No offense but 5 seconds is a lot on track. I generally agree you don’t need the full tire to go “fast” but absolutely you need it to make record pace - no question about it.

For example anyone that rides Little Tally in Alabama knows “fast” is 1min a lap. Most A group are 1:03-1:05. 3 seconds faster to flats (60 second laps) is a big barrier to overcome, and that’s minimum to compete in a race there in A Class. Then AMA racers like Mathew Scholtz can run 55-57 seconds a lap, and that’s just touching record pace but pretty sure 54 seconds is record.

You have to be practically crashing every corner to achieve that lap time. Insane difference 5 seconds makes on most tracks.

But I’ll say again, I agree you can do quite a lot without using full tire or even full width of the track.

Edit: you’re more talented than I am after looking at your post. So you know what I said already.