I'm going to try a set of RA1's (245/335) on a set of BBS wheels I have on order 8.5/12. The reading I did on the tires suggested they were an excellent race tire if shaven and not that bad on wet road if unshaven.

 

I find to run MPSCs at a good temp you have to start with 25-26F(cold) and 28-29R(cold) and never allow them to get over 34-35PSI hot. This works well and most of the tire gurus will give you these specs for the MPSCs. With hoosiers I like to start around 34PSI cold, but that is a completely diferent tire. If you get to 45psi with MPSCs you are doing it VERY wrong and you are not getting anywhere near the correct performance

 

boyracer, you are spot on about the tire pressures.

 

I ran MPSC on my M3 for both street and track. They are great and I had no issue w/them during heavy rain on I-95 in rush hour traffic. Beware w/ a TW of 80 lol you will be getting about 3-5K miles if that much. My fronts lasted pretty good but the rears forget it.

 

yeah, when you run heavy street and track duty you run the risk of running them down quickly and also after a lot of street driving they tend to not perform half as well as they used to on the track. I street used them on my S2000 and like tommy said you aer lucky to get a good 3-5k miles.

 

hoosiers make DOT tire as well, in fact that's the only hoosier you can buy from tirerack. i wouldn't recommend driving on hoosiers to/from the track unless you live very close. both RA1's and MPSC's are good choices but will be slower than the hoosiers. you can also step up to full slicks if you have a way to get them to the track and are not limited to the DOT tires - yoko's are priced similar to DOT hoosiers.

 

I've been running MPSC 235 and 295 at the track for last 2 years. Great tire, but takes about 2 laps to warm up (slick as hell before then.) I Start them at 27lb cold and usually end up around 34-35lb. In between track sessions usually have to bleed off about 2lb, so by time i get home and they are cold, they sit around 24lb...so have to pump some more air in them. I haven't done it yet, but you definitely want to run more neg. camber ... otherwise the outside cords faster (gone thru quite a few sets). Here's a page from tirerack with recommended pressures/tech info:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=62

 

So what do you suggest for the Hoosiers?

 

Not sure if they are available in the States, but in Aus the most popular and (arguably the fastest) R spec tyre is the Dunlop Direzza 03G (235 40, 295 30).
They come in soft, medium & hard front, and "R" and Hard rear.

I run Medium front, Hard rear @ 34lbs hot.
This is the benchmark R spec tire in Aus - do you guys get this tire ??

 

currently running 265 on 9's and 335's on 12's toyo R888's

 

For what it's worth, I found the Yoko A048's to be a better track tire than the RA1's. They last longer, warm up quicker and and stick! They perform great at about 37# HOT. I will most likely continue with the Yoko's.

 

How would you compare R888 to Hoosiers? Those are huge I was thinking 235 and 305

 

I bet the response will favour Hoosiers. I use R888 245 & 335 for daily driving.

 

I have 315 25 19 rear and 235 35 19 front and was thinking of getting the R888 for track and street use, how do they behave on street? I wonder if the 305 30 19 rear will work with the 235 35 19 fronts, I didnt see any bigger sizes in 19 inch for the R888, where can I find larger sizes? do they have the 315 25 19?

 

The A048 is an OK original equipment tire on cars like the Exige, but I'm not sure I'd say it's quite up to being a track tire... does the A005 come in the correct sizes? That's a fantastic tire...