Hi

Yes I know the title is an oxymoron. Hear me out though. I had my first HPDE this weekend. I waited until my old all-seasons were almost at minimums, and finished them off at the track.

I had a blast, the car handled great, and I want to do more track days. However, I don't want to mess up my brand new street tires. So, time to shop for new wheels+track-only tires.

I'm just starting out, I'm basically at the level of a high HPDE1/low HPDE2 (NASA). I'm still learning basics like finding the limit of grip, braking points, etc.

So, I'm looking for a track tire that doesn't necessarily have the most outright grip - in fact, I'd be happier with a tire that lets go at lower speeds, so that I can make my mistakes at lower speeds. But I am on a budget, so I'd like for the tire to last as long as possible on the track.

So, rx8club trackers, what do you recommend? In short, I don't care about grip, do care about tread life and price.

Thanks...

 

Hankook RS3 are great for Autocross and track buy the Enkei RPF1 17x9 the are under 16lbs. The 255/45/17 tires are about $140 each. Great tire great price.

 

Being in the SF Bay Area, you have Rishie with AutoRND (endless rotaries) not too far away (freemont). PM him or find him on facebook for prices and recommendations. Enkie RPF1's are a great wheel choice, 17's for ultimate weight reduction and cheaper too.

 

Nitto NT-01 for us.

 

Thanks for the replies

The Enkei's are about 240 apiece - that's a thousand on wheels only. I don't really care about unsprung weight (or any weight) - the next year or two I'm only going to be doing untimed events, maybe 4-6 times a year. Any cheaper options?

How many track days (say 4x20 min sessions) could I expect the Hankook's or Nitto's to last? I anticipate visiting Laguna Seca, Infineon, and Thunderhill (I'm guessing some tracks are harder on tires than others..)

 

I have ran NT-01's and they lasted me about 8-10 hard track days. More if your not pushing it.

Your not going to find a cheaper wheel worth buying then the RPF1. Keep your eye on craigslist and every so often you can find the correct offset 17X9's or 18X9.5's at a discount.

BTW, if you switch from NASA to NCRC ncracing.org you can save yourself some money on track day cost. PLus NCRC will give your first event for free, check out the site for details. Only thing is they dont run infineon.

 

your thread would have been better titled as "long lasting tires to run track events on", because you clearly don't want real track tires ....

 

Buying a set of enkei wheels is smarter than buying cheap replica wheels. Reselling enkei wheels is easier given their huge used market.
Tyre wise for 4\5 track days a year i'd go with a set of toyo r1r. Cheap, decent grip and a lot of tread. I never had a chance to run on hankook tyres as they're not very popular here so i can't speak.

 

As far as tires: I can't say enough good things about the Dunlop Star Specs on our Lemons/Chump car (previously an MR2, now an E30). They stay consistent from new pretty much all the way through. Not expensive, and good in both dry and wet. We usually get at least 3 days (~24 hours of racing) out of a set.

For wheels, why not just pick up a set of used OE wheels? That's about as cheap as you're going to get.

 

17"x9" & 255/40-17 NT-01s

Learn on good tires, lightweight wheels, but be frugal. - Good DD for summertime, race on them when you get to the track.

 

OP, I'm thinking of selling my track wheels (18x9.5 RPF1s with R888s) for a different set. Send me a PM if you are interested; I live in Fremont.

 

This is what i did and i get a full set of wheels plus track tires for $800

Set of used rx8 wheels. They keep you in stock classes in AutoX and they really aren't bad compared to other stock wheels. Plus everybody wants to get rid of them and they are always available. I found a set that had some serious road rash for
$300
Check on eBay and craigslist for tires. I found a set of 2 Hoosiers that were two years old but only used once. They were $300 and then i found 2 single Hoosiers that were about the same for $100 a piece.

So i got a full set of gently used race tires and a set of wheels for a total of $800. You can't beat that. I wouldn't spend $1000 on a set of enkei's unless you were doing competition. You can take the money you saved on the wheels and you could hire somebody to teach you for the entire weekend. It's not as flashy but you will get more value from that then a set of wheels.

So get some used stockers, get some gently used wheels on ebay and craigslist and do as much practice as you can.

 

Nice tip with NCRC. Worth at least checking them out with the guest program. I looked them up but they run mostly Fridays (maybe that's why they're cheaper ).

 

Lots of opinions here, thanks for all the feedback. So it basically boils down to:

Cheapest but slow: Used OEM wheels + Used 18" tires. I'd probably want to upgrade from OEM wheels if I got more into tracking the car...

vs

Less cheap but faster: Enkei's + Nitto/Star Specs - I've heard good things about the Star Specs on a lot of threads around here. Also, if I go with the 17" Enkei option, I can use those wheels for a long time (until they break), and all the time, 17" trackable tires will be cheaper than 18's.


I'm thinking I'll scour CL/ebay/this site for used Enkei's, and if I don't have any luck for the next month or so, I'll have to make a decision to keep looking or get used OEM's (or some other cheap 17"' wheels)

 

UMMM we are all stupid, ya always tell us so but rarely give advice.
I use nitto nt-01 they aren't real race tires? could ya tell us some?
Unreal race tires and real race tires? I sure want to know, the hankook tires I've been told about give very little squeel before they let go, nt-01 squal big time before they let go. How about some real advice.
I'm merely the team manager for the misses car, she is only rated in nasa 3 and 4 levels and has no pro track experiance, titles or trophys.
Where's yours? We know you know, lets hear it.
I haven't seen the 6 time national autocross champ on here telling people they are dumb, have ya beat him? NOT

 

They have a lot of Saturday/sundays this year, but I'm guessing the guest program is for weekdays.

 

When did I call anyone stupid and what does all the excessive drivel really mean other than maybe trying to prove you might be? He doesn't want to pay $240 each for wheels. Real track tires cost much more. Basically he wants street tires to run at the track rather than a real track tire. In your world a Nitto might be a track tire because maybe you just don't know what one is. You don't have to be Michael Schumacher to know what one is either. Now maybe you think this means I'm calling you stupid, but if so that would be an internal rose colored glasses perspective rather than my intent.

 

I tend to consider track tyres semislicks and 100ish or less treadwear tyres. R1R barely fill that category but the durometer shows they're almost as the r888s most run, sidewall stamp aside. Cheap and relatively long lasting "track tyres".
Tracks here don't allow users to run on slicks during open pitlane events, that's why i left a bunch of slicks and semi-treaded tyres out of the equation. Of course real race tyres will be expensive. Double what a set of semislicks cost for the dry ones, almost 3 times for the wet compounds lol.
How about you give this poor guy some make\model advice Team? At least you'd give us an opportunity to prove you're either good or wrong instead of hiding behind empty statements!

Oh, i forgot you run in parking lots

 

^ a world seen as black and white.

Some people feel they are the owner of the truth. But there are many truths. Judging in black and white is easy. Allowing others opinions to matter is risky. It's not about what someone else considers to be right or wrong, it's about self-image preservation. Make sense of you own truth and life and don't be upset that others are not so tolerant. Their truth is decidedly more difficult.

 

The op said he is less concerned about grip and more concerned about longevity/cost which makes this a better fit in the wheels and tires section and not racing. First of all, budget racing or even budget tracking your car is an oxymoron. It's an expensive sport/hobby and if you are on a budget you might want to reconsider. With that said, you don't have to go broke to do the occasional track day.

You can eliminate slicks or hoosiers from the list. That's not what he is looking for and more importantly its not what he needs as a beginner. Both the car and the driver just need a performance summer tire. Nto1's are considered a dot legal r-comp but they are nothing like a set of hoosiers.

 

Here we go again.LOL
What is a good race tire?, what isn't?
A whole paragraph and not one bit of advice.The entire forum knows that you know. Please share. And who the fk is Michael Schumacher? hehe

 

All street tires fall off after a few hot laps, despite the advances are not optimal for the track. Although they would work well for you.

I ran 225/45/17 Conti take-offs that I got from a reliable source. Would last 5 days at Mid Ohio (depending on the camber settings) and were dirt cheap.

Having said that I do agree with some of the posters here, track tires = r comps just because you can use street tires on the track and they are better than they used to be - they are not track tires (you can technically use a winter tire on the track if you wanted to - that don't make it a track tire either).

Just look around the boards on NASA and SCCA and pick up a used set of 17x8.5 or 17x9 wheels with tires. No point buying new wheels.

 

Interesting, thought I'd share for the OP...



Wouldn't say I agree 100%, but whatever...

 

Here is an awsome deal for you and he is local.
https://www.rx8club.com/west-sale-wanted-145/five-enkei-rpf1-wheels-r888s-tires-fremont-ca-232324/

For $1000 you get QTY-5 RPF1's with TPMS installed and 265/35/18 R888 tires mounted and ready to go. The tires have enough tread to get you a few track days depending on how hard you drive it. After that you can switch to your tire of choice.

 

a bunch of guys here in ga have started running the RE11's and get very good life out of them. New they are a little on the costly side.
For the inexpensive way--like people have said + hit up the "used tire" dealers that sell used tires from the pro teams. They make pretty good track day tires and you can get a set of various types (nt-01's, Ra 1's, r888's, hoosiers, etc) for $400-500 dollars delivered. JB Used racing tires is one that comes to mind.