2001 Chevrolet Camaro Tire & Rotor Install - STREET CAR, TRACK CAR: PART II

The Nitto 555 (left) is a grippy street tire that helped knock more than three seconds off of my baseline road course time. The 275/40/17s that I use have 300 treadwear, A Traction, and A Temperature ratings. But for ultimate grip around the track, I turned to the NT01 (right). This R-compound tire carries a 100 treadwear, AA Traction, and A Temperature rating, and features an optimized sidewall for extreme lateral acceleration and large shoulder blocks for the largest contact patch during braking and cornering. These NT01s are 245/50/16 to fit onto our original 16x8 rims.

After several consistent 1:30.0 times on Raceway Park's new 1.35-mile road course, it became apparent that we weren't going to get any faster on street tires. So the Z28 was jacked up, and the 555s were removed.

We took a moment to inspect the Brembo Sport Kit rotors and PBR pads. We could see how these rotors refreshed and outgassed the brake pad surface, and we could feel a difference over the old setup; the street tire sessions allowed two or three more laps before heavy fade. Even though we were using a dual-purpose street/race pad, this is a huge improvement over our last rotor/pad package-though Raceway Park's road course is brutal on brakes, and this Z would definitely benefit from a race-only pad and cooling ducts.

The NT01s were bolted up. We'd be testing them at the as-shipped 6/32 tread depth, though they could be shaved down to 3/32 to feature a slick with two grooves. Tech Editor Scott Parker set the NT01s to 33 psi (front) and 31 psi (rear).

As with the baseline and street tire testing, we monitor NT01 lap times with Racepak's outstanding G2X data-logging system (PN 600-KT-G2X, $943). This GPS-based system is easy to install and use. It will map and save the track configuration, and give you lap and segment times/speeds, all saved to a 128MB CF card and shown on the easy-to-read display. Datalink II software will replay laps for analysis. This thing will even give lateral and acceleration forces! We hook it up, plug it in, and hit the track.

The G2X started logging once we passed 25 mph. It was halfway through the first hot lap of our first session, and already we could feel the massive g-force starting to mount in the corners. We were taking it easy to get a feel for the new rubber, but we noticed that we could carry more speed into a corner, the car would grip through it, and the Z28's exit speed was way up. Because the car's handling was different, we stayed focused on the road and the gauges, even though we were dying to take a glimpse at the Racepak G2X display for our times. In the next few laps we realized that we were pushing the car a little too hard, having to open up the wheel a touch when the NT01s lost grip. When we had completed four hot laps, we took a cool-down lap and parked it. Reviewing the Racepak, we'd run 1:28.01, 28.8, 28.3, and 28.3.

We had time for one more session before the rain came; Parker let the Nittos cool off, then adjusted them to 29 psi (front) and 26 psi (rear).

We immediately felt a difference. After a slow warm-up lap, we effortlessly turned the best lap of the day: 1:26.5. Though a couple more laps were made, including one where we hit a corner too hot and skidded around 90 degrees,...

...we were only able to turn a 1:27.9 due to the fact that brake fade was starting to show up. The NT01s were in their element, and we began to see that the Z28 was much easier to control through the corners on R-compounds than on street tires....