We have a stunning plethora of choices for track tires via manufacturers from Hypersport multi compounds to track day slicks that do not need warmers to race only use tires with various compounds.

How do you define what carcass you need for track days or racing in 2026?

In contemplating this topic and acquiring perspective, take some time to understand what you might need based on ability and track design. Work forward from a place of humility and integrity based on your current skills, budget and on track testing.

Operating with personal accountability is the stance to have when reflecting on track days and/or racing in consideration of all hypersport, track day slicks and race tires. This perspective also applies to front and rear tires as each will have its own carcass design and you may find various combinations: hard front and soft rear, soft front and hard rear, then hard/hard or soft/soft.

You need to honor who you are as an individual when you choose a carcass. What!?!

Each tire has a structural carcass to hold its form, just like we have a skeleton. That carcass comes in various designs and in layman’s terms they range from rock hard to car wash sponge soft. How do you find out what you have? Take the tire off the rack and push your hand into the center of the upper area, known as the cap, or you literally sit on it. If it buckles with hardly any pressure or weight, you have a soft carcass. If it doesn’t move at all when you push or sit on it, you have a hard carcass. Then pull out on the sidewalls as those are equally as important in understanding the rigidity or lack thereof in terms of flex.

You can also go to each manufacturers website and look up all the technical data they provide on construction, the use of carbon fiber and steel as well as carbon black. Below are some key points from manufacturers for reference to carcass design.

  • Pirelli uses a single steel belt wound circumferentially around the carcass. The advantage of steel is its extremely high rigidity and the possibility to tune the winding spacing thus differentiating the stiffness distribution from shoulder to crown.

  • Dunlop combines cut-breaker construction with continuously-wound aramid Jointless Belt (JLB) to allow low rear tire pressures, creating a consistent footprint.

  • Michelin developed 90° casing plies on the tire providing grip and a wide footprint to enhance lean angles and grip. The sidewalls of the new generation of X-radial tires use a special ply fold that provides even more flexibility.

  • Bridgestone tires are engineered for high tensile strength, rapid heat management, and consistent performance by utilizing V-MS belt, CAP and base compounds combined with RC polymer.

What does that mean to us as consumers if we choose not to go push or sit on tires? Michelin is the most flexible in both carcass and sidewall, Pirelli sits in the middle for carcass stiffness of upper and sidewall and Bridgestone and Dunlop are the firmest.

You as a human is the biggest factor in carcass choice. You just don’t know that yet.

Are you ADHD? Is your mind hyperactive? A hard carcass tire will be the perfect choice for you as every imperfection in the surface of the asphalt will be directed to your hands, feet and seat. For once, you get the frequency of information that your brain demands and you start to relax on the motorcycle as your brain has the sensory input frequency it needs to process.

Are you focused on decisions, actions and timing and prefer limited yet appropriate  feedback from the tire? A hard cap and soft sidewall or the opposite, a soft cap and hard sidewall would be a better choice. There is some flexibility in the tire to absorb input from the track and as a result, send the appropriate amount of feedback to you as you enter and exit each corner.

If you only want to focus on reference points, timing, skills and lines, the Michelin will limit the amount of feedback you get as the carcass is so soft and absorbs the vast majority of imperfections in the asphalt. The limited feedback allows you to have a singular focus on excellence in skilled output and timing.

The next criteria would be your riding style which today is set into two specific categories at the track. Are you focused on momentum to maintain high lean angles and mid corner speed or do you point and shoot the motorcycle for each corner with very aggressive braking and rear end steering on corner exit?

The stiffer the carcass, the more support you have with threshold and trail braking from the tire and by default, you get significant amounts of fork movement. The positive aspect is the amount of flex is limited by design so the tire suffers minimal deformation. The carcass therefore defines the feedback that you are getting via the suspension, so set up becomes very important to optimize suspension movement.

The softer the carcass the more deformation you will have with threshold and trail braking. As such, you will potentially get more feedback from tire flex than you will from the asphalt. The bonus here is a greater footprint of rubber on the asphalt with the tire flex resulting in less suspension movement.

Now let’s make this personal based on who I am and what I want from a carcass when I race. I’m going to focus on race slicks and the front tire specifically.

I am very detail oriented and I am a front wheel rider, so momentum and trail braking are my strengths as a racer. Sustaining momentum while trail braking requires different suspension settings and geometry to maximize the ROI with every design iteration of the carcass. I will always start with the manufacturer’s recommendation range for both pressure and operating temperature and then refine hot pressures to find what I need that day at that track based on track temperature, asphalt grip levels and topography.

Hard Carcass:

–              Will generally suggest that you could use a lower pressure, so you need to find the pressure you need to get the flex you want out of the tire.

–              Does the carcass have a hard cap and soft sidewalls or hard cap and hard sidewalls? Seems like a minimal detail but trust me, the difference is profound.

–              The frequency and amount of feedback you desire when braking and entering a corner can be mitigated by pressure and damping settings for compression and rebound damping.

Intermediate Carcass:

–              Will generally suggest that you will need to test a range of pressures to get the stability you want out of the tire for both threshold and trail braking.

–              Does the carcass have a firm cap and soft sidewalls or soft cap and firmer sidewall?

–              The amount of flex and feedback will be determined by tire pressure and carcass.

–              The frequency and amount of feedback you desire when braking and entering a corner can be optimized predominantly by pressure and compression settings.

Soft Carcass:

–              Will generally suggest that you will need a higher than anticipated pressure to control the flex you want out of the tire for both threshold and trail braking.

–              Does the carcass have a soft cap and soft sidewall?

–              The frequency and amount of  feedback you desire when braking and entering a corner can be optimized predominantly by pressure and compression settings.

My preference in the past was Bridgestone  V01 and V02 tires with a hard cap and soft sidewalls. This allowed the cap to move with sidewall flex creating a little oversteer that I could feel when trail braking. When that happened, I knew that I was testing the flex of the sidewall and I could feel the limit approaching. I would set rebound to be a little on the slow side to provide a more consistent load to the tire and set compression on the soft side so I could feel the forks compress to load the tire.

With the current generation of Pirelli racing slicks, I would use 36-38psi hot on track to add structure and firmness to the front tire so I could feel excessive flex while trail braking. That required rebound to be slightly faster and compression to be slightly softer so that the feedback from the forks arrived at a frequency that I could interpret and not be overwhelming.

In 2026, I am racing the current range of Dunlop slicks, R0 and R4 to be precise. As a hard carcass tire, I am evaluating hot pressures needed for the feedback frequency I want. I  choose to change both rebound and compression in a clockwise direction to add damping as a hard carcass tire adds faster movement into the suspension over bumps due to less compliance. This is an ongoing process as the race season has just started and will evolve throughout the year as my lap times improve.

Note that each track has topography challenges based on speed, camber and load. Each carcass will therefore require unique pressures and suspension settings. Let’s use California tracks so you have a reference that you can apply locally: high speed and relatively flat (Thunderhill and Chuckwalla), tight and technical (Sonoma and Laguna) or extremely bumpy (Buttonwillow Classic, Willow Springs big track).

Now that you understand why as a human you should be accountable for the carcass you choose, feedback and tactile awareness in your hands and seat takes on a new level of importance. A unique point of reference is that hands in general “do”, they don’t feel. It takes a lot of work to add in the aspect of feel to your hands. In developing feel you need to slow down 10% to give yourself time to develop this skill.

Some examples of tactile feedback that you will learn to recognize via your hands include chatter from bottoming out, bars moving in a figure of 8 shape (sidewall flex), bars coming up and down (poor rebound damping), or bars turning into the corner for oversteer (loss of grip).

For those that are going to choose to experiment with carcass, please remember that during each tire you test will have a unique circumference so pay attention to fork position and shock length to keep your chassis geometry exactly as it is prior to starting the test. Take notes on the pressure you find that works best for you and the tires compound. Also note the track temperature range you test in and take pictures of wear per session. Those images and details create a story for you to later review.

Remember that this is all about you, your motorcycle, your tracks, your riding style, your lap times Put the effort in to optimize your track day, braking for corner entry speeds and find the carcass you need and under no circumstance, be pushed by others telling you what carcass you need or want.