Race tire shelf life

I found a brand new never used or heat cycled set of BFG r1's local to me for sale. They still have the stickers attached. The have been stored indoors since day one.

The seller is getting me the date codes this afternoon. My question is what is at what point will they not be useable? How much less sticky would they be relative to a brand new set?

Thanks

If they're stored indoors and never used they could still be in great shape. Vintage race car owners sometimes preserve tires for decades

But with age there's always the risk of the tires becoming crusty old fossils, without a test drive (or fancy scientific testing of the rubber's durometer and chemical composition, but that's not practical) you're rolling the dice.

I have some BFG's that are 4-5 years old with a number of heat cycles on them. They still work fine. Not as fast as "new" rubber but then the car their on is not a race winning car. I also have a set of "old" Toyo's. Like 2004 date code. They still work for me but I do only use them for track days. They just will not wear out!

I have used tires like Pilot Sport Cups and Advan Neovas across three summers without adverse effects from the winter storage (indoors, around 50 degrees).