There are many types of road legal track day tyres and performance tyres. Performance tyres can give you enhanced driving capability on the track due to the tyres' wide shoulder and continuous centre thread. The other benefit of road legal track day tyres is that you can drive to and from the event without having to change your tyres over. Please always check your tread after each event before driving home to make sure the legal depth is still there.
Fairly obvious, but the more weight on the tyres the larger the contact surface area will to the ground which will cause more wear, and critically could overheat your tyres. The opposite of this is that if you have your pressure too high then there will not be enough contact area on the ground which could cause central wear and loss of grip.
Again, a fairly obvious factor but setting your psi in cold conditions could result in an increase of up to 6 psi once you warm the tyres up on the track. This will of course depend on how hard you are pushing.
Tyres with a harder carcass and sidewall require less pressure compared to a softer one. Specialist racing or track day tyres are designed to run at a higher psi than standard road tyres. To find out the optimum pressure for your tyres it’s always best to check with the manufacturer or an expert. You may find that a small adjustment from their recommendation will suit your driving/ riding style however.Remember when your mum or dad told you to reduce your tyre pressure in the wet or icy conditions for better grip? Forget that on the track, if you let your pressure down to far the tread will compress and the tyre may not disperse water as effectively as its designed to. At the end of the day, if you are just on track to enjoy your vehicle and not put too much pressure on yourself then its best not to get to hung up over your tyre pressure. As long as it’s set at an advised level for the tyre make and conditions, all you need to worry about is getting those lines right to get better lap times.
