For those of you who have tracked your car

[peterh]

What tires are you running? The stock Pirelli P-Zeros seem fine to me, but lifespan isnt great (which is expected)

I dont necessarily want a dedicated track tire, so looking for the best all-around street/track option.

[desperado]

I have run the stock Pirelli P-Zeros at a several track weekends now, including running them Very Hard at the two day Sonoma Audi R8 Experience, as well as in the rain at Laguna Seca. You are correct, they work very well and I have gotten what I consider to be good life out of mine (so I guess I don't push my own car as hard as I did Audi's car - 'cause we shredded them at Sears Point! ). For the occasional track day, the stock tires are all you need.

That being said, I am putting on a set of Toyo R888 DOT-legal R-compound competition radials to use at the track. I doubt they are as good as the P-Zero in the rain and their UTQG wear rating is much lower (100 vs 220). I don't expect they'd make a very good street tire, not only from a wet traction standpoint but also due to high wear plus a concern that they may never get warm enough on the street to have good grip if needed. It is nice however to know they are street legal if I wished to drive them (carefully) to a nearby track. http://toyotires.com/tire/pattern/proxes-r888

If you search this forum for "R888" you will find threads with more informed opinions than mine about these and other tires. Influencing my decision was my fellow R8 enthusiast's recommendations, as well as selection of these tires as the spec tire in several racing classes (all NASA spec classes, SCCA Spec Miata, SCCA SPEED GT, and SCCA SPEED Touring Car).

For a more specific answer to your question (a tire upgrade for use on both street and track) there are starting to be some good tires that are promoted as dual purpose, such as the Toyo Proxes R1R and the Hankook R-S2 (Ventus Z212), but finding anything that fits the R8 sizes remains difficult. Even the Pirelli P-Zero Corsa does not appear to be available to fit the front. So right now, it's hard to beat the P-Zeros as a multi-use tire...

[harrison]

I would consider the Bridgestone offerings,Good ratings,sizes AND a 40,000mile warranty.Will they last 40,000 on an R 8? ... remains to be seen.Cosiderably lower cost than the Pirellis.But would'nt it be nice to have a second set of wheels mounted with slicks.It could be embarrasing showing the car with ,say, Falkens . A over 100 g car with some brand like Kumho or Cheng Chins.

[wedouglas]

I just leave the R888's on all the time.

[desperado]

I just leave the R888's on all the time.

That's Great! I was hoping for a tire that gives balanced, predictable, manageable performance.

The mounted tires and rims are ready to pick up tomorrow! I'll get to try them out at the Audi Club Spring Mountain track event in the desert near Death Valley this weekend.

[Bodhii]

I also leave R888's on most of the time,.. But if starts raining hard,... I am off any and all highways, or anything over 30 mph, and I do NOT break that rule. Anything more than a light rain, can makes these tires dangerous for you and for others. Its not the normal driving things that become impossible,.. its the ability to react correctly to emergency situations.

[peterh]

Thanks for the input. Talking with Paul at Audi in Sonoma, they run only the P-zeros's on all the Audi factory cars and those cars are run as about as hard as any will every be. Looking more into the issue, there really are not too many options out there that fit the sizing we need.

I see we now have a Michelin PS2 option that I didnt see before (through tirerack). Anyone been running these? I ran those on my S4 and RS6 for several years and never found a better tire.

[desperado]

I am off any and all highways... Anything more than a light rain, can makes these tires dangerous...

I don't have any experience with competition radials yet, and am looking for at least some idea of whether it's a good idea to use R888 on the track if it is wet.

I'm curious, what do you use for a rain tire at the track? Do you use the R888? Is there a wear point beyond where you wouldn't, perhaps once the outer siping is worn away? Or, do you always put the P-Zeros back on?

[Bodhii]

Actually tracking with some rain is probably the best place to drive in the rain anywhere. Tracks are almost all amazing safe. They are, of course, designed that way. You have only traffic going in your direction, excellent views of any areas that may concern you, big runoff areas, and usually your fellow drivers are also much more safety conscious with their own expensive cars. But as water begins to puddle, you do risk hydroplaning. If you have experienced a long long extended slide while going 100+mph due to hydroplaning, you will remember it forever. You travel, sliding and sliding and sliding. Hundreds and hundreds of meters pass by and you seem to have lost almost no speed at all. You seem to keep all of that original speed forever while moving way too fast toward a fast approaching, yet distant impact area. ( As you start hydroplaning, just try as hard as possible to relax and keep your front end in FRONT) This was with Michelins on.

I have no problem tracking my car out in a light rain at a track. R888's will probably do ok,.. Just go even slower. I just cannot recommend R888's for driving on city streets or hiways during rains. Those places are always dangerous when wet.... But I do love the R888 tires for everything else.

[James Knight]

P Zeros will go off after about 2-3 hard laps, as will PS2's and any other road tyre. They are great for learning in, and superb for a general road tyre.

R888's and any other semi-slick option will give much more grip, more consistency, and greater longevity. The trade off is they don't like standing water, and the extra grip places more stress on brakes and suspension. You will be eating pads and discs quicker, and should check suspension components more regularly (dare I open the toe link debate!).

For beginners the R8 is fine as a track car. If you want to drive it hard and fast, then be prepared for some big bills for consumables. To me things like Elises and Caterhams make much better and more sensible track cars.