Hi All,

I currently have p-Zeros on my 981S which are ok i guess, just wondering if you were going to take your 981S to the track, which tyres would you recommend?

Also how much of a difference would using track focused tyres make compared to the bog standard p-zero road tyres?

Much Appreciated

Michael

 

RE71. Big difference, but they'll wear quicker obviously.

 

First if you don't have any track days take the car with the p-Zeros and get some track experience. They will be fine, but expect to see left front edge wear depending on how aggressive you drive and the track. There is considerable difference between lap times between your tires and a dedicated track/street tire like RE71s.

FWIW and based on my experience, if you intent to do a number of track days you also need to consider a track alignment with more negative camber regardless of your tire choice. Assuming the track is clockwise your left front will rapidly wear on the left edge with a street alignment. One or two weekends is probably OK, but you will quickly see the wear. Swapping and flipping the front tires is often done but depends if the tire is directional and/or asymmetrical. If you search track alignments for 981S you will find -2.5 to -3.0 camber for the front is common. If your car is a DD with a track alignment a some point inside front tire wear could become an issue.

RE71s are great track tires, but as all ready stated they wear quickly and are not cheap. Hankook RS4s are a similarly designed track tire and while not quite as good as RE71s have a reputation for longer wear. IMO neither of these tires are good for a DD especially in the wet. Michelin PS4S are probably the most popular street/track tire. Many people like and also dislike p-Zeros. Tire Rack has evaluations on most of these tires.

A dedicated set of track wheels and tires is on the "slippery" slope. I ran PS2 and PS4S for four years on an 09 Boxster with a mild -1.8 front camber. I recently purchase a 2013 BS that has p-Zeros but I bought a set of 18" wheels and Hankook RS4s with-2.5 front camber. 20 inch tires have a huge cost premium verses 18s. Unfortunately COVID-19 has shutdown track days so can't give you my experience on this set up. While I drive to my track events the car is not a DD so based on others experience I might increase the negative camber to -3.0 based on the track tire wear.

 

The Pirelli p-zeros will be fine for your first few track events. The upside is that you will speed up their wear so you can get rid of them sooner and get good tires (Michelin PS4S) - I have the Pirelli's and hate them! The added benefit of running a street tire in De's is that they "talk" to you - you will hear when you are pushing them and be able to know that you are reaching the edge of the tire's grip just by the sounds they make as you begin to learn the feel of the car (seat of the pants) that will matter less and that is when many move to dedicated track tires.

I have headed down the slippery slope of mods but specific to wheels and tires I run 18" RS4's and will confirm that on track they wear like a street tire (maybe better in that they do not "chunk") I have had RE-71's on a different car (986 boxster) and the RS4's are not nearly as sticky and are slower by a decent margin but the RE71's wear at twice as fast as the RS4's for me.. Having said that, if comparing to street tires, the RS4's are great.

 

What would you say the time delta is?

 

It would be a big guess as I have not had them on the same car; I am going by feel and seat of the pants. My gut says there is a 10-15% speed difference; maybe 20% on the high end. RS4's wear like iron, I am surprised their performance is as good as it is based on how little they wear. The performance of the 71's is in line with their wear...

 

Another vote for using what you've got. If you're new to tracking, they won't hold you back. You can also look around the paddock and see what others are using, many of the most popular tires have been mentioned above. Certain tires are "better" in different regions due to things like temperature, track surface, etc.

 

I may give those a try next time and will definitely post results.

When I started tracking I used Pilot Super Sports and those did not wear at all! I think I had 5+ track days (some rainy days) on them and 13,000 miles before changing them to the RE71R. As a beginner, the lower ceiling or limit of the tire helped me learn to feel the car and smooth out my inputs. I was able to confidently run in beginner/intermediate groups at the medium to high pace without any issues so I will say any performance tire should be fine. My back to back time delta between the OLD super sports and RE71R was 9 seconds on 2 different tracks. That gap is increasing with experience/alignment.

 

RE-71R