Lengthy a fixture in beginner motorsports, Toyo Tires has excelled find unfulfilled niches. The corporate was among the many first, for instance, to acknowledge the import racing scene of the late ’90s, creating the Proxes RA-1 in appropriate fitments.
How good was that tire? Some 25 years later, it’s nonetheless on the market.
Bridgstone Potenza RE-71RS
The RE-71RS serves as a implausible do-it-all tire with strong avenue manners and really approachable dealing with traits. Responsive and intuitive with wonderful communication abilities, it’s all the time a robust candidate for any job–even moist use.
A worn Bridgestone usually requires a couple of single lap to work the tread sufficient to generate full grip. With the monitor floor nonetheless chilly, it took a bit greater than two laps to take action on at the present time. The lap time chart proven right here begins on the third precise go, the place max grip arrived shortly into the lap. Subsequent laps had been very constant, setting a robust mark for comparability.
Toyo Proxes RR
R-comps with no tread usually have a harder time producing warmth to activate their compounds, however the Toyo Proxes RR did so in lower than a single lap. As much as 90%, its dealing with traits felt pretty much like the Bridgestone, albeit with a bit extra linearity within the steering response.
However pushed absolutely to the restrict, it turned considerably obscure and was accompanied by audible suggestions. Its weak level was high-energy, combined-loading occasions like heavy path braking. This is able to saturate the tire, and grip would fall off, requiring a brief delay for restoration. Pushed rigorously, it was playful and constant, cranking out lap after lap inside a slim lap time window.
Toyo Proxes R
The identical single warmup lap activated the compound of the brand new Toyo Proxes R, and we had been off to the races. We instantly observed sharper response, particularly when urgent the tire onerous. In contrast to the outdated Toyo that provided some protest, the brand new tire guided us right down to the apex as we rolled velocity right into a flip.
Path braking was wonderful, producing time features in a number of key locations. Furthermore, restoration from any small exploration past the restrict was a lot faster, boosting driver confidence. And at last, fundamental grip was up as proven within the two very quick sweepers.
The outdated saying “By no means choose a ebook by its cowl” couldn’t be more true in the case of the Proxes R. It carried out considerably higher than its predecessor. Bravo, Toyo.
Bridgestone RE-71RS (retest)
Our remaining take a look at step is all the time to rerun the primary tire to examine for any driver enhancements or monitor evolution in the course of the take a look at interval. On condition that the monitor floor had considerably warmed because the day’s first session, it didn’t shock us that the Bridgestone gripped up with solely a single warmup lap.
Lap instances had been constant thereafter although a pair tenths faster general than the opening session. Knowledge evaluation confirmed the entire time achieve got here within the first flip, indicating that some extra monitor cleanup had occurred there. Nonetheless, it was solely a minor change, and we had been assured in our back-to-back comparability of the 2 Toyos.
Conclusions
Toyo has finished its homework effectively, with this new Proxes R delivering on all of its supposed targets: higher braking, improved steering and extra grip. In truth, tempo is now inside the ballpark of the Tremendous 200 class front-runners, which can get the brand new tire bumped up inside NASA’s power-to-weight classes to Tremendous Touring.
Has Toyo finished simply sufficient or an excessive amount of? We’ll see what the rulesmakers should say. In the meantime, NASA has introduced that the brand new Proxes R would be the spec tire for Honda Problem, Spec Z and Spec 3 lessons for 2025. Additional, we count on it to discover a residence with noncompetitive monitor day individuals in search of a enjoyable, sturdy tire that gives full-session consistency and fast tempo.
