ceboyd

being in a slower car can have it's advantages as well actually.. when I took my former New Beetle out on the track (all 115 hp) I never had to use my brakes.. it was a hoot... I just went around the track full throttle with stock tires.. LOL

Brian_77_3.6

I did three years of about 20 days per year before I tried going to R tires. The same year I graduated to a solo run group I bought a set of MPSC. Compared to the SO3's I ran the season before they gripped better but I still felt that the gave me a lot of feedback like the street tires had. I have since tried Victory Racers and this year bought a set of the Avon Tech R tires. The are the best track tires I have experienced. Great grip and turn in response and they have helped me grow as I feel much more confident entering and exiting turns at speeds that I was not willing to attempt on the other R tires. The Tech R tires have worn verry well with 16 track days so far and still look almost new. (well not new but not any where near the wear bars yet) So my two sense is that once your skill level reaches the point that you can run in the upper run groups, R tires will make a difference in your continued growth as a driver.

Alpine951

I am on my fifth year of DE. Still on streets. I was signed off to go solo (Blue) at the end of my third year, and was told i would probably get bumped to white soon. I only get around to 6 to 10 days per year at the track at the moment. Last year was a slow year and Monday will be my first event this year (NHIS). I cancelled 2 events earlier this year because i was trying to diagnose some running issues on my car.At my last event last year I just put on some ToyoT1s. I found a good deal on them and had heard some good things about them. There were only 4 run groups which means I was in white. It wasn't that fun. I got to the point where my suspension was just rolling over and I was in the way. I decided that I was pushing the stock suspension to its limits. Over the winter I popped in bigger springs, torsion bars, konis, adjustable ride height. Bigger turbo too!!!! I am intending to stay on streets. Things may change down the line. If I get into white I might find I have to conform because I'll be in the way. Can't wait to see how the car is in a few days. Life is good!.

PT

I switched after ~40 DE days and felt at the time that I can drift the car consistently and reach a point where the tire are complaining most of the time in corners.

As Jack said, R-compound is not really needed in DE and one of the reason for change is by then half the cars in my run groups are full blown race cars and quite a few highly optimized track car. To "play" with them it's fun to be able to at least keep up in corners (I was in a Boxster at the time) if straights are complete give away.

mroberts

I upgraded to be more competitive in autocross. In retrospect it wasn't the best move.

1) Hassle of carrying extra set of wheels
2) Hassle of storing extra set of wheels
3) Cost of extra tyres
4) My fastest laps at my last DE were on my street tyres at the end of the weekend

Advantage of R comps is you can run them a lot smoother than streets - you don't want to be driving around on bald street tyres. Maybe optimum setup is a spare pair of the rims you wear the fastest, and keep your old street tyres for those - run them on the track when they're no longer street legal. You only need to carry two rims vs. 4, you have a spare in a pinch if you cord one of the others, and you get ALL of the wear out of your tyres, vs. ditching them when they get below the wear bars.

One advantage of R comps though - shorter lap times = more laps per session = better value for money

RJay

Switched within two events of having started AXing, Kumho 700s. Largely just to see if the tires made as much of a difference as others had suggested. They did. In an AX situation, I wouldn't hestitate to make the switch once you decided that you love to AX. It will certainly help you evaluating just how far you have to go.

For DE it took me approximately 15 events before I went to Toyo RA-1s. I still keep my Hoosiers pretty much for just AXing. In fact, I ran my 285 HP 2200# 911 on 205/55/16 and 225/50/15 Goodyear street tires for a number of events. You certainly learn a lot! Still do occasionally.