Hello All,
I know a lot of you guys have been curious about the Maxxis RC-1 so I thought I would share my experiences with the tires so far.
This is my first experience with R-Compound tires on my own personal vehicle. My previous experience with tires on track are limited but I thought I'd list them anyway.

Previous Tires: Falken RT615K and Hankook RS-3

I was very hesitatnt to make the jump to R-compound as this vehicle is driven to the track and occasionally on the weekend.
I was also hesitant to make the jump to R-Compound because I know how many of you S2K Challenge dudes are extremely quick with street tires…

Vehicle Setup:
2006 Honda S2000

Eibach R2 Compression and Rebound adjustable Coilover
Eibach ERS Springs (650 lbs/in Front and Rear)
Eibach Front Adjustable Anti-Roll-Bar
MX-5 Rear Anti-Roll-Bar

Maxxis RC-1 255/40R17
Enkei RPF1 17x9 +45

Seibon CR Wing




Street Impressions:
Despite the horrible conditions on the way to Buttonwillow (It was raining and very cold, 26deg F through the Grape Vine)
The Maxxis RC-1 was very quite, smooth, comfortable and most of all safe! These tires have only 2 channels however those two channels do a good enough job to allow water to escape.
The only issues I had were with the standing puddles but you figure going through that much water would give any tire a hard time. These are by no means recommended to drive with in
heavy raining / snowing conditions however for us Socal folks who very occationally have to deal with light rain and these tires will do just fine.



Track Impressions BW CW13:

Note that I am not bashing the RS-3 as they are an awesome street tire however they are really my only frame of reference. Also note i'm not a track super star either so don't make fun of my times!

Dry Session: 45 deg F, clean/dry track
Alignment Setting:
Front/Rear Camber: 3.0deg / 3.2deg
Front/Rear Toe: 0.0deg / 0.16deg
Caster: 7.0 deg

Best RS-3 Time: 2:06.5
Best RC-1 Time: 2:03.8

Out Lap:
Cold Pressure: 32 PSI
Similar to RS-3 or really any tires these tires require at least 1.5 - 2.0 laps to get warm enough to start pushing it.
The tire operating temperature is between 140deg F - 210deg F

2 Hot Laps:
Hot Pressure: 38 PSI
Tire Temp (in - mid -out ): 165deg F - 150deg F - 140deg F
Once your warm up laps are complete the next two laps are your money laps. The level of overall grip feels very similar to a fresh RS-3 that is perfectly warmed up however the beauty with these and probably most R-Comps is that you can maintain a much larger slip angle with out fear of the vehicle suddenly braking loose. With the RS-3's I always had very difficult time with mid corner speed at sunrise and sunset but the RC-1 I was very confident through the corners and it allowed me to exit the sunrise at the top of third shifting into fourth right as I passed the candy strips on the right which I was never able to do before. These tires are also very audible which really helps in corners like the sweeper where you are at the very limits of grip and having the tires talk to you really allows you to make the necessary corrections to maintain your speed. Another plus to me was the side wall deflection. My experience with the super soft sidewall of the RS-3 was sometimes very unpredictable. With the RC-1 the side wall flex was there however it was very minimal (or at least it felt like that) which allowed the response of the vehicle to be extremely quick. I had to adjust my self a couple of times because I was turning in to much and to abruptly.

Hot Laps 6-7
Tire Temp (in - mid - out): 175deg F - 160deg F - 150deg F
Even with these tires getting into the 6th and 7th lap I was still able to maintain slip angles very well and the performance was still consistent and predicable. This is the single most appealing feature that has me sold on RC-1's and R-Comp's in general. The fact that you can take advantage of track days much more because you can actually consistently push hard the entire session with out having a major drop off in tire performance is awesome. This makes me feel that I will be able to improve my driving more rapidly and actually make the track days much more worth it. I will say that the first two hot laps were the laps you wanted to go for your PB however the drop off in performance after the first two not much. Also if you take a cool down lap and/or come in for space these tires respond very well. I was able to get most of my best times after doing 4-5 hot laps , cool down lap and then fast lap.



Overall these tires have been great. I was told these tires would last approximately 6 hrs of track time which is about 3-5 track days depending on how many session you do. To me the Maxxis RC-1 is one of the best track days tires. The performance you get at $180/tire is incredible. All you street tire guys should really consider trying these next time you get ready to purchase tires!


Just for fun too the one wet session of the weekend my fastest lap time was 2:30:4!! Lol I'm from SoCal after all....

 

Great writeup! I'm happy to see more reviews of these tires going up online. It'd be great to see how they compare with nt-01 as well. And also glad you posted tire temps along with the driver feedback...It looks like that cold day never caused the tires to go to the upper end of their operating temps. Although its not as easy as a straight across number, it looks like it peaked at 175 with a 45 degree ambient temp. These tires might suffer from the heat on a hot socal track day. Which seems to be the general consensus. I dont have the data on other tires, as they might easily suffer from the same problems but this def. very helpful. Thanks!

 

$150 is a great price, where can you buy this tire?

 

Who is selling them for $150?! Maxxis is selling them for $180 and change plus shipping and (I think) tax.... that puts them around $850. $600 is much more reasonable considering NT01s can be found for around $700

 

Looks like a good tire for the money but going R-comp opens a big can of worms (oil starvation, bearings, possible need for stiffer springs, etc).

 

Level 1 r-comps (these, nt01, r888, ra1) do not produce much more grip than the current generation of EHP street tires on their first few heat cycles (R-S3, ZII, Rival, RE-11A etc.). With a professional (or really consistent driver) they should all be within a second or so of each other on most tracks for the first 2 or 3 laps. The biggest difference is that the R-comps will tolerate more heat and shed heat quicker so stay more consistent throughout the session. It is pretty widely accepted that first day R-S3s are as fast as nt01.

The nt01 was and sort of still is the king in this segment (weather dependent). According to the guys guys on trackhq who have done back to back testing against nt01, "it behaves like NT01, except RC1 prefers cooler weather than NT01.<70F, RC1 is a faster tire with more grip. >90F, NT01 is a faster tire. RC1 drops off earlier."

Emilio of 949 Racing said, "It's been difficult to find time to get direct A/B testing with the NT01 but so far the RC-1 is just a tad faster overall. Initial turn in response is quicker. Steering force buildup is more linear than the NT01's. Overall, we found they wanted a tiny bit less slip angle than the NT01 but the RC1 penalized you less if you used high slip angles. This made it easy and efficient to throttle steer to place the car without having to add too much steering correction. An example of this was being able to go around sweeper on BW 13CW with one steering angle and just pointing the car with the throttle. Drifters are going to love this tire. Overall, the RC1 requires less steering angle for a given corner than anything except maybe a Hoosier. They are quickest on their first two heat cycles but even after that they're still a touch faster than the NT01. Because of the really stiff bead filler and sidewall on the RC1 they don't have quite as much braking feedback as an NT01. We did notice the RC1 was less sensitive to insufficient camber than the NT01, and the NT01 is pretty good in this regard already. The tire likes cool weather. We found the advantage over the NT01 decreased to almost nil once that track surface got above 100° In cold weather though, say 60° surface, the RC1's advantage over the NT01 was greater. Contact patch and casing width wise, they're right in the same range as NT01 and Toyo RR. Overall, the RC1 is one of the nicest steering, forgiving and easy to drive DOT R compound I have ever driven. So far, wear is great. Maybe a bit longer lasting than NT01's. We did not get the opportunity to do a full run-continuously-to-cord like we try to do so that's just estimating. We have two sets here, both with at least 3hrs and on 10 heat cycles them and they look less than half worn.

For some drivers with very low slip angle driving styles and set ups, I imagine the RC1 will be almost a full second faster than NT01's. For us, we have learned how to quickly optimize tire performance for given weather and track conditions so the improvement was much smaller. Call it a wash for us.

If you're thinking the RC1 is your new trackday tire, you're probably right. They'll cost less, last at least as long if not longer, steer better and will be a bit faster for just about any driver/set up."

The OP's results indicate a 2.7 second improvement but there are just so many variables here. Id also like to point out that the RC-1 seems to really like cold weather whereas the R-S3 thrives in much warmer weather.

 

This was a total 1am brain fart! They are $180 direct from Maxxis.

 

@lrgkevin: You can also chat with maxrev and psychoazn about their experiences of the RC-1. They were part of a few guys that were testing the tires last year and early this year before the RC-1 release.

 

Please note that Maxxis ships tires for free anywhere in the continental USA via UPS ground I believe

There is sales tax though......

 

do you have any in car videos by chance? ive seen a few reviews saying these actually make noise unlike most other r comps. im in a pinch with the rumored 8+ week ETA on rs3's.

this is for my evo not my s2000, i drive at a mid to upper NASA DE2 level right now if that helps shape any suggestions. ive yet to run a tru r comp, just star specs and rs3's.