RS3v2 or RA1 or R888 for track tires?
 

Looking for either streetable track tires or trackable street tires, to be mounted on dedicated track wheels. (can be 15x8 or 15x9)

Not looking for highest grip. Looking for low cost per track day; benchmark is the RA1 for levels of grip, life, and heat cycles.

Should not chunk when new, should have predictable behavior and consistent grip even in 95*F weather. Should work all right on a 55*F track day.

In what ways are R888's or RA1's better than RS3v2?

What are the favorites these days?

Cheerio

i don't have an answer to your question, but I love my RS3's and will continue to run them.

I've been running the Hankook RS3 v2 all year (had the same set since Feb 2016) and overall I am very happy with them for the price. The wear rate has been incredible and they still have quite a bit of tread life at this point (6 days on track and 8 autocross events). At the last event I noticed they have started to fall off quite a bit in terms of raw grip but they are still drive-able. The RS3 v2 also has noticeably better braking grip compared to the original tire.

I am not a fan of the R888 at all, so many better choices out there at this point. RA1s are a classic but over priced in the current tire market. For a 100TW choice I'd look at the Nitto NT01 (a personal favorite) or the Maxxis RC1.

Thanks. So what's the advantage of the NT01 over RS3v2's?

Pretty much any street tire will chunk if you beat on it hard on the track at full tread depth. Even for RA1s they recommend shaving them for dry track use, full tread is when used as rain tires.

--Ian

moar sticky. also, what Ian said.

NT-01 have been great down to the cords for me as well, not a lot of drop off.

NT01s will have more braking grip and be more forgiving to small mistakes than an RS3v2 will be. For a value-oriented track day tire, I would do the RC-1, though.

Would RC-1's last longer than RS3v2's at the track?

This discussion does seem to have gotten off track of the original question though (surprise surprise) as the RC-1 isn't really a streetable track tire, right? And NT01's aren't great for that either if I understand correctly.

Am I the only one who hates RS3s? Had v1s on my old Miata and v2s on my sti and I hated them both times.
A friend had RA1s that he ran on the street too and he was happy with them.

I think by "streetable track tire" Jason means something you can drive to the track on, not something that you leave on the car 24/7.

--Ian

Well, I liked where this thread was going...

Guys... see bold above. I think you are getting off track here.

I ran RS3v1 for the street and NT-01 for the track for several years. I'm no expert and don't have a set of RS3v2 to make the comparison, but my NT-01s act like how I would expect a track tire to act and my RS3v1 felt like I was abusing a street tire on the track. I didn't feel bad driving the RS3v1 on the street because, well, to me they act like street tires.

Do we still talk about the BFG Rival-S?

Its well past time to replace my RS3v1, thus my interest.

I'm kinda with turbofan on this one, see my followup question below. The RC-1 looks like something I'd want to trailer to the track unless I was driving the 10 miles from my driveway to MRLS (because I'm exceptionally lazy) but not the 240 miles to Thunderhill. Would that be accurate?

Right! See my above statement.

Jason, you are somewhere near the Bay Area, right? Are you going to be trailering these dedicated HPDE tires to the event or are you expecting to drive them 200+ miles to Buttonwillow or Thunderhill and then driving the 200+ miles home?

My recommendation is to make Ian buy a bigger trailer so he can haul your car to and from events with his own :giggle:

Ah, I overlooked the "to be mounted on dedicated track wheels" part.

Jason lives near me. He's not trailering anything, he's going to drive it to the track on them. Well, more likely, he's going to buy the tires and leave them in a stack in the garage because he's been too busy driving his Porsche to put the manifold back on his Miata, but... :)

I don't see a problem with driving 200 miles to/from the track on NT-01s. I've done it on RA-1s and the old Kumho Victoracers, and 200 miles of trundling up and down the freeway really doesn't put much in the way of wear on them. I wouldn't do it with tires where I'm concerned about heat cycles, like RRs or Hoosiers, but on RA-1s it's not a problem, and NT-01s are supposed to be very similar to those in that regard (I've never used them).

Probably not a great idea to do it in the rain, or if you're crossing a mountain pass where you might see snow, and you run the risk of cording a tire at the track and then how do you get home.

I am actually looking for a bigger trailer, but it's not going to be big enough to put two Miatas in. That's a BIG trailer.

--Ian

And now you have the Toyo R888R to throw in the mix.................

https://philstireservice.com/shop/toyo-proxes-r888r/

Do you have any feedback on those? I haven't seen a thing.

Not yet - possibly by next weekend.

If you look at what the chump car guys are running that's a good indicator of a long lasting track tire. Seems the RS3v2 is a favorite and the new Maxis VR1 is gaining popularity. I've yet to see a direct comparison between the VR1 and RS3, but that's what trying to decide between for next season.

rival's should not be on your radar, way too soft. I've seen life expectancy in the 6 to 8 track hour range. Bloody fast though.

If it's being driven to/from the track, the three tires I would look at are the RS3V2, NT-01, and VR-1. On an NB, since you can fit the 245/40 under a stock fender, the VR-1 would be my choice.