oyo Tires has introduced the new Proxes R888 D.O.T.-legal competition tire for use while road racing on track days and at high-performance driving schools.[/b]
About time! People have been clammoring for these for over a year! Glad to see America
finally gets them. Since the R888's release, Kumho's
V710 has become quite popular. While obviously not meant for rain, longevity in dry weather has been quite good as a track tire. I wonder how the tires compare. I'd guess the R888's probably last longer (at the expense of grip) and and work in the rain.
Will the RA-1 be discontinued? Phased out of the Speed World Series? They had a pretty loyal following, just as I'm sure the R888's will too.
I really enjoyed my RA-1's, though their heat requirements were much too high for what I was doing. I'd love it if the R888's worked over a wider temperature range, more like what I've seen of the V710.
Sounds like it...
ToyoGuy, what is the projected life of these on the streets?? Can you get 3-5K out of them? I would have thought you would be able to get decent life if they are for road racing....
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They are track tires and not recommended for street. How are you going to get them up to 140 degrees in just street driving? On a 70-degree morning, track tires will have grip roughly equal to a lousy all-season. Seriously. If it gets much colder than that, it's almost like driving on dirt. These tires NEED heat before they grip at all. I cannot overstate this. The problem is worse in a front-heavy car, because you'll heat up the front tires before the rear, and that means oversteer city.
If you did get them up to temperature, you'd end up flinging rocks and road debris all over the place. Everything sticks to racing tires. And they ride horribly- the stiff sidewalls aren't just uncomfortable, they're going to rapidly accelerate wear on your shocks. Then, there's the whole hydroplaning issue.
However, for what it's worth, RA-1's typically lasted 10-15k as street tires for those who used them as such. These R888's start with less tread (6/32), so they probably won't last quite as long under daily driver conditions. I bet the "just as durable" claim is for track use; they'll last just as many track sessions. RA-1's were always resistant to heat cycles, a rare treat among tires. For a weekend car that you also raced, they'd sort of make sense, maybe. RA-1's were always the track tire that you could drive to the track on. For anything else, something like Falken's RT-615's make
much more sense.
What's the reasoning for it's not being optimized for autocrossing? You mentioned it's good for ccontinuous-lap road racing. Is it because it needs heat and a lot of it to maintain that grip?[/b]
Yup, though these tires are probably quite good on those nasty days where the asphalt reaches 140+ degrees. Hoosier autocross compounds can overheat on those days.
There's a local guy who won B-stock several times in an S2000 on RA-1's. He swore by them, and B-stock is a pretty competitive class in our region. Most other people would argue that the RA-1's are only half way between a R-compound and a street tire because they were such mild racing tires, but either way, they were a tremendous upgrade from even Falken Azenis. If the R888 improves on that while still not suffering from heat cycle wear, they'll be very popular in all areas of motorsport.
