Ok....I don't know about you guys but I've depleted my stash of shaved, leftover World Speed Challenge RA1's. The 245/40/18's can still be found but the 305/35/18's are extremely elusive.....especially for a decent price. I have seen some 06 and 07 stock being sold for 400+ unshaved but I just can't do that based on principal!

In any event I have found a track shop that has 26 305/35/18 RA1's available for $310 each (they had 32 but I took 6 ). The best part is that they are pro's at shaving race tires on site and only charge a nominal fee for doing so depending on how low you shave them. The tires are all date coded 2007, however they have been stored at Toyo in a climate controlled environment as they were allocated for this shop but never collected!!

The shop is Phil's Tire Service:

www.philstireservice.com

Ask for Kathy and tell her Andrew told you to call and she will honor the price.

 

do you know if they have different sizes ?

 

Nice find!

 

Kudo's deputydog95 did not know that you got a GT3 guess we travel in different circles now. Cheers

 

Seriously....dang...gotta make a call tomorrow.

 

The prices have gone up a bit since they've posted this page but she said they still have most of these sizes:

http://www.philstireservice.com/page...res_toyo_1.htm

 

Are the RA1's really that much better than the R888's? My set of R888's are almost finished, so this is perfect timing....

I would consider just going straight to R6's, but I drive to the track, and any rain would just suck.

 

That is why you Andrew and me need to rent out a ground floor storage unit in Sebring to store our track wheels. Drive over and swap the streets for R6's and go do the DE.

I don't want a trailer. I have no place to store a trailer and I don't want a truck to pull the dang thing either.

 

Yeah, Andrew was telling me about that. Maybe I am being a poodle, but I am nervous about rain days. If I had R6's last weekend, 90% of it would have been a waste. Ill probably buckle and do it though....

How is R6's wear? Is it that much faster than R888's?

 

For rain days just leave on or go put on your street tires....see problem solved...now you're a bulldog.

 

Actually, thats a really good point.... Yeah, I feel stupid....

 

I'm likely to make the move to R6 as well. I know they wear faster than Toyos, and limited to heat cycles.

Is driving on the street considered a heat cycle? (I know, it's a stupid question but I'm curious since I don't want them to HC out while driving to and from the track)

TIA!

 

Driving r6 from Miami to Sebring is dangerous, you are asking for big problems

You guys should buy every Ra1 here and store

 

There we go then. We split the storage unit 4 ways (Andrew, Mike, Nick, and Sin. Just big enough to stack 4 sets of R6's, some jack stands, and a jack. Maybe a tool or two for good measure.

I found one last night that is literally down the street from Sebring:

http://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-8...ed=0CBEQtgMwAA


I'll give them a call today. That would certainly solve the problem. I bet if we pre-paid for the year in advance it would be dirt cheap. Also ViperBob knows someone who has a garage at the track that might be willing to rent out some space for tires and such. He's going to reach out to him for us this week.

And for Nick the poodle, if it rains... Like Mike said, just don't change your tires. FWIW, the R888's are great in the rain. I was really impressed with their ability to push water. The shaved RA1's on the other hand, not so much....

Considering we drive Sebring 98 percent of the time, I think this would be a good solution. For the few times a year we go somewhere else, then we just go pick them up. Win win. I'd love to just trailer this damn thing, but no tow vehicle and no where to store the trailer. Not to mention I really don't want to deal with the maintenance of a trailer either.

 

if you are renting a unit in minutes away from track - simply put there some sets of hoosier wets for rain. they are way way faster then any dot r-comps in rain. full tread new ra1 is better than new r888.

also you have kumho W710 in 305/30R18 for rear which is same rubber as v710 but with grooves - it holds a bit better when track dries out than hoosier wet which you need to take off quite fast. W710 may survive 5-10min when track starts to dry up.