A small good article about someone doing back-to-back comparisons with two comparative tires. It's great they did this as this rarely happens subjectively:

Prima Racing » Blog Archive » Update: Maxxis Victra RC-1 comparison vs. Nitto NT01

 

I couldnt really find any pricing on the maxxis tires but they do look like non-street legal slicks. I know the add says "DOT-approved R compound optimized for the weekend warrior" but it sure looks like a hoosier slick competitor vs NT01.

If your looking to buy R-comp tires, the big new things is the Hankook Ventus TD Z221. It has proven to be faster and more durable than R888's, Nt01, RA1 (streetable R-comp tires) and prob the maxxis RC-1 given how close it was to the Nt01.

I am having a hard time finding availability on these though.
Hankook Ventus TD

 

I know dealers on ebay sell these tires.

 

I personally stopped using R-comp and stick to top street tires for longevity reasons and to stay within my target class for time attack. Funny how dealers for those tires seem to have disappeared tho almost.

 

The running joke I see on most track forums is TD stands for "Two Days" with those tires and they fall off very quickly.


As for the RC1 pricing, you can check them here:

RC-1 Victra Tire | Maxxis® Tires*

$180.86 for the 255/40/17.


EDIT: TD's at Discount Tire Direct: http://tinyurl.com/nov2xvt

 

Thanks for the link, but I'm still going to hold out for more testing specifically for longevity. Initial talks were that the Maxxis would stick noticably better than the NT-01, but the result they had wasn't nearly worth the trouble of changing/learning new tires.

My main motivator for using NT-01s as my track tire are that they are very predictable and consistent along with me knowing I can get upwards of 50+ heat cycles out of them. I'm willing to give up some ultimate lap time for those great benefits. It'd be worth checking out the Maxxis, but only if I know it can get anywhere close to the longevity of the NT-01. Otherwise if I go chasing speed it'll be with BFG R1s, Toyo RRs, or Hoosiers.

 

I love NT01s on my FC, but they don't make wide sizes conducive to use on the FD (too tall).

So, I went with Ventus TD and now on to trying R888.

As far as the joke TD stands for Two Days. I found that they took repeated shallow heat cycling well with little drop off (autocross days and street driving).

However, if they sat for a couple days after repeated hot lapping on a track they were horrible until you drove off the hard layer built up from the deep heat cycle.

This is typical of tires that use "chemical stickiness" or a compound that gets gooey sticky when hot.

Of course they also drop off as they heat cycle out and lose their ability to get gooey quickly- but to those that love them one weekend and then hate them the next, make sure you thoroughly scuff them after a deep heat cycle and sitting.

Another complaint I have with the TD.
In the larger size I tried at least (295/30-18 on 18x11) it looks to have been built for a car with strut suspension as it has kinda of soft sidewalls (decent braking with lots of camber) and a rounded tread profile (decent tread patch in various situations with a camber challenged car).

I would prefer a square tire with more responsive sidewall for the superior suspension of the FD as I only used the middle of the TDs and wore them into a more square tire.


I loved the NT01 because they rely more on "mechanical stickiness" or a compound that is relatively soft cold and doesn't get gooey sticky when hot. Nice and consistent.

RA1 and NT01 are like this as I went through ~3 sets each on my FC dailying and auto-x and I hear the R888 is similar so its next on the list.

Consequently, the 295/30-18 R888 is square profile, reputed to have good sidewall and cheap in that size.

 

Just to note, I don't use either tire so I have no stake in which tire you pick.

Folks on TrackHQ have been saying it behaves similar to the NT01, except RC1 prefers cooler weather than NT01 where the RC1 is a faster tire with more grip. However in higher temps, NT01 is a faster tire.

Price wise, it's about a wash between the two given equal sizes. However, the NT01 likely has more options in sizing. Above is a video of someone recently testing out the RC1's.

 

just for street driving how were the nt01s? did they last pretty long?

 

Its my understanding that the Nt01's are the most durable R-comp tire. They can take more than 50 heatcycles from what fellow track guys tell me. Most people run them down to the chords as they hold up. Same guys tell me they got around 20 heat cycles with R888's. Thats one reason why so many ppl shave them.

I personally have had R888's go stale on me with appx 70% thread left. No personal experience with NT01's.

 

Because the NT01 has the 6/32" "dual tread pattern" they only look like a legal tire on the street for around the first 3-4,000miles, but you can drive them as slicks for another 3-6,000miles.

RA1 was the most steetable DOT-R I have tried so far as it has taller 8-32" tread and its dual tread pattern looks a little more street tire. I got ~10k miles on RA1s with mix auto-x and street driving. Could probably last 10-15k with just street driving.

OFC they feel wobbly at full tread.

Good street tires have just about gotten to where the RA-1 is as far as performance in my opinion and can last 10-20k miles.

 

we went from the Ra1 to the R888 a long time ago, but here are the crib notes.

1. we were a couple tenths faster on the R888's
2. they supposedly use the same compound, so the difference are the construction/tread pattern
3. the Ra1's seemed to work best when you drive like the dukes of hazard, the R888's liked a more precise driving style.
4. with the R888 there seem to be two pressures where they work. we got good tire temps and wear in the normal PSI range, about 32-34psi hot. there were other people who claimed to get best performance at almost 50psi hot. we did a little testing, and found that running up to 38psi had almost no effect, so they don't seem to be very sensitive, which is nice.
5. the Ra1's needed a shave, the R888's don't

you'll find some rumbling about the R888's not being as good as the Ra1, but see #3.

 

3. the Ra1's seemed to work best when you drive like the dukes of hazard, the R888's liked a more precise driving style.

you'll find some rumbling about the R888's not being as good as the Ra1, but see #3.

I'm hosed

At least I appreciate a set-up/tire that rewards precision even if thats not my tendency...

 

+1

more here: <B>RA-1 Vs R-888 + NEW INFO!!!

 

what about nt05's? are they any good or different

 

nt05's are a different class of tire altogether. They're comparable to Azenis RT615K, Hankook RS3, Advan AD08, Direzza Z1 SS, etc.

 

Nto5's are street tires so not really comparable. They are sporty but already out-dated by almost 2 generations of tires. They also didnt last longer than 12k miles when I had them on my AWD volvo s60r.