A triumphal day

It's possible the track version of it is higher rated. Only £8 more per corner, too.

SteveH ( snipped-for-privacy@italiancar.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

But is there *any* point whatsoever in using track compound tyres on the road?

They wear out in no time at all, and give no benefit over good road tyres unless you're driving like a wanker with no consideration for other road users.

Driving quickly and within the capabilities of both yourself and the car doesn't equate to driving like a wanker.

SteveH ( snipped-for-privacy@italiancar.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Driving quickly, within the capabilities of yourself and the car, **while driving within the capabilities of your braking and evasive manouvring distances** doesn't require track tyres or wear a set of tyres out in 4,000 miles.

It's that little extra clause I've added that is the clincher here.

Bollocks.

You've obviously never driven a decent car on sticky rubber on a public road.

If you think your Pilots are good, then you know bugger-all about this subject.

Try a set of sticky Yokos on a twisty road before making further comment.

SteveH ( snipped-for-privacy@italiancar.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

You're a biker, Steve. I'd have thought you'd have a clue about how clueless the other cretins you're sharing a road with are.

I have. I have also driven on the track, in very good cars on race rubber and race suspension.

I have also driven like a complete wanker in the past.

Then I learnt I wasn't immortal, and grew up. It may have been helped by putting a car through a fence - on it's side - avoiding somebody else who came round a blind bend on my side of a fast but wide twisty country road that I knew well.

The difference between track-biased tyres and good fast road tyres would not have made a jot of difference - I didn't lose grip, I ran out of space, at a closing speed of around 150mph - because of somebody else's cockup.

I'd have had a problem at 50mph. At 80, it was a big problem. At 90, it would have been an even bigger one...

Is that what John Lennon did?

Steve

They're good, then? - I know they have a bloody good reputation, and have often been tempted to try a set, but some real world experience would be nice to hear about, IYSWIM.

That may have been true of the dreaded Technics or Eurospeeds of the 80s and

90s but I have to contradict you. The Colways on my car grip substantially *better* than the allegedly better tyres (pirelli) they replaced. And //in the wet//.

Perhaps - and I've witnessed what you're on about. But I can only tell you that *all* of the Colways I've ever seens (several sets) do not exhibit any of these telltales.

DocDelete ( snipped-for-privacy@nospamhotmail.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Fair enough.

So Colways are the only remoulds worth considering.

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Adrian saying something like:

If I may throw a contribution in... I wouldn't readily fit unknown remoulds, but if things are tight then the only ones I'd choose would be Colway. I've seen them around for what seems like decades (just when did they start up, I wonder) and I've been reasonably impressed at how they behaved compared to new tyres.

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com saying something like:

Oh, no.

That's probably what he said at the time ;-)

Since I'm on "pocket money" the scrap yard has to be the choice. I know the megasquirt deal is cheap DIY but I have too many bad memories of trying to build Maplin kits and never getting them to work ;-)

The K-Jet and L-Jet scenarios have been done to a Triumph 2.5 - and fairly crudely. Possibly even by just matching donor to recipient engine displacements and worrying little about valve timings / mixture / cam profiles / breathing. I think they work because even without tuning they're better than the original PI - which goes off song when (1) it rains (2) it's a Monday or (3) there's a J in the month.

told by someone that's had various PI cars the way to keep it running

Done that, with a cooling coil over the pump. To be fair the pump always gets the blame in this system, a bit like the engine always gets the blame in the Stag ;-)

There are so many other mechanical defficiencies in the system that often the problems occur in batches and are difficult to diagnose.

Common faults (by that I mean these will occur to at least once in your ownership if you keep the car for a few years)...

Blocked injectors Duff rubber seals in the metering unit Off-spec pressure relief valve Overheating / faulty wiper motor, sorry, pump Worn or out of spec metering unit clearances Perenially crudded fuel filter (needs changing every 3k miles or so I've found) Maladjusted metering unit (easy to mess up, DIY setup always a compromise)

...and since the system is governed in time by the distributor, and in magnitude by engine vacuum - if the engine is slightly off-spec (timing, valve clearances, poor vacuum etc) then the mixture messes up, making the car run poorer, reducing engine vacuum etc - and in extreme cases this is a downward spiral leading to 3mpg and no power ;-(

...apparently AFAIK they used to fit it to WWII aeroplanes - must've worked okay then!

Locally I've been quoted around 35 quid a corner for cheapo brands, so maybe about 40 quid a corner for a known make. Then again, there is the small town syndrom of "Well sir, there's not much call for those, and there's nowhere else in town that'll be cheaper". I didn't realise 165/13s were quite so rare...

I'm trusting my life on Pirrelis of unknown age right now that came on the car. I don't see Colways would be any worse, but like most other people, I tend not to replace the tyres on every car I get just for kicks.

I don't see why this would necessarily happen. Cheap doesn't have to mean crap, and there are standards the tyres must adhere to. Are they really going to be any worse than tyres that could well have been kerbed, run low, etc? True they might not be as good as new more expensive tyres, but I figure that'll be more a wear rate/ grip issue than carcass failure worry.

I've had cheapo tyres in the past, that have worn out. Although I've not minded, as they seem to be a softer compound, so Ihad a bit more grip :) And I've had brand name tyres delaminate on me, never had a remould go though, although I've not used them that much.

Once again, they must be of a certain standard to be saleable. It would be interesting to hear owner's accounts of how they wear and age, and likelyhood of failure though, before leaping to conclusions either way.

If I go for a set, and one fails due to poor construction, then crash or not I'll be claiming from the maker. If they wear too quickly, then I'll simply go for something "better". But there's always the chance they'll actually be absolutely fine :)

I've just driven round Britain in a V8 engined Triumph 2000, it was a factory prototype with TR8 running gear. Nice sound but not as nice as a

2.5 PI, not as quick or responsive but more economical and better sounding at low revs :-) Having done 2000 miles in 48 hours I did grow to like it though :-) I do admit that there ain't much like the sound of a Triumph 6 on full chat.

Remember that Lucas PI did also reign supreme in the 60's racing world - check out

- this site is a nice resource for Lucas fans. I would also point out that the well know Triumph America racing supremo Kas Kastner describes Lucas PI as being like "a guy with a bucket pouring fuel intro the motor" - he wasn't a fan!

J

Interesting - in *theory* that cannot be the case. Both engines aren't known for their fast-revving capabilities but (assuming a Rover V8 not Stag) the V8 should cuff the 2.5 in all regards, unless the gearing is useless.

2.5 PI 132bhp at 5500 rpm - 153lbsq.ft at 2000rpm 3.5 V8 with twin SUs 160bhp at 5000 rpm - 200lbsq.ft at 2600rpm

Granted those torque levels could be very close at 2000rpm so I suppose very long gearing could rob the V8 of some verve. My old TR7V8 used to return around 33mpg touring so I agree - the PI cannot get close to that.

Thanks for that J - I'm off to have a butchers... Ken Davidson DocDelete