Contact introduce new GT12 & LMP tyre range
Contact Racing Tyres have introduced a new range of tyres for GT12 and LMP12 classes. The new compounds give more options for varying carpet and additive conditions and they include the T and World Championship winning Team Bomber foam, mounted on stiffer black wheels. Starting with the T foam, it is the most complete in the range. It benefits from performance and lap times equal or better than Q foam, with the added benefit of being easier to drive, less twitchy and easy to attack the track with. It also has much better durability, lower wear rates, close to A foam, and when using the non-oil type additives, keeps grip to the end of the race much better than Contact’s other options, making it a choice on all carpet types.
Next up is the B foam, secured from Contact’s partners Team Bomber in Japan. It is the foam that was used to win the 2016 IFMAR 1/12 World Championships and often offers the best performance. It is a super quick tyre in all circumstances; itÂ’s only down side being the increased wear rates over T foam, more similar to Q foam wear. It is often a great option for use on just the rear of the car, when drivers want super planted high grip rear traction.
The J foam is a very fast tyre when the track grip is high. It lends itself well to Primafelt carpet or when oil based additives are used. In these cases it may even be faster than T foam, although this lap time comes from a more aggressive handling car.
A foam is Contact’s most durable, affordable tyre. Perfect for many runs without taking the wheels off the car during weekly club racing. The wear rate of this foam is the lowest in the range, even lower than seen with T foam. It rarely offers the overall performance of the others, however in lower traction conditions; occasionally it is a match for the more expensive options. Suggested for use on Primafelt or CRC Black carpet, or when oily additive is in use for.
Q foam offers more performance than A foam in most conditions. It does however have higher wear rates so needs to be replaced slightly more often than A. It works great on ETS type carpet. Compared with T foam it is capable of matching T foams performance on lap time, although it has a tendency to lose some of its performance throughout the race when using all non-oil type additives such as SXT3.0 or Nosram Carpet.
Source: Schumacher [racing-cars.com]
