BFGoodrich g-Force Rival +
- Endurance 200
- $273.81
- Best Lap: 1:27.19
Our first experience with the original Rival was fitting it to our One Lap CRX for the 2013 running of the event. The results were both a blessing and a curse: While it afforded consistently high grip levels once warmed, it was decidedly awful in the wet. And that year, we had plenty of precipitation on transits, resulting in many white-knuckle hydroplaning moments.
Photograph by David S. Wallens
A decade on, the Rival + update addresses that deficiency with a modern silica-infused tread cap compound. Silica typically enhances both wet grip and durability, proving to be a win-win for this endurance-focused tire.
On the Road: The Rival + exhibited harshness typical of this category. Expansion joints, bumps and rough pavement all announced their presence via the stiff carcass. Steering was linear for small inputs, ramping up quickly as cornering loads built up. On smooth pavement at lower speeds, a slight whirring could be heard from the tread design.
On the Track: The Rival + was easy to place, with some audible feedback arriving near the limit of adhesion. That quick steering ramp-up under load hunted apexes easily, and when combined with smooth breakaway, made dancing at the limit effortless. Overcook an entry, and a slight throttle adjustment brought the tire right back on line.
As with most street tires, there’s a flyer lap hiding in the tire while cool if you can connect the dots on your first pair of laps. On this day we did just that, nailing two laps in a row that overlayed perfectly on the data log. Some heat soak then crept in, and the tire stabilized at a slightly slower pace.
BFGoodrich g-Force Rival S 1.5
- Super 200
- $248.68
- Best Lap: 1:26.43
Moving from the Endurance 200 to a Super 200, we next fitted up our Rival S 1.5 tires. These are designed to turn on quickly and produce excellent grip for that one fast time attack lap or autocross run, compromising durability and consistency along the way.
Looking through our notes, we found it had been almost five years since we’d tested the Rival S and had only done so in an autocross setting. Further, we’d never bolted on a set of the updated Rival S 1.5 version. It was high time to right that slight.
On the Road: The Rival S demonstrated similar road characteristics to the Rival +, with some of the harshness muted by the softer compound. Steering was also a little livelier. As noted on the sidewall, both tires share the same basic belt package components, but they’re arranged differently to tune the handling to their different compounds. Typically, a softer compound by itself will make a tire less responsive, so belt angles are often adjusted to compensate.
On the Track: On this warm day, the Rival S came up to temp fairly quickly and delivered three good laps before beginning to heat soak and slow. Looking at the data, we fully connected all the dots on the second lap, making it a good example of the tire’s ultimate pace. Handling was similar to the Rival +, albeit with more grip.
Vitour Tempesta P1
- Super 200 Benchmark
- $276.00
- Best Lap: 1:26.64
New to the scene for 2025, the P1 has been making waves in a variety of arenas. We’ve track tested it outright amongst all of its Super 200 peers and found it to be superior at full tread depth. But during long-term use, that advantage disappears at about 5/32 inch. Further, those tests were done at much cooler temperatures. How would it fare on this much warmer day?
This particular set of P1s had been run twice before for a total of 12 laps, so they were in their prime. Yet on this day, only a single fast lap could be extracted before they fell off–most notably in the high-energy combined loading sections of the track. Hard braking after a straight, followed quickly by sustained cornering, simply cooked the compound. It was quite noticeable on track and later data analysis backed that up. Shockingly, it had failed to beat the Rival S.
Continental ExtremeContact Force
- Endurance 200 Benchmark
- $273.00
- Best Lap: 1:27.01
Knowing that we’d be running the Rival + again for bracketing purposes at the end of the main test, we next bolted on its category benchmark. These were also the tires we had used for the warmup session earlier, but they’d been allowed to cool for several hours.
We love this tire for its handling dynamics, so natural and easy to extract performance lap after lap. However, paddock talk from World Racing League use, where it is the spec tire, tells us it can be tricky at times to dial in an optimal setup.
The ExtremeContact Force gave us two good cool-tire flyers before settling into a consistent pace. The first of those was a little slower due solely to a lack of driver faith on the very first turn of the track, a high-consequence, full-throttle, 100 mph blind entry. The rest of the two laps overlayed perfectly on the data logs.
BFGoodrich gForce Rival + (retest)
The Rival+ was then up for another stint to verify driver consistency and measure any track evolution. We’d now also get a true back-to-back comparison with its category benchmark in identical conditions.
After its first round, the Rival+ had been stacked in the shade to keep internal temps in check, but there was still some residual heat. This showed up in the results as we were only able to produce one full cool-tire flyer before heat began to slow us midway through the second lap. Still, the results almost perfectly matched those of the ExtremeContact Force, both for flyer times and eventual sustained pace.
BFGoodrich g-Force Phenom T/A
- Trackable UHP street tire
- $194.99
- Best Lap: 1:29.37
With the main, fully bracketed test now complete, we rounded out our BFG full-line comparison by sampling the new Phenom T/A. Having been fully reviewed in a previous test against its category brethren, today’s mission was simply to compare and contrast it to its BFG stablemates.
As more of a true UHP street tire design, the Phenom trades track focus for streetability, especially when it comes to wet usage. It’s also a lot less expensive than the track weapons.
Still, the Phenom can deliver consistent laps on track. Given the marked difference in grip compared to the other tires, we underdrove our braking zones for the first lap but adjusted well on the second to get in a flyer while the tires were still in their optimal heat range. Performance fell off a bit thereafter.
Conclusions
Today’s scene is awash with tires–so many that we’ve created different subclasses. How do they compare in real life? You can use this data as a guide. A UHP model, for example, just isn’t going to run with a current Super 200. While an Endurance 200 can’t match that top pace, either, it’ll deliver more consistency.
And welcome back, BFG, with top-shelf products across that range. Need a consistently quick and durable tire for endurance racing or track day use? The Rival + could be the one. Competing for fast lap around the circuit? Consider the Rival S 1.5. For a strong street focus with occasional track use at a low cost of entry, Phenom may be your droid.
Photograph by Andy Hollis
