OK......tire warmers are (or should I say were) used by THIS racer to extend tire life. There. Fixed. As I said, when I ran slicks I'd go out for the first practice of the day on cold tires, the rest (including races) were on hot tires. My primary thought was of tire life, but even if the only benefit was quicker warmup that'd be OK. I would still have used them. "Back in the day" heat cycling was a severely limiting factor in the life of a set of slicks. It was not uncommon in the late '80s and early '90s to have a set of slicks that looked half used, but that wouldn't grip due to heat cycling. Some bluish discoloration usually accompanied this lack of grip, supposedly due to oils in the rubber evaporating or some such.
I've never used slicks or tire warmers for track days, as I rarely go "all out" for them. Too many people at wildly varied experience and speed levels for my comfort. I typically use one of my street bikes for track days, anyway.
Now that I'm old and fat and grey, I just race old junk on DOTs. Tire warmers aren't allowed in SMRI's vintage classes so I no longer even own a set. If I decide to go back to modern (read "expensive") racing, I'll buy another set. Hells bells, some of the folks in the Ultralightweight class in which I participate used only one set of tires for the whole season last year. Maybe I'm just out of touch.
I leave this topic to those of you who think you're faster. (and probably are)
BTW, I've never used tire warmers to make
, but you can heat a can of vienna sausages with 'em.
