I ran a set of the Toyo Proxes RA1s last season and liked them very much (size
205/60-13 for my Spit). I put four race weekends on them and I believe they've
still got considerable life left in them. In my last race of the year, I was
still turning at or about my best times, so either the tires were still
gripping fine or I was magically getting faster. I thought they handled very
much like my last set of Street TDs.
I don't remember whether they were at full tread or shaved when I bought them.
At this point the tread pattern is pretty much worn off and they're down to the
four circumferential grooves. And like I said, still gripping fine
Tony, did yours turn BLUE at the outer shoulders??
Scott
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-fot@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-fot@autox.team.net]On
Behalf Of Tony Drews
Sent: Tuesday, April 18, 2006 9:02 PM
To: fot@autox.team.net
Subject: [FOT] Another tire possibility
In my quest to find a tire for my TR-4 that grips like the Hoosier
TD, but lasts more than 10 heat cycles and costs less than $200 per
tire, I tried Toyo Proxes RA-1's at Hallett. These are
205/50-15's. They cost about $130 each. What I had read about them
is that they have decent grip, and last longer than most tires aimed
at the racer crowd. In the 11 or 12 sessions on the track at
Hallett, I've worn a pair of them to half depth. I'm hoping that my
next race at Road America will even them out (the track turns mainly
right where Hallett turned mainly left). They seemed to have similar
grip to the Hoosier TD. At Road America I should get a better read
because lap times will be more comparable. At Hallett I turned times
worse than the last time we were there several years ago, but similar
to what Larry Young had turned in the past (both comparison times
were on Hoosier Vintage TD's). These are radials, and have a very
progressive breakaway. They don't do the grip, grip, oh s**t! that
some radials do. I did notice that if I got too exuberant on them
they would grease up for a bit and I'd have to cool my jets for half
a lap or so. I bought them with full tread depth hoping to get
maximum life out of them that way. According to the writeups I've
seen, you can get away with this if you take it somewhat easy on them
until the tread starts to wear off.
I arrived at 34 front, 35 rear PSI starting pressure rather
unscientifically. I am running 3 degrees negative camber in the
front for these tires (they want 2.5 to 5 degrees negative).
Since they are a 50 series tire, not all clubs accept them,
unfortunately. Some are sensitive to the difficulty in finding a
good 15" 60 series tire and allow those running 15" wheels to use a
50 series tire.
I've got a set of Speedsters in reserve for when I wear out the
Proxes, so should be able to compare at some point in the
year. Hopefully, it will be late this year or early next year before
I'll find out. Given my experience with the Vintage TD, I don't
really trust Hoosier to make a tire that will actually last more than
two races but am hopeful that the Speedster will last 4 to 5
races. As a low budget racer, tire life is VERY important to me.
So far, I'm really happy with them but will know more about longevity
later in the year. They certainly last longer than the Vintage TD -
I doubt I could have made it through Hallett on a set of those. You
are somewhat more controlled going through corners than with the
Vintage TD's, but I expected more of a difference. I was able to get
comfortable with them right away.
- Tony Drews
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