I recently purchased a separate set of rims to use exclusively for track days on my 997s. For tires I am looking at either TOYO R888 R-compounds or a track oriented street tire like Yokohama AD08. However, the closest track to my house is about an hours drive. I have to commute to and from the track on the same tires I use on track. Will the R888's be a good choice for this situation?

 

Ive been doing that for 10 years on the RA1s. I do like when i have a lot of pick-up, as it seems that rubber doesnt even wear off on the ride home from the 1 hour away tracks. 3 hours , yes.
mine are shaved too. I would say, that would be a good tire for that purpose.

 

i do not think a single soul here will say - yes, it is a good choice to run on dot r-comps on a public road. i would say - i you have no other choice - be reasonable. i drove on old r888 on a road, it is very loud tire but tolerable. most dangerous part is when you are on almost bald r-comps and it starts to rain. you do not want to be on old almost bald r888 with most of tread shaved off in such situation, as well as on hoosiers - so look at tread you have left on those r888 tires if you got them already and make your best judgment.

toyo ra1 and kumho v700 have excellent tread and are quite safe in rain, well, when relatively new.

you can look up on 9-planet cayman forums, they had a lot of discussions on how to make a custom tow hook to screw into rear to tow a tire trailer. i will work on that this winter as i got to my limit this season getting around on r-comps.

 

lol its fine. Alot of high power guys use these as street tires as long as there is tread fyi

 

Works fine for me, but it's really, really loud. After a 4 hour drive, I'm nearly deaf.

 

Just sank in you will swap the rims for track days.. R888, NT01, etc. will be fine but don't shave them.

As for nice combo tires, lot's of tire choices out there for street/track. I would look at tires like the Dunlop Direzza Star Spec, Nitto NT05, and others with a better wear factor, longevity, and road manners in wet than an R-Comp. I have the Dunlops on my wife's BMW 335, love them.

 

+1!

One of the tracks I go to is 3 hours away and these things, I can tell you, take "road noise" to a whole new level.

I wouldn't be obsessively concerned with safety as long as you're driving prudently. Understand these things have very little tread to begin with and physics is physics, car/compound/driving skills notwithstanding.

FWIW I had to drive 15 minutes in torrential rain on 888s last week. The hydroplaning was certainly not fun but i wouldn't call it a suicide run either. Kept it under 50mph the whole way and the handling was okay given circumstances.

 

The R888 are probably one of the best choice for this use. Better than the RA1 in fact since the R888 tread goes down to cords. The RA1 will go bald with life left in them. The R888 however will still have tread down to when you would toss them. So chance are you will always have some tread for road use.

The R888 carcase is tough enough to take road use. Of course the biggest problem is that the R888 (or any R compound tire) is not an ideal road tire. It works great when it is dry, but driving home in the wet when have low tread and hit standing water it can be tough.

The other issues is that you tend to get less life from the R-compound tire. Not because they get used up on the street, but because you can squeeze one more session from them. I run two sets of RA-1s all times. One set is worn and other is fresh. This means I can use that worn set until they are truly done and then switch tires mid-day. If had just one set I would be forced to change earlier to make sure I had enough tire to last the event. For guy who needs to drive home on those tires you need enough to get you home. If you arrive on street tires and change to r-tires you can cord the R-tires and still have rubber to drive home. In fact you can always finish a day on street tires if you cord the r-tires. Spares are nice for that reason. In the end however it is easier to not change tires so you need to make the right choice.

 

Do it. I've driven all over the Northeast on track tires!

 

Our track is just about 1 hour away. Quite a few of the instructors end up just keeping R888s on their car for the whole spring/summer since you can have an event every 2 weeks if you desire. A couple of them are even known to show up on Hoosier R6s.

Like everyone said.. be very careful in the rain and particularly up in canada where the temps drop in the early hours. Anything close to 40F and R compounds are like hockey pucks.

Also, it would be advisable to take extra care about avoiding road debri. A puncture will ruin your weekend plans.

-Paul

 

I dont trailer.
Tried michelin cups non N, corsas, yokos and all are plotting to kill you when it rains.
888s arent that viscious unless bald. This is what I use and actually have a chance to return home.
For track duty they are pretty good best feature IMO is that they are progressive when they let go other dots arent.
worst is the noise you ll think your diff is fried.

John

 

I drive 1.5hrs to Sebring from Tampa on my RA1's or R888's. I know guys that run R888's for a street tire.

 

I have driven to Gingerman (3), Mid-Ohio (4), Nelson Ledges (5+), etc on RA1/R888...no problems. I usually take a similar spare tire in case something were to happen to one as to not ruin my weekend

 

Mike (or anyone who get torrential rain)

Q: if it rains on the way to or from the track, you stop or continue on?

 

Like others, I think R888s are a great choice for dual purpose driving. I generally dont swap them out if between events is less than 2 weeks and I daily commute on them, rain or shine until they are bald. VIR is 270 mi., Summit is ~70 mi., etc. No issues, they are just loud and get louder as the threads get shorter.