• Hoosier is the largest race tire manufacturer in the world, producing over 1,000 different types of motorsport compounds for various racing series.
• The Hoosier R7 is the company’s “road-legal” racetrack and autocross radial that many manufacturers have used as the benchmark for dry track performance.
• Devoid of a true street-going option, Hoosier created an entirely new tire line for street and track use called TrackAttack Pro—the company’s first endeavor into the 200TW category.
• Pit+Paddock was invited to sample Hoosier’s TrackAttack Pro at The Thermal Club, a premiere motorsport facility outside of Palm Springs, California, against its nearest rivals.

What happens when the world’s largest race tire manufacturer decides that it wants to create its first product for the street? For us, the prospect of a street-going Hoosier was a juicier bit of news than F1’s current silly season. It also meant that some of us would get a first crack at sampling Hoosier’s tread-bearing fare and, with it, the opportunity to give the eagerly waiting public our verdict.

The anticipation was so high because Hoosier has been wholeheartedly focused on creating the best race product since the early ‘50s. The “Hoosier” name is a nod to the company’s Indiana origins, where its founder, Bob Newton, first began conceptualizing a soft compound tire specifically designed for racing applications. If you fast forward a lifetime, you’ll find that Hoosier touts state-of-the-art production facilities, a high-tech mixing plant, a technology center, and its own 300mph test wheel for real-world testing purposes. All this is to say, Hoosier is well equipped to stay at the forefront of the industry—it manufactures over 1,000 different types of race tires today—and its acquisition by Continental Tire nearly ten years ago means that Hoosier will have all the support it needs to take some calculated risks.

A NEW PLAYER

That calculated risk was entering unfamiliar territory: the crowded, ever-competitive 200TW world that most canyon-carving track-going enthusiasts flock toward. Over the last twenty years, we’ve seen consumers fall in and out of love with the category’s usual suspects, which get superseded by new models of a manufacturer’s own tire or a close rival’s. This rat race has been good for the 200TW class; it’s created a lot of noise in the marketplace, which has helped accelerate research, innovation, and real-world testing in the process. It was inevitable that this noise would eventually nudge Hoosier into the game. Its proverbial token is called the TrackAttack Pro, and its intent was made abundantly clear: to take the crown away from the current 200TW champions.

BY THE NUMBERS

On paper, the TrackAttack Pro has a lot going for it. Technically speaking, the compound is a UTQG 200-rated Extreme Performance Summer tire with “A” ratings in both traction and temperature. At launch, it’ll be available in popular 18” and 19” sizes with other diameters—15”, 17”, and 20”—set to debut in Q4 of this year.

Within the Continental extended family, the TrackAttack Pro offers considerably higher levels of dry handling and braking versus its Extreme Contact Force cousin. As a more track-focused compound, the TrackAttack Pro is understandably less adept in wet conditions than the Continental and introduces marginal amounts of NVH into the cabin.

But comparing it with its older Hoosier brother—the R7—is where things get much more interesting. The TrackAttack Pro gives up very little to its nearly slick compatriot in virtually every measure, but because of its 200TW designation, it will last longer. I don’t think I’ve ever thought to compare a street tire to an R7, but it’s clear that the TrackAttack Pro was conceived to be a very serious player.

BEYOND THE STATS

Of course, there’s only so much that stats can tell you. The only way to judge any automotive product best is by experiencing it in person. Hoosier understood this and fashioned a one-day, no-holds-barred demo of its new 200TW compound for select media VIPs, influencers, and industry guests. By the luck of the draw, I found myself on a plane bound for Palm Springs with a gaggle of other camera-strapped enthusiasts eager to try out Hoosier’s spoils.

You’d be fooled into thinking Hoosier did this sort of thing regularly, but this was its first effort to coordinate a product launch of this magnitude. From the moment we arrived at the hotel, Hoosier’s presence was dominant and it only helped to amplify our excitement for the time behind the wheel the following morning.

TOTAL DOMINANCE

Speaking of dominance, that’s exactly how Hoosier approached its 200TW entry, an unapologetic reset to the category’s standard in grip, handling, and durability. “Engineered with cutting-edge technology and backed by independent testing and expert endorsements, all Hoosier tires promise superior performance on every drive.” Essentially, Hoosier’s commitment is predicated on transparency, real-world feedback, and forward-thinking engineering instead of pomp and circumstance.

Although we did receive a very impressive presentation about the facts and figures of the TrackAttack Pro, we weren’t here just to regurgitate all of that to our audience, and Hoosier wasn’t asking us to be there just to fluff them up. Whenever one of us would ask about how the new tire compared to its competitors or something akin to that, they’d simply respond with, “You’ll find that out tomorrow.” That hot take on Hoosier’s most anticipated release wasn’t exactly Twitter-worthy, but it did speak to a quiet confidence about the TrackAttack Pro’s capabilities, as well as its earnest desire to receive qualitative feedback from people who will use it in the real world. You have to deeply respect that.

AN EXCLUSIVE CLUB

Our playground for Hoosier’s tire test was none other than Thermal Club, a members-only motorsport facility outside of Palm Springs, California. It’s a playground for avid track enthusiasts as much as it is for collectors; a variety of circuit configurations challenge its members while its world-class facilities, garages, and villas provide sanctuary for man and machine alike. Earlier this year, the IndyCar Series hosted a non-championship exhibition race here, with a $1.756 million prize purse where first and second place took home $500,000 and $350,000 respectively.

The BMW Performance Center calls these hallowed grounds home, and its fleet of M cars would serve as perfect apples-to-apples comparison testers for the TrackAttack Pro and its nearest rivals.

GROUP EXERCISE

I think my cluster—Group 3—got the luckiest in terms of our progression through each driver module. We started the day by pitting the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R, one of the most aspirational tires on the market, against the new Hoosier on a “brake and avoid” test. Being able to lean into the G8X M3/M4’s brakes confidently would be a skill we’d carry through to every exercise after that, so getting acclimated to how communicative the TrackAttack Pro was under braking and response to rapid steering input was impressive.

Next, our group headed to the handling course, a mini-track configuration that would allow us to experience the Hoosier’s personality over a larger variety of corners. Here, the TrackAttack Pro went head-to-head with the Yokohama A052 and the Cup 2 R. I found some of the biggest glaring differences in two sections of the course: the bus stop—a nickname for two consecutive mirrored chicanes—and a late apex, hard braking zone mid-way through the lap. In both, the TrackAttack Pro was an immediate standout. My phone had mistakenly recorded one of my sessions in the Hoosier-equipped car, and I audibly said wow during my first lap on that late apex turn. The other compounds weren’t slouches, per se, but what I was experiencing reminded me of what the Hoosier staff said the night before. I was discovering what Hoosier set the TrackAttack Pro out to be, and I loved it.

My enthusiasm hit a snag right after—not because of anything Hoosier did—but because I knew the next exercise would be slalom. This down-and-back handling test would showcase each compound’s stability and nimbleness. It was also the first time we’d be piloting BMW M2s. It’s the baby in BMW’s M lineup, but that doesn’t make it small. I knocked over a couple of cones on my first run with the Bridgestone RE-71RS, but my times started to come down a bunch as I got used to the car’s proportions. My first run on the Hoosiers was a swift improvement; I shaved a second off my run without breaking a sweat. As I got to grips with how much more I could push, I turned one of my least favorite exercises into a not-so-bad result. As I walked back to the Performance Center, it made me think about all the mods I’d done to cars I’d tracked before—brakes, suspension, bushings, and so on—and I realized that although there are obvious technological advantages to those upgrades, each also raised my confidence in the car to go faster. So far, the TrackAttack Pro did the same thing for me—much more than I expected—without making any other changes to the car.

STREET HEAT

That confidence was timely because we’d be driving M4s on Thermal’s 2.0-mile South Palm track in a few minutes. Here, we were able to combine our accrued experience into a full lap behind a seasoned instructor. The lead-follow 30-minute session would also allow us to get a sense of how the Hoosier TrackAttack Pro performed over time—how it heated up, responded after various heat cycles throughout the day (we were one of the last groups), and how greasy the tires got during the session.

Truthfully, it’s been a long time since I’ve tried out new tires. I used to be the type to constantly hunt for the newest, budget-friendly lapping tire in the paddock—the RT660, RE-71, Rival S, R888R, R-S4—so I felt like I could deliver adequate feedback about how the TrackAttack Pro performed to the Hoosier staff, but my experience with its closest, not-so-budget-friendly competitors (especially the Cup 2 R) has been slim, save for a few spirited street drives and the morning’s exercises.

Nevertheless, I gave the session an honest effort. I spent the first couple of laps trying to understand the racing line. Swapping directly behind the instructor helped expedite the process—I was the only one in my group who didn’t have Thermal experience—before we got cooking. As I found throughout the day, the TrackAttack Pro is a tire that gives you immense confidence. Yes, we got some helpful tips on how to drive the circuit, but going from 0 to 100 in real life is a different experience altogether. Despite the car’s hefty curb weight, the tires never faded throughout the session, which meant I could trust them to be there in every braking zone, for every turn-in, and to help me get onto the power on corner exit. Our instructor allowed us to pick up the pace once he noticed we were running pretty close to each other, and to our surprise, we caught an M4 GT4 pack that was on the track at the same time. For being out of the track game for a few years, that felt pretty good!

ULTIMATE WEAPON

The grand finale for us was getting into the M4 GT4 racecar. I’m not going to lie—I was intimidated to drive a car that I’ve watched compete in IMSA all year long, but honestly, I felt way more comfortable in this than the street car. Compared to the road-going M4s, the GT4s had less peak horsepower but ran 315s on every corner, had much better brakes and aero, and weighed 500 lbs less. The session confirmed three things for me: 1.) that I’d have to find a way to put an M4 GT4 in my garage one day, 2.) that I need to get back on track way more often, and 3.) I need to do it with a set of TrackAttack Pros. Hoosier designed this tire to take “track dominance to the street;” you could feel the brand’s motorsport ethos through every exercise but with even more pronouncement on these South Palm hot laps. It felt like the tire had so much more to give than why my novice hands could deliver, and that headroom is a comforting thing to have.

I never wanted this part of the day to end. Being able to experience Hoosier’s engineering brilliance in this way, in this car, was something I’ll never forget. It’s no wonder its motto is “Tires Designed for Champions.”

FINAL SEND OFF

A hot lap burning off whatever rubber was left was a fitting way to celebrate a perfect day with Hoosier at The Thermal Club. Thank you for inviting Pit+Paddock to experience this incredible tire at such an amazing venue. There isn’t any question about which tire I’d pick for a street/track car; the Hoosier TrackAttack Pro is a compound that will allow you to “conquer every drive,” and the feelings it conjured have reminded me why I love the aftermarket car scene so much.

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