Spiel

SEPTEMBER 2017 WWW.PNWR.ORG 53 continued on next page runs had Lau turn his slowest time, Pack improved to 34.831, and Hunter was slower. The final order was Lau 34.653, Pack 34.831, Hunter 35.189, and Geoff Newman in fourth. The top ten included Keith Brown fifth, Eric Fry eighth, Val Korry ninth, and Jarod Fry tenth. Hunter says he had only autocrossed the car four times this year, and has faced fellow Golden Gate region members regularly, so he had a constant performance yardstick. He has only had the car for a year and a half and plans further development, including the transmission and suspension. He's in the ballpark, so there may be life left in the analog cars. Ladies TTOD was set by Kathy Smalley at 37.053 in the car she shared with Bill Thorpe. Second was Tara Shapowal in Steve Lau's car. Kristi Brown was third quickest, Debbie Starret-Fry sixth, Wendy Gulick eighth, Carol Leuty tenth, and Virginie Grange eleventh. So PNWR competitors, men and women, were well represented it the TTOD rankings, despite having few entries in the quickest classes. Michelin Drive and Compare This event was staged at the Northern Quest Casino site on Monday and Tuesday mornings prior to autocross setup. Michelin had procured two 2017 718 Boxster S cars from Porsche with nearly identical specifications. The cars came with only 190 total miles, so they got well broken in by the D&C drivers. The D&C course used the entire site and had a very interesting design with a variety of elements marked with 4 inch cones in most locations and 8 inch cones marking some apexes. The center of the course was watered down between drivers, a first in my experience for D&C events. So, a run began on dry asphalt, transitioned to wet for about a quarter of the course, and then back to dry pavement to finish. Tires being compared in the event were the new Michelin Pilot Sport 4S, successor to the Pilot Supersport, and the just released Continental Extreme Contact DWS. Sizes were 235/35 – 20 front and 265/35-20 rear. The test was billed as a comparison of the two latest performance tires from the companies, but the PS 4S falls in the max performance summer category with a 300 tread wear rating, while the Conti is in the ultra-high performance all season category with a 540 tread wear rating. It might be expected that the Conti (DWS stands for Dry, Wet, Snow) would be at a disadvantage in the higher comparison temperatures, while Michelin designed for summer dry and wet conditions would be in its element, although it shouldn't be "serviced, stored or driven at near- or below- freezing temperatures, through snow or on ice". The comparison and the opportunity to drive the new 2017 718 Boxster S was interesting. The cars behaved very well, sometimes making rude noises with abrupt throttle usage, with a bit of slow throttle response at times, and were easy to drive. My instructor previewed what to expect, saying the Continentals, with their softer sidewalls, should feel like they are rolling over more and understeer on turn in, especially in the wet. The Michelins should have better traction, higher grip wet and dry. I found that generally to be so. The Continentals were notably slower on turn in, wet or dry, the Michelins exceptional. The precision of the Michelins gave confidence in their performance and made them a delight to drive, and led to some overdriving in this brief experience with only two runs on each tire. I had more understeer on the Michelins in the dry on my second run, tending to crank in too much steering too quickly at turn entry. This was the result of the high confidence instilled by this tire's instant response. Running a set of transitions on the Michelins I felt the car would respond as quickly as I could steer it. The Michelins had excellent traction on turn exit in the wet and I had a bit of wheel spin over some bumps on the track. Pushing the final dry turn exit after coming off the wet section produced oversteer, but recovery with the Michelins was instant and the 718 Boxster S stabilized instantly. Which tire would I prefer? In hot summer conditions, wet or dry, the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S is clearly the superior tire with higher limits and better feel. But they probably never will make a 16 inch diameter size to fit my 944. In very cold conditions I suspect the Continental Extreme Contact DWS would be much better. As always, this was a learning experience and was much fun. Thanks for the opportunity.

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