I have a Miata that I drive on the street to and from autocross and HPDE events. I have rivals on the car right now, and I like them, but naturally I want the car to be faster. Are there any streetable tires that will make my car faster for both autocross and track events? I don't want to change tires at the event and I don't care what it does to my classing.
A6s are DOT legal and have been driven great distances in the past.
Maybe the R888 is the droid you're looking for.
Probably the next step is a toyo R888 or RA1. If you have any distance to go to the track, my personal opinion would be to avoid running them. Based solely on wasting them, not safety.
how far away are events? Heat cycles...
Yep with anything more aggressive than EPS-class, heat cycles will kill the tires before anything else. But there are two classes of tires between EPS and R-comp slicks (that are relevant here):
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/types/comp.jsp
Will either the R888 or the RA1 be faster than the rivals for autocross? Some of what I've read indicates that those tires need quite a bit of heat to work well and aren't a great option for a single driver autocross car. What is the difference between those two?
More info: the car sees about 2,500 street miles per year, but I would be fine replacing them mid year.
I've autocrossed and hillclimbed both RA1 and R888's on my wrx, which weighs around 2900lbs. If it's a cool day, the first run is interesting. Otherwise, once they get a little heat, they are fine. I suspect if you drive them to an autocross, you'd have enough heat in them. I haven't run rivals, though I've run most of the street tire class cheater tires, and the both the RA1 and R888 are improvements, not a huge improvement but they are better. My opinion is that RA1's stay sticky through their life, right up until they chord. Where the R888 are more sticky when new, and heat cycle out before the tread is gone.
What about the Hankook Z214? They look to be reasonably priced. Anybody know about performance and lifespan?
I run them now. Stick better than the the R888 and RA1, unsure on the life yet, but they are still sticky and appear to have decent tread left. I only have 2 events on them though.
I ran my Miata on freebie RA1s for 4 months. They were sticky as all heck even on a single driver car and blew away my Star Specs. I also slid off the road on a 50 degree morning under braking because of cold traction. They will follow the crown and driving on most roads with them is not effort-free. They gripped well until 4 runs after initial cording.
Duke wrote: What about the Hankook Z214? They look to be reasonably priced. Anybody know about performance and lifespan?
I bought a set last year (February-ish), soft compound. They were absolutely amazing compared to the 7 yo REO1Rs that I replaced. Won 8 of the 9 regional events I ran them in. After my regional championship was secured I tucked them away in the garage until the 2014 season started. They still have good tread life on them now with 80+ runs on them and a few round trips to the track (20 miles each way). Unfortunately you can tell they are heat cycled out though. I went from a 1.5-2 second lead over 2nd place last year to 2-3 seconds off the leader this year. Of course most of my competition showed up with brand new r-comps this year while I stuck with my old ones. Although last week I pulled 3rd place 1.2 seconds off the lead, then let my buddy take fun runs in it and he shaved another .7 seconds off my time. That meant he was only .5 seconds behind the leader that was on brand new A7s on a supercharged FRS prepped for Nationals. Still faster than street tires, but nowhere near as sticky as before. I think they would be great HPDE tires at this point, assuming they could take the heat of 20 minute sessions.
I read all the reviews on tire rack before I bought them. Most reviewers said they are faster then Kumho 710s and close to A6s, but have at least double the life of the Hoosiers.
OK, that was a bit long winded...
Cone_Junkie wrote: OK, that was a bit long winded...
Not at all. That was exactly the kind of info I was looking to hear. Thanks.
I suspect Rivals are a faster autox tire than RA1s most of the time. I autoxed on RA1s at one point (before the ST tires really appeared), and one day got fun runs right after my normal run group, so I did effectively 9 runs in a row. Run 8 was where the tires were FINALLY up to full grip.
They're great track day tires, though.
I forgot to add, for about $700, I can pretty much guarantee I will buy another set for next year's season.
Is it really that hard to change tires at the event? I know I'd rather have a nice set of street tires when on the street and a dedicated set of wheels and tires for racing. Plus if you happen to go off at an hpde and have tire issues you have four spares.
Duke wrote: What about the Hankook Z214? They look to be reasonably priced. Anybody know about performance and lifespan?
I run them as track tires .. the C51 compound is Hankook's version of the Hoosier R6 … cost is about 2/3 of the R6, grip also is about 2/3 of the R6, and life is nearly 100% greater … i.e. in that they will still lap (at CMP on my CRX) about 2 sec a lap slower after more than 100 heat cycles … and still have plenty of tread left
the amt of grip/life will also depend on how much camber you can dial in
pretty much the same cost/grip/life for the C71 compound which is Hankook's version of the Hoosier A6
so the C71 would be for SP, SM, P, and could be used in M class … though real slicks seem to be the tires to have in Mod class
but neither are acceptable for the street, though, like the Hoosier they "technically" can be driven on the street
they are, for all intents and purposes, slicks themselves … 2 grooves, no sipes
codrus wrote: I suspect Rivals are a faster autox tire than RA1s most of the time. I autoxed on RA1s at one point (before the ST tires really appeared), and one day got fun runs right after my normal run group, so I did effectively 9 runs in a row. Run 8 was where the tires were FINALLY up to full grip. They're great track day tires, though.
yeah … pretty much what he said … any of the "cheater street touring" tires will/should be faster than the R888, or the RA1 when it comes to a-x … those don't have time to reach operating temps
Nitto NT01
Keeping an eye on this as I recently picked up some lightly used hoosier r6 (still have about 90% tread) and have to drive about 25-30 miles to the local track/autocrosses and when those get used up I want to replace them with something that will not only last longer but also be less hairy on the street.
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