Track Day Oppos, What Tires Do You Run?

[way2blu]

I’m looking at attending a track day next month in my Camaro, but I’m pretty sure my Bridgestone RE-71R autocross tires aren’t very appropriate for that application. I’ve been told they heat up too fast for prolonged track use and will get all melty.

For a track day, my priorities are more “lasts longer and is available cheaper” than “maximum grip/laptimes” and I’m wondering what the best options are. Seat time is a big priority for me; I think my car control skills need to improve before getting really aggressive track tires. Rather keep the consumables expenses cheap for sure.

I saw that the Dunlop Direzza DZ102 is supposed to last pretty long and perform pretty evenly over time. It was listed in Discount Tire’s article on drift tires, which kinda fit my use case pretty well. I’m open to other options too, track day/HPDE stuff is a new frontier for me.

[StuckMTB]

@way2blu I used to run Direzza ZII star specs on my MINI for track days and daily driving in the summer, and they were great. I imagine the DZ102 is related to this tire as the tread pattern looks pretty similar.

At least on my MINI, the tread life was pretty great for a 200 TW tire, they wore evenly, especially considering how much camber that car had, and they perform surprisingly well in the rain.

EDIT: As @Highlander pointed out and upon closer inspection, the Zii is a different tire vs the DZ102. I think there's a Ziii out by now, but I would consider one of those options if you're looking for a performance focused tire for track days and auto-x.

[Highlander]

@way2blu I have the DZ-102's on my Datsun and I can say from personal experience I don't think they would be a good track tire. The tread blocks are numerous and well spaced, I'm guessing they would get chewed up really quickly. I would want something a bit softer, slightly more compliant and larger shoulder tread blocks. On my car with about 150 HP the 205/55 16 is big enough to prevent wheel spin in all but the most extreme conditions.

[Zaphod's Heart of Gold]

I have a couple friends who run RE-71Rs for track days (one runs them daily as well) on a miata and an s2k. I loved my Nitto NT05s when I had them but never ran them on track, only hard runs through the mountains (full pulls on the tail of the dragon) and never had a problem.

Our lemons car is about to sport some federal rs-rrs, I read good things about them and we're about to give it a shot.

[TexturedSoyProtein]

I am not a trackdaybro but I'm thinking maybe Falken RT660?

[davesaddiction]

@way2blu How many track days do you think you'll do this year? If just a couple, I'd consider going with a longer life max perf tire - can you get Conti ExtremeContact Sports in your size (6 year, 30k warranty)? Your car is so light that it shouldn't be too hard on tires if you get a good track-focused alignment done.

[Highlander]

@way2blu https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/street-tire-shootout/

[2Poor_sh2Furious]

@way2blu PS4S and they're awesome! However they don't heat up quickly enough and they shed temperature rapidly so after you get through traffic they're low again. I've heard the same you said about RE71R but always in relation to heavier cars (like yours) compared the Cayman and miata. So yeah I'd stay away.

[just-a-scratch]

There have been some articles in Grassroots Motorsports about trackday tires lately.
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/track-day-tire-test-nankang-goodyear-and-pirelli/

[MidEngine]

I've heard good things about Nittos, I'd lean towards Michelin Pilot Super Sports but they're not cheap.

[Wrong Wheel Drive]

@way2blu Don't get DZ102 for that, they suck. I LOVED the ZII star specs I had on my Miata. I only stopped using them because I ran over a nail ON THE TRACK at buttonwillow. I can only assume someone had a shoddy body kit held together with framing nails.... Anyways, those tires made it through 5 track days and technically outlasted the motor in any case. Thankfully at least that was probably the last track day on them anyways, maybe one more in them if I was lucky. So that was approximately fifteen 20 minute sessions although I did not have any spin outs or off track excursions so I didnt abuse them too too hard. Those were replaced with Toyo RR tires which I have used for three track days and an autocross and seem to have plenty of life left in them. I really like the Falken 650k+ for street driving but I havent tried them out on the track. My alignment has worn them down quickly though so idk about track longevity for those. I definitely recommend just doing any 200TW that isnt the RE71R. The longevity isnt so much the problem as is the heat. They are true autocross tires in that they heat up fast as you probably know. On the track you need a tire that takes a few laps to even get functional otherwise you will roast the damn things by the end of the day. I'd probably try out the 200TW Yokos since theyre cheap and you arent going for a time attack win or anything like that.

[Cash Rewards]

@way2blu @Zaphod-s-Heart-of-Gold night be right with the nt05. I have them on my Miata and have autocrosses them. They definitely lack in grip compared to the bridgestones. But they are cheap, wear well, and break progressively. I have nice neutral slides in the Miata. I wish I had more grip for autocross, but if you're looking for inexpensive, longer lasting, but good enough you might like the nitto

[MarquetteLa]

@way2blu Look at the Hankook RS4. Only a little slower than the RE-71R, but they LAST SO LONG. Endurance racing teams use these tires.

[ItalianJobR53]

@marquettela said in Track Day Oppos, What Tires Do You Run?:

@way2blu Look at the Hankook RS4. Only a little slower than the RE-71R, but they LAST SO LONG. Endurance racing teams use these tires.

+1 on RS-4. 2 of my friends have em, 1 on a k swapped miat and 1 on a s2000
Last forever, decent in rain and cheap!

[just-a-scratch]

Another option in the 200 treadwear class is the Advan A052. They're getting a lot of notice with Autocross and trackday folks, said to be slightly grippier than the RE-71R.
https://www.yokohamatire.com/tires/advan-a052

[jayvincent]

@way2blu I like www.tiresize.com for comparing a wide range of tires for a given size. They don't sell tires, they just mine sites that do and provide you links. I can't recall which version of '19 ZL1 you have and it makes a difference on the tire size, so you are going to have to take a look yourself to figure out your options, but it's worth a look

[VincentMalamute]

@way2blu I ran Kumho Victoracers. I have no comparison with any other track tire. They are certainly real track tires and an order of magnitude above the next level down.

Pro and a con is that track tires will allow you to hide any driving skill deficiency. If you have horsepower, track tires will let you go much faster than your skill level.

[Highlander]

@just-a-scratch These are very similar to the A008's Yokahama had years ago. They were a purpose built autocross tire that was DOT legal. Extremely soft.

[nein_87]

@way2blu said in Track Day Oppos, What Tires Do You Run?:

I’m looking at attending a track day next month in my Camaro, but I’m pretty sure my Bridgestone RE-71R autocross tires aren’t very appropriate for that application. I’ve been told they heat up too fast for prolonged track use and will get all melty.

For a track day, my priorities are more “lasts longer and is available cheaper” than “maximum grip/laptimes” and I’m wondering what the best options are. Seat time is a big priority for me; I think my car control skills need to improve before getting really aggressive track tires. Rather keep the consumables expenses cheap for sure.

I saw that the Dunlop Direzza DZ102 is supposed to last pretty long and perform pretty evenly over time. It was listed in Discount Tire’s article on drift tires, which kinda fit my use case pretty well. I’m open to other options too, track day/HPDE stuff is a new frontier for me.

Hankook RS4. They last forever, are pretty quick, give great feedback, and are cheaper compared to to other options.

[orneryduck]

@vincentmalamute 100% agree here. Don’t worry about competitive 200TW (AutoX spec) tires until you are making clean runs consistently on course. If you are already there, then tires and better brake pads are the right thing to target.

I’m out of date on the AutoX tires, but I know another RX8 on BFG Rivals was 10 seconds faster than me on course, with my 500TW Conti DWS06’s. I wasn’t running clean though and easily gave up 4-6 seconds to dumb mistakes, so I wasn’t too concerned since until I consistently run clean, I’m only racing myself.