NT01 is not a rain tire by any means. RA1 are much better but still nothing to a hoosier wet. If you don't want Hoosier wets and you don't care about winning on them in the dry... Get a set of the Conti's great rain tire, almost as quick as a hoosier wet and decent in the dry.

 

I just need to not suck in the wet (ie XS). Not the best strategy, but traction control in the wet gives me enough of an advantage over AP1's. I did this for an event last year I think. Qualified well due to traction control then used that good quali to stay ahead of the pack when it dried out in later sessions. I wasn't stuck behind slower FWD cars that did better in the wet. I actually think that might have been at the event you ran at Autobahn.

 

I'm on R-S3s now and have yet to drive on NT01s, but I'm curious why you feel the R-S3s would be faster holding all else equal.

For your XS vs NT01 test, how many heat cycles were on each set, or were they new? Do you remember the difference in lap times and how long (in seconds) the course was?

 

Ian thats a bit dissapointing u say they are slower than XS streets. I have always thought there is not much in it between good streets and these sort of tires though.
I had a set of RE-11's I thought they were faster than somewhat heatcycled out R888's I had after them if I can go as fast as those RE-11's I'll be happy.

I would definitely say RA1's are definitely a bit better than any streets I have tried. I think they might have invented the R888 to be worse than the RA1 so they could sell more tires since the RA1 seems to last forever!

 

Whats the date stamp on the nittos and those kumhos? I heard about a rumor that kumho changed their compound on the newer xs (changed sometime in 2011 I believe). I have a set of 255/40 non-staggered with a 4008 date stamp and I refuse to believe they would come close to NT01s, even 4 year old NT01s.

 

I've had some street tires come pretty close to matching my times on NT01's - Dunlop Direzza and Hankook RS3. I figure the NT01 is good for about 1-1.5 seconds over most street tires on your average 90 second lap. It is certainly the "faster" tire in the big picture. However, those of us who have done enough lapping with a timer on us probably realize that 25-30 degrees of track temp can sometimes affect lap times by up to a second depending on tire/setup/etc. That goes without saying that ideal alignment values for a good street tire and an NT01 are at least slightly different and so too are tire pressures and other variables. I think Ian's point is that a good street tire is within the margin of error that exists because of these and other variables to an NT01 at some point on any given day. I would tend to agree - I think we've all cracked off that blistering lap time in the morning only to struggle to come within 1 second of it in the afternoon heat! So damn frustrating in time trials...

 

Both had one previous track day on them (owner of the car drove on them). The car was a lot easier to drive on the NT01's then it was on the XS to get the same lap time. I worked and worked and couldn't get the NT01's to produce anything faster. The harder I drove it the more the lap times slowed. Opposite of the XS which liked me over driving it (much like a hoosier). This was when we were trying to pick a Street tire for the one lap of america. Obviously the NT01 wasn't an option. It was our control tire. RS-3's weren't available for the car in the size we needed. It was down to Michelin's or the XS. The XS was faster but it was Sooooo bad in the wet we couldn't chance it. I think we finished 3rd on the wet skid pad that year, had we run the XS we'd have been 40th or worse.

Video of the XS at homestead, This was my first time driving this car ever and the Suspension was set from the previous owner for michelin slicks. It was NOT ideal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuM9hPcl_Lk