You’re on the right track, but it’s not just duro. Sidewall, rubber type, tire widths, etc.
Vega generates more grip. Awesome in December, horrible in July.
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Interesting. I didnt realize one was natural and one was synthetic
New MG Reds on tap for 2024 - so hold any comparison thoughts until after Round 1 Winter Series….
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Supposed to be a softer sidewall. That should be a welcome change to the drivability and should make them feel less artificially hard. I’ve found that basically after the YHC, every tire we raced on started to make progressively stiffer sidewalls and even though the tread duros the same as the YHC did, they feel harder because the tire has no give or flex to bite into the track. I remember watching karts take turn 1 at Badger on YHCs and it looked like the tire was going to tear off the rim. You rarely see that level of tire flex anymore on MGs or Bridgestones.
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Softer sidewall and a slightly softer compound. They are going to be quick I believe. Hopefully no more 25# pressures anywhere… 
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Yeah like others have said it’s not just the duro but the Vega red has a reputation of having an extremely soft sidewall. There are other factors but the duro isn’t the only thing because ive heard the Vega red is faster than the MG yellow which has lower duro. Not 100 percent sure on that though bc not many ppl test yellows with 206 or vice versa.
Also for reference the best lap at the first Autobahn club race on MG reds was a 59.4 on lap 19 of the final near the end of the day.
Pole for CKNA with the vegas a week later in similar temps, similar amount of running on the track was a 57.7 on the first qualifying lap.
NGL I spun out at the first turn I did on MG reds after some laps on Vegas. The envelope of traction seemed wider on the Vegas.
Is it possible the draft also played a role?
Yeah I know the MG reds lap time had a draft but I don’t think the Vega time did which furthers the gap between them. Not 100 percent sure though. Either way still a large difference.
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There is a ton to take in between tires my experiences are between MG/Vega/Hoosier in 206 racing. So here is my general recap of tires vs each other from my experiences. Note, I am not a tire engineer but I have worked as a crew chief for over 15 years and have worked with some of the very best in the business
MG Rock Hard Sidewalls, Synthetic Rubber when you sand on it, it will turn to dust. When you scrape it, it comes off in little flakes. This means the rubber does not build up over a race day like other tires. It will produce no off line marbles or pickup. Outside of the groove on tracks that generally run MG will be a fine dust that will have reduced grip. This rubber handles heat and abrasion excellently. At lower temps they tend to be much harder and struggle for grip as they have a bigger swing at the lower end of the temp range likely due to plastic mixture. (Side note, Environmentalist are very upset over these types of tires because of “Micro Plastics”). The tires seem extremely consistent for me from 2nd heat cycle onward. The main thing I have noticed is that it takes a bit longer to get the tire to work as heat cycles go on but they will eventually get back to optimum lap times) MG mold release takes temp to clean off so on low HP classes like 206 generally your best to run qualifying on your 2nd heat cycle.
Vega ( I have the least experience with this tire) Stiff Sidewall but not MG stiff. I assume its a Semi-Synthetic rubber blend with less plastic then MG. The Vega (Red) will lay down rubber and off line will have some small marbles and pickup but pretty minimal. The Vega tires seem to be softer and produce more grip then the MG tires (Red vs Red) Hell, on a 206 Vega Red produces MG Green levels of grip due to the inability of 206 to get MG tires hot enough. The Vega Tires are the highest Grip 206 tire I have seen in the normal 206 temp window. Vega Tires have no problem on the cold end of the spectrum getting grip is pretty easy, I have not run Vega on anything higher power or in high temps so I don’t know if they struggle on the higher end of the temp spectrum. Vega Red tire seems absolutely consistent over a race weekend after the first heat cycle. I ran 2 race days back to back and then 60+ laps on them and prior to the race day ran used set that had come from someone else and they felt/lapped consistently in every heat cycle after the 1st. The problem with Vega Tires for me was the Mold Release, which to be honest is just glue! Absolutely insane grip out of the wrapper which means qualifying on a new set is a must if you can take advantage of it in your setup.
Hoosier has the softest sidewall of this bunch. Hoosier rubber seems very natural which means it builds up massively over the race weekend. The Hoosier tires are the exact opposite of MG when it comes to buildup and marbles. A track normally running Hoosier will have big strips of rubber that has been thrown from tires leaving the surface off line absolutely cluttered with rubber off line. As can be expected Hoosier tires work good at low temps but as temps get to high even in 206 they can overheat. The track surface can become more slippery as the track goes past prime especially in high temps. In these conditions Hoosier tires will start to come apart at an alarming rate, the drop off with heat cycles is pretty consistently a slow downward trend over time and cycles. Hoosier are the most consistent coming out of the wrapper the 1st and 2nd heat cycles are nearly identical.
That is just my $.02
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Our club races MG Red. My cadet experiences the tires falling off multiple tenths after 6-8 heat cycles… but maybe based on what Ronald saying, they might have same optimal pace at that point but our short 8-10 lap races don’t allow a cadet to generate enough heat to get them back to optimum lap times.
Definitely agree that cold weather performance of MG Red is horrific, and good luck on Lap 1 if you are trying to run a brand new tire in <50F temps or a damp track. I’ve taken to using sand paper on brand new tires to try to break the glaze of the mold release before he goes out, irrespective of ambient temps.
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Make sure this won’t get you DQ’d. Any type of tire prep is typically illegal in sprint karting. Your club may let it slide, but almost any larger event or regional series will DQ for it. I have personally seen a kid get DQ’d for his dad doing exactly what you are doing.
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That seems like regulatory busy-body activity to me! But good to know when we venture out of our small pool, TY.
The majority of the cadets locally also scrape off rubber pickup from the tires w/ heat gun or vibe tool between heats as well…
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Strangely scraping of clag and pickup is something I see at many of the major races and have not seen anyone called for.
We even had durometer checks on our tires at at least one event last year. Guess they wanted to make sure we weren’t doping tires. We easily passed with our hard as a rock heat cycled tires. 
With TX heat and a 6-4 kid behind the wheel of an LO206, we were often faster on cycled tires.
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I agree with mold release on the Vegas, a lot of times my fastest quali lap was my first one which doesn’t happen with other tires. Interestingly most of the top 10 in qualifying for senior at CKNA Grands scrubbed in New sets during warmup so they were qualifying on 2 or 3 lap old tires. In my testing you don’t get that extra grip on lap 1 or 2 but it is more consistent over the 4 laps.
I would imagine its because you cant put enough heat into them. I would try running a spun aluminum wheel.
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It actually gets you to heat about 1 lap sooner. We’ll do it at WRP on night races. If my tires come in on lap 2 and everyone else on lap 3, I got a chance to sneak out an early lead.
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Great info everyone! This is helpful!
We’ve has this debate at our club multiple times to switch from MG Orange (hard compound) to MG Red. Those we run 206 at the club want to stick with Orange to save on costs, as you can run our 14-race schedule on 1, maybe 2 sets of tires. Those who race regional (CKNA, RTE66) like the idea of Red tires, usually so they can work on setup and use their old tires from their regional events.
My opinion is 206 classes should be on hard tires at the club level, as it’s an entry level class and controls costs.
Thankfully, the 2 tracks closest to us also run the MG Orange, so it allows for people to try different tracks within driving distance without purchasing new tires.
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Derek, you referring to the tire scraping or the aluminum wheels?
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