Jezza,
I'll have the hardpacks off you.
Fave tyres...hmm.
Over the years I've quite liked
-Specialized Ground Control / Ground Control Extreme
-Smoke / Dart. Sweet buy heavy (for back in the day!)
-1.7 z maxes, in red. Very light.
-2.1 z maxes. Also light.
-Yeti FRO. As Steve says elsewhere light and grippy.