Grooves vs slicks

bullerman

Member
They say grooves are slower than slicks. I run on a small tight track. Turns have a 44' radius. Saturday night it was slick. Kart was pushing bad off 1 and 2. I almost wish i would have put the groove tires on. I know some of the tracks on you tube grooves probably wouldn't work but on this small track with tight turns how much difference in lap time there would be between grooves and slicks.
 
They say grooves are slower than slicks. I run on a small tight track. Turns have a 44' radius. Saturday night it was slick. Kart was pushing bad off 1 and 2. I almost wish i would have put the groove tires on. I know some of the tracks on you tube grooves probably wouldn't work but on this small track with tight turns how much difference in lap time there would be between grooves and slicks.
That's really tough to say with any confidence as there is no real accurate average lap times one vs the other because of the prep game, it's not like there both always run with no prep ever, if that were the case it would be easier to tell. But I can say for sure with out any doubt, a properly prepared slick will out run the grooves with everything else involved being equal.
 
Depends really on if others are running grooved tires already and the track is covered in marbles because of this.
If the racing line is "dirty" because others are running treaded tires, then you just about have to run treads to cut through all the marbles.
If the racing line gets clean, then slicks will be faster.

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Thanks for the advice. This is a sandy track. I felt like some of the loose sand was thrown in the groove. Only way i will know is to try it i guess.
 
I raced a small dry-slick oval here in Lawsonville, NC. (Stateline) They allowed me to use treads on my KT-100 ride. I ran, say, 11.xx with treads. (Don't recall my actual time.) Swapped to slicks. Gained 1 second (almost 10%) lap reduction. If you can make slicks work, they're faster. Treads do, however, make a wider groove possible because it's not grip-grip-GONE....there's some additional steerability to catch it in the looser stuff with treads. All junior classes should use treads, IMO. Precisely for this reason (and the fact that shows are hours too long already.)
 
As most everyone else has said... It depends. If the track is constantly blowing dust/grit slicks are likely slower. If it cleans up the slicks will take over. I do like Ted's suggestion of kids running treads. Our local track was the typical black groove kart track and if you got out of it coming out of 2 and into the marbles into the metal wall you went and doesn't matter how hard they hit it, always sounded like a bomb went off and the whole pits came running to the fence.
 
I ran grooved tires quite often at my local track. I took SS11's and cut treads in them. They were quite popular for a while when the track conditions made using them advantageous.
 
This brings me back to another night of mixing tires.. On a backyard track close to me, High banked all the way around.. after running slicks all night I had asked if I can bolt some treads on.. It was fine by them, on the Right side I put a big 12.00 on the rear and a 6.5 I believe on the Front right..Slicks on the Left side of kart. Funnest laps I ran all night, on my 1st LO 206 I got from Carlson back in 2014 ish.. Busted them Clones by some big builders.. All for fun since I had treads of course..
 
Another option is to groove your right side Yellows. As Menace61 said, there's a time and place for it. Just enough grooves to keep the tire clean and cut through the marbles on the track surface. You'll likely only need them on the right sides since the dust/crumbs blow up the track and the very bottom should stay clean where slicks will still work. (Besides, grooving left side yellows is a real chore.) :)
 
I may try that this weekend. Run grooves on the right and run my Reapers on the left side. That would create a stir if it did good. Lol
I ran a backyard.league like that. I had a big ole R.R. tread and a 5.5 tread on RF and slicks on left side.. Had a LO206 on and beat up on pretty much everyone exept.one, got 2nd.place that nigjt..
 
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