Metzeler Racetec Interac's

Well, I've now swapped over to these for the racing and there's quite a difference between the old and the new tyres.

Feel wise they are very similar. There is a difference in the amount of grip they have. The Interacs definitely have more grip but I don't know whether this is down to the new construction giving a bigger footprint or the compound. They still give the same feel as the old tyres when they start to go but this is later in the lean and they can be pushed harder.

I'm running them at 28.5 hot (rear) and the same 29-31 hot front and they are wearing evenly and are not tearing at all. For Croft I might end up running a little lower on the rear but it depends on track temperature.

But the biggest difference is wear rate. The Interacs wear so much less than the old version of the Racetec, its quite amazing! I was going through two rears in a race weekend, including practice. Admittedly these were 2nd hand when I got them but with only about 4-6 laps on them, but they were still toasted after a day's practice and two 10 lap races (down to the wear indicators on the RHS). So one for Saturday and one for Sunday.

But with the Interacts I'm getting a full weekend out of one rear and its still good to go for the next weekend's practice. In fact, despite riding flat out for two practice sessions and 4 races, Its not showing much wear at all. Its smeared but very little has gone from the tread.

This decrease in wear makes them serious contenders for the best Weekend Warrior tyres out there! They should last a lot longer.

C

Interesting reading, could be good for the road bike and the ring. How would they handle heat cycling and no tyre warmers?

Heating up without warmers shouldn't be an issue as the tyres feel "gummier" than the old version. They feel a lot softer in compound and don't go hard when cold like the old ones. So cold use they are still going to have good mechanical grip.

As far as heat cycles go I can't say but I never noticed any difference on the old tyres on the road. Would the new tyres be any different? On the road you're never going to ride hard enough to tell. Maybe at the ring?


C

Great tyres, come out of the same factory as the Diablo Supercorsa Pros. Only down side is there is no plans to make them in a 160 rear.

Presume you have a 600 by your profile picture.