New Toyo Tire, Rules, Exhaust

#1

All:

A quick note while I have a minute…

I have been out of the country, and am opening a new plant in eastern NC, thus my being away for a while. We were at work until 11:30 last night. I’ll hopefully have some time tonight to catch up on the goings-on here on the site.

As many of you know, and as it has been mentioned here in the past, the Toyo RA-1 tire is going out of production. Therefore, we are making the new R888 legal for Spec E30 racing as of January 1, 2008. Since so many of us have RA-1 tires, and we want to make the transition as painless as possible for our drivers, it will be legal as well. As we use them up and the production ends this coming season, we’ll all natually move to the R888. Plus, I was told that the Spec Miata guys will continue with the RA-1 for a while so those drivers might be interested in buying used RA1s. And some Spec E30 guys race just a few times per season and we don’t want their tires to be illegal.

For the 2009 season, the R888 will be the only legal tire for Spec E30.

From the info I have received, the R888 is a little faster (not much) than the RA-1.

Regarding the 2008 Rules, we are waiting for part numbers from the spec exhaust builder and will post the Rules as soon as we get them. And according to our estimates, the spec exhaust will be available in early January (hopefully before) and is required by June 1st. I’m hoping to receive the first spec exhaust late this week and will get it installed asap. If all is well, it’ll be available a little sooner than when we now expect.

Carter

#2

Can we keep the RA1 legal for rain tires for a determined time? I dont think it will make much difference to people and that way we wont have to replace the rains which dont get used very often…

#3

I would second the comment on the rain’s being legal beyond the 2008 cutoff. For those of us with a fresh set of unshaved rain tires which may not even get used during a season, it would be a shame to lose them. If the R888 are slightly quicker, then certainly no one should have an issue.

Thanks for the consideration.

#4

I’m a bit confused. We are talking about a year and a half away. Do people keep R comps around that long? As the 2009 race season comes around, and if we know the change is coming now, I would think nobody would have an RA1 still around. Or is there some benefit of an RA1 over an R888 in the rain that we should be stock piling them?

Crap - I go though a set of full tread RA1s in a max of three weekends. After 1 weekend, they are getting low enough on tread to make them non-wet worthy.

Just trying to understand…

John

#5

John,

I have a freshly mounted set of full tread RA-1’s that I don’t use unless it’s raining. When not used, they last pretty well. I will turn them into dry’s if need be near the end of the season if they are illegal in 2009.

Keith

#6

John,

I have a freshly mounted set of full tread RA-1’s that I don’t use unless it’s raining. When not used, they last pretty well. I will turn them into dry’s if need be near the end of the season if they are illegal in 2009.

Keith

#7

John - I think Keith’s point is that full tread rains, used only in the wet, last a long time. We have one set that will be 2 years old in Feb, and we will still run them this year. Some of us also buy used/scrub RA-1s, that should still be available for quite some time, since many of them come from the Miata folks that only run them for one session.
Ed

#8

another point is that there is some questioning of the suitability of the R888 tread pattern as a rain tire.
bruce

#9

I knew there was something I was missing about the rain. But, as a bigger question - don’t these tires break down on you guys? I try to follow all the rules - dark place, in a bag, not too hot, not too cold, but damn - after a year, they are like a rock. This is experience with Hoosiers and Kumhos - not so much the Toyos - thanks for the education on this. What I have always done is buy them full tread, and swap new ones in as rains, and the old rains are the new track tire, as I have probably worn them down (Northern Ohio track season always had weekends full of rain, especially on the spring and fall ends - not so much the case here in sunny Florida).

Good info here - I think a lot of this comes from DE use vs race use - if I had lots of tread on a RA1 - I was just slower - but not a real good option at race day.

Also - thanks to Natalie for letting her husband type on her Mac - my PC is out of commission today…

#10

I have been running used RA-1’s that I bought for $150/set and I have raced several times on each set. They still get hot and sticky and have not seemed to be the limiting factor in my speed. Rather, JP is always the one blocking me and holding me up.:woohoo: The RA-1’s seem to be good for a very long time.

Sasha

#11

Sasha Berghausen wrote:

[quote]JP is always the one blocking me and holding me up.:woohoo: The RA-1’s seem to be good for a very long time.

Sasha[/quote]

That is because he bought my used tires. :wink:

#12

Carter

I thought I was the only one that refered to Eastern NC as "The Third World" It is truely like being in another country. Good luck trying to find emplyees down here that aren’t total crackheds.

Al
eastern NC for about 2 more weeks…

#13

They got rid of me, and apparently you. Two down 200,000 to go.

#14

Rob Keehner wrote:

They got rid of me, and apparently you. Two down 200,000 to go.[/quote]

I have a few more months before I escape to the IN/MI/OH region.

#15

Has anyone looked up the specs of the R888? They don’t seem to make a 14". So now that the basket weaves are going to be legal, we don’t have a tire to put on them. Not a big problem except that lots of us use 14" for rain. Yes, my rains are still OK but when the do need replaced I have to get new wheels too. Oh, well.

Also, they are molded 6/32" tread. I would assume that shaving will still be prefered?

Michael

#16

Yes, still shave if speed is important.

I talked to Vilven Tire earlier this week and they had the 15"s in stock.

#17

Carter Hunt wrote:

[quote]All:

And according to our estimates, the spec exhaust will be available in early January (hopefully before) and is required by June 1st. I’m hoping to receive the first spec exhaust late this week and will get it installed asap. If all is well, it’ll be available a little sooner than when we now expect.

Carter[/quote]

Any update?

-Scott

#18

Carter,

What’s the latest on the exhaust rule and/or specs and/or supplier?

While I know we don’t have to have it until June… my first race is only 7 weeks away, and if this is something I’m going to have to do—I’d like to have it taken care of before the season starts.

7 more weeks :woohoo:

#19

the new rules say that we will know who the required vendor is after jan 10th
bruce

#20

Bruce Leggett wrote:

[quote]the new rules say that we will know who the required vendor is after jan 10th
bruce[/quote]

Hope so! My exhaust consists of a cat with no tail. And it ain’t happy! I kind of chucked the muffler while replacing my subframe bushings this past week.