it a couple of times in off season and it’s an improvement over the DT3. It’s thicker and has a more aggressive tread pattern. So far, I’ve only used it on cushion short tracks, so I’m looking forward to trying it on a groove track.

IN THE COMPOUND

For years, on certain tracks, Dunlop has offered a choice of what tyre compound we can use. The tyre looks the same, but the compound is softer or harder. When I turned professional, back in 2007, we didn’t have the option. Everyone used the softer compound on short track and TT events and the harder option on half-miles and miles. This choice makes it harder to decide the best compound for each track. Last year, Production Twins riders like me only ran 15-lap main events, so the majority of us used the softer compound on half-miles. At the Rapid City Half-Mile it seemed the softer compound overheated for most riders in the semi, so most of us switched to the harder compound for the main. However, it got colder when the sun went down and the track surface cooled. Ryan Varnes, the only rider with a softer compound rear, kicked everyone’s ass. In fact, he had the fastest lap time in the whole event, including the more powerful premier Twins class.

CUTTING AND DOPING

When I was a rookie professional, we were allowed to do a lot of tyre prep. We could cut extra grooves into the tyres, enhance them with chemicals (doping) and also use a tractionizer – a big-ass roller with spikes sticking out. You let the air out of your tyre, put the bike on the roller and give it throttle. This puts little holes in the rubber, which helps on dusty, clay tracks.

AFT doesn’t allow tyre prep, but your race series might, so here’s what to consider and why. We would cut tyres with special tools, or sometimes razor blades. This was mostly for cushion tracks with a loose surface, because the fresh razor edge allowed it to bite into the dirt. At non-AFT cushion half-mile events, it’s almost essential to cut your tyre as it usually improves lap times by 0.5s. At Lima, I went through a brand new tyre every time I hit the track because it’s essential to have those sharp edges. It doesn’t make a huge difference on clay tracks, though. Taking rubber away is usually a bad thing on hard-packed surfaces, so we search our truck for scuffed-in rubber or half-worn tyres.

I’m glad we don’t have the option to put chemicals on our tyres or use a tractionizer any more. Doping is a pain. The price of chemicals and finding the best way to do it seems like hell. I don’t know what some of the tuners like Kenny Tolbert and Bill Werner used back in the day, but I’ve tried doping my tyres at some outlaw races and not noticed a huge difference; perhaps I wasn’t doing it the right way. It’s brutal talking to grown men who race go-karts, but those guys are experts when it comes to prepping tyres.

FEEL THE WIDTH

After you decide what tyre compound you want to use that day, you then have to decide what width wheel is best. The popular options are 2.5in or 2.75in front wheels and 3.0in or 3.5in rears. Most often, a narrower front is used on the cushion tracks to open up the tyre tread a little more and allow it to slice through the dirt; same with the rear wheel. However, a lot more guys have switched over to the 3.5in rear in the last few years. I use a wide wheel almost everywhere when riding the G&G Racing Yamaha MT-07 twin. The wider rim seems to help me keep the wheels in line and hook up off the corners better. Brandon Robinson almost never uses a wide wheel, even at Springfield Mile. It’s rider preference when it comes to width.

MIXING IT UP

At non-national events, we can pretty much do whatever we want with our tyres, including choosing a brand we feel works best for that surface. In addition to Dunlop, the main options are Mitas, Maxxis, Shinko, and soon, Hoosier. The Mitas are badass on dirt/clay cushion tracks and seem to work good almost everywhere. Maxxis have been around a while and are more limestone or gravel tyres and can be unpredictable on clay tracks. One lap, it’s badass and hooked up, and then five laps later it’s complete shit. If you stick to the Maxxis on cushion tracks only, you’ll be dialled in. I have never used a Shinko, but I haven’t heard great things about them. I haven’t yet tried the Hoosier, it’s still in development.

WEIGHT A MINUTE

We have a 42lb-complete rear wheel with tyre weight rule in AFT. Last year it was 40lb, but the new DT4 is a heavier tyre so they gave us leeway. Some riders only use heavy wheels and some riders never use them. I feel like the heavier wheel allows me to carry more corner speed and sort of keeps the momentum going through the apex. On tight, paper-clip-shaped tracks, having a heavier wheel makes it harder to slow the bike down, so that is something we look at when deciding what is best.

PRESSURE ON

Tyre pressure is important, but I never notice a major difference changing the pressure one or two pounds. You can go so in depth with pressures depending on the track length, dirt, tyre brand, etc. Pressures will be different depending on the type of bike and size of engine. Even, say, a framer 450 and a DTX 450 often require different pressures. The common range is eight to 30psi. I’ve seen riders run as low as eight pounds at a track like the old Daytona short track because it’s so smooth and slick. On the mile tracks, especially Springfield, you run a high pressure because of the speeds and how hot the tyres get.

It’s not as simple as putting rubber on a rim and going racing, eh?