Long a fixture in amateur motorsports, Toyo Tires has excelled in finding unfulfilled niches. The company was among the first, for example, to recognize the import racing scene of the late ’90s, developing the Proxes RA-1 in suitable fitments.
How good was that tire? Some 25 years later, it’s still on the market.
Bridgstone Potenza RE-71RS
The RE-71RS serves as a fantastic do-it-all tire with solid street manners and very approachable handling characteristics. Responsive and intuitive with excellent communication skills, it’s always a strong candidate for any job–even wet use.
A worn Bridgestone typically requires about a single lap to work the tread enough to generate full grip. With the track surface still cold, it took a bit more than two laps to do so on this day. The lap time chart shown here begins on the third actual pass, where max grip arrived shortly into the lap. Subsequent laps were very consistent, setting a strong mark for comparison.
Toyo Proxes RR
R-comps with no tread typically have a tougher time generating heat to activate their compounds, but the Toyo Proxes RR did so in less than a single lap. Up to 90%, its handling characteristics felt fairly similar to the Bridgestone, albeit with a bit more linearity in the steering response.
But pushed fully to the limit, it became somewhat vague and was accompanied by audible feedback. Its weak point was high-energy, combined-loading events like heavy trail braking. This would saturate the tire, and grip would fall off, requiring a short delay for recovery. Driven carefully, it was playful and consistent, cranking out lap after lap within a narrow lap time window.
Toyo Proxes R
The same single warmup lap activated the compound of the new Toyo Proxes R, and we were off to the races. We immediately noticed sharper response, especially when pressing the tire hard. Unlike the old Toyo that offered some protest, the new tire guided us down to the apex as we rolled speed into a turn.
Trail braking was excellent, producing time gains in several key places. Moreover, recovery from any small exploration beyond the limit was much quicker, boosting driver confidence. And finally, basic grip was up as shown in the two very fast sweepers.
The old saying “Never judge a book by its cover” couldn’t be truer when it comes to the Proxes R. It performed substantially better than its predecessor. Bravo, Toyo.
Bridgestone RE-71RS (retest)
Our final test step is always to rerun the first tire to check for any driver improvements or track evolution during the test period. Given that the track surface had significantly warmed since the day’s first session, it didn’t surprise us that the Bridgestone gripped up with only a single warmup lap.
Lap times were consistent thereafter though a couple tenths quicker overall than the opening session. Data analysis showed all of the time gain came in the first turn, indicating that some additional track cleanup had occurred there. Still, it was only a minor change, and we were confident in our back-to-back comparison of the two Toyos.
Conclusions
Toyo has done its homework well, with this new Proxes R delivering on all of its intended goals: better braking, improved steering and more grip. In fact, pace is now within the ballpark of the Super 200 category front-runners, which may get the new tire bumped up within NASA’s power-to-weight categories to Super Touring.
Has Toyo done just enough or too much? We’ll see what the rulesmakers have to say. Meanwhile, NASA has announced that the new Proxes R will be the spec tire for Honda Challenge, Spec Z and Spec 3 classes for 2025. Further, we expect it to find a home with noncompetitive track day participants looking for a fun, durable tire that provides full-session consistency and quick pace.
