[DeTomaso] Hoosiers-long

[JDeRyke at aol.com]

IMHO, the main drawback of Hoosier DOT tires is, their rubber compounds 
provide monstrous traction- and that translates into very rapid tread wear. A pair 
on 10" rear wheels Judy and I ran for a time did as follows: 
450-horse Pantera was driven sedately to autocrosses about 30 miles away 
where the owner, myself and wife Judy ran it 3-4 laps each on what was usually a 
60-75 second paved course, then the car was sedately driven home & parked until 
the next event. Tires were rotated now and then. After 985 recorded miles by 
the 3 drivers, a thin white streak of fabric was showing most of the way 
around both rear tires! We barely completed the season without having to buy a new 
pair. In the hotbed of prepared-stock autocross that was N. California in the 
'80s, both ends of that poor Pantera were sliding all the time we were on 
course! Note that I won two Regional championships, the owner won one and Judy won 
4 (Womans Class), before we began getting paint cracks near the decklid & 
windshield posts, and the car was retired from competition before the underlying 
metal began separating.

More recently, Larry Stock of the Pantera Parts Connection currently runs 
Hoosier DOTs on his do-everything red Pantera, and swears by them for SS running 
above 150 mph (sometimes well above), low-speed autocrosses with the Nevada 
SCCA and the occasional drive to work in semi-heavy traffic. His Pantera was the 
fastest P-car at the  '07 'Vegas Fun Rally- on Hoosiers. He also sells 
Hoosiers. 
Bottom line: if you can afford  the rapid wear rate and have a chassis brace 
system to forestall body cracks, they will likely work great for cars that are 
actually driven hard. Just don't expect long life as well unless you drive 
sedately & only want them as rim-protectors. To discuss all this with a real 
user, browse to <larrys at panteraparts.com> for some right-now, real-life 
experience with Hoosiers.
FWIW- J DeRyke<BR><BR><BR>**************************************<BR> See 
what's free at http://www.aol.com.</HTML>