This was predictable. You will never get a tire from Toyo like the 2008 RA1, it directly effects their bottom line. People are still buying RA1’s for DEs like its the same tire it used be. “run em to the cords”, “they are fastest before they cord”, “you’ll get 20+ heat cycles out of them”. None of these statements are true anymore. Going back to the RA1 would be a waste of time, its not the same tire. You need to change tires to something that is long lasting and resistant to heat cycles. Basically a pre molded tire with the compound from a high performance street tire. This would create the smallest gap between the money guys who can buy lots of new tires and the guys running junk. Of course good luck getting a tire company to build something that doesn’t wear out quickly. Just another reason why I don’t race anymore. I’m going out to the garage to beat myself with some expired seat belts and window nets :). Good luck.
Bitching about RR's
I have to wonder how much of the “old RA1” is real vs urban legend. The longevity I can believe, but being “fastest before they cord” and seemingly impervious to heat cycles is difficult to swallow. PS, I have no firsthand experience with the old tires on a SpecE30 … just sayin.
I just think the RA1s are more fun than the RRs because you have to drive them with so much slip angle. I’m happy you don’t have to shave them anymore.
Is anyone out there shaving RRs down further? I’m not sure there would be a benefit.
Edp–not an urban legend…The old RA1 was absolutely the fastest just prior to chording.
I have experience with these tires since around 2000. Multiple sets over multiple years. They were fine till the R888 came out. Then the R888 sucked and the RA1 that we went back to sucked like the R888. When I say sucked they sucked in relation to the original RA1, they were fine in relation to other R-compound tires.
I ran 2004 RA1’s at CMP a couple of weeks ago…full treads with 3 cycles on them ran mid pack till the RTAB’s came loose…Lap times on Sunday were not that much better on RR’s…one of the 2004 tires developed a sidewall bubble.
Al
[quote=“RRhodes” post=72604]General Exclaim UHPs for the great unwashed masses!
Sign me up
there’s several reasons why the pros don’t race on street tires anymore…
Street tires don’t like to get hot
Street tires are terrible in the rain on a track with rubber on it
The way a street tire is designed is not advantageous for consistent aggressive driving, or over driving…
Just to show that once again there’s never any consensue in this sport…I disagree. I was one of the few guys that was religiously using a durometer to monitor my RA1’s. This was because my first couple years I was racing on used RA1s I was buying off of ebay. Since I didn’t know the history of the tires, I used the durometer evaluate the several dozen that I had. I tracked their hardness weekend after weekend…I was doing a race weekend and a DE weekend each month. At a certain hardness I would retire them from racing to DE. Then at another threshold I would retire them. Sometimes I’d get to the cords first and sometimes not.
What I can tell you for certain tho is that shaved RA1s behaved as you’d expect…they were fastest new and got steadily harder and slower. No laws of physics nor chemistry were broken. Move along…nothing to see here.
There’s long been anecdotes about guys driving their fastest laps on well worn RA1s. Fine. But that doesn’t mean that their RA1s were at their stickiest. If they’d been using a durometer they’d have found that their tires had gotten pretty hard.
Getting the car ready for the Robert Grace bounty and am re-reading the rules after being out for a while. Do I understand correctly, that my stock 14" wheels (and tires) are now unusable? Or rather the wheels are allowed, but not the tires, because Toyo no longer makes a tire that fits?
-Vic
Yes. Not usable. No 14" tires anymore 
Vic, you making a triumphant return to SpecE30? That’d be awesome.
Thanks Ranger
As soon as I swallow this Toyo RR pill, yes, I’ll be back at it, at least for a couple races here and there. Whether it’s triumphant…well, we’ll just have to see
-Vic
Personally, I like the RR. I hate shaving tires, I think these tires grip well and mine wear pretty well, also. I run mine hot at 35 pounds of air, too. I found that higher was not better. Just my perspective…
Have you taken tire temps to validate? I always thought the magic number was 40 with the RA-1’s.
-Vic
Vic:
I’m the super opposite of Ranger when it comes to testing and reporting data. I generally just don’t do it. Now, that said, on an RA1 a few years ago, I ran several different sessions, once starting at 25psi cold, once at 30 psi cold, once at 35 psi cold, and there was only .1 difference in the fast lap time across the entire 10psi range.
I do not think 40psi was ever the magic number hot with the RA1. I wanted mine at 35 hot. I know Toyo, and others, say the RR needs to be at 40 hot, but I just don’t agree. But, I’ve never run the temperatures, so maybe I’m wrong. I’d be interested in other people’s opinions on this, and on where they finish in the pack.
From my experience, tire pressures are HUGELY important. And at this point, I’m not a big fan of the RRs. I do like that we don’t have to shave the tire, but I’m going through sets of RRs much faster compared to the RA1s.
7 heat cycles on the RR’s. Haven’t seemed to drop off in lap times yet. Will see next week at Autobahn. Been starting at 26psi.
If I’m counting them correctly I’m now at 15 heat cycles on the Toyo rotation. Next weekend I’ll probably flip them at ACC. After next weekend I’ll reverse them on the rims. I’ve slipped from 2.5 secs to 4.5 secs behind the front (usually Foglght and his ilk :)) but the last 7 cycles were at a track I’ve never driven. I’ve started them all over the place. The only difference it seems to make is in how quickly (how many laps) before they seem to start oozing Vaseline from their pores and how abrupt the loss of traction is. After this happens they seem to recover to about 85% grip after 1-2 laps in ooze mode.
I ran my fastest lap towards the end of the third race on Sunday to end my second weekend and 6 races on a set of RRs. They have about 15 heat cycles on them now, and I am hoping they will work fine for a third weekend. I will have to think about reversing them on the rims.