Following a messy season on the new ST2s, Hoosier has spent the second half of last year developing a new compound to be used by the CARS Late Model Stock Tour and select weekly division tracks.
It’s called the F45* (pronounced F45 Star) and is the same compound as the F45s used in recent seasons but with a ‘stronger and more durable’ construction. According to Hoosier representatives, all F45* tires will be within a half-inch chalk mark.
The compound was tested at South Boston by two-time NASCAR weekly series national champion Peyton Sellers and race winer Blake Stallings who finished second to Sellers in the track championship.
“I’m looking for the best drivability, what’s going to put on the best show for the fans, what allows you to be able to go off into the corner and load the right-side tires up and not have the car get out from under you,” Sellers said.
“You want to have guys being able to race side-by-side, door-to-door, and having good racing knowing the car is not going to be inconsistent in any way. At the end of the day, you want something that is going to be very forgiving, rolling in on the top side, rolling in on the bottom side, something that is not instantly going to lose grip and have a spike in any way where it gets the driver out from under him.”
The tire was also tested at Florence Motor Speedway by three-race CARS Tour winner Brent Crews.
Stallings praised this tire for creating a standard across the discipline.
“Getting a stable tire that works at a variety of racetracks and drives competitively at all of the racetracks is obviously the ultimate goal,” Stallings pointed out. “We raced at two different tracks last year that were on different tires. Putting everybody on the same playing field is going to be a huge step in the right direction as far as driving costs down in Late Model Stock Car racing.”
CARS Tour Pro Late Models will race on ST1s (left) and ST3s (right) next season.
