Sterling Doc Posted August 11, 2009 Posted August 11, 2009 Toyo Tires® Renews Longtime Sponsorship with NASAAugust 11, 2009 7:48 AM — The National Auto Sport Association announces it is renewing its longtime partnership with Toyo Tires; extending its contract for an additional three years beginning January 1, 2010. As a part of this extension, all NASA spec tire classes will be going back to the Toyo Proxes RA1 as the required tire. This will become effective January 1, 2010 with a three-weekend grace period to allow the use of the previously allowed R888 tires. “This move was made in response to customer input, and we hope the racers will be pleased by this announcement. The RA1 has become a favorite amongst many NASA racers and has proven itself for speed, consistency, and longevity,“ said NASA’s National Chairman Ryan Flaherty. NASA Competition Racing has a wide variety of road racing classes designed to welcome both entry level and seasoned racers who wish to compete wheel to wheel. Toyo Tires’ Proxes® RA1™ is an R-compound, street legal competition radial and is the spec tire for several classes in this exciting program. “NASA and Toyo Tires have enjoyed a successful relationship for 14 years and we look forward to adding another three years to that run,” said Jerry Kunzman NASA's Executive Director. “In our opinion Toyo has always had the best interest of their customers in mind so it's great to see the relationship continue in this manner.” “Toyo Tires is proud to continue our sponsorship of NASA road racing,” said Stan Chen, manager of events and motorsports, Toyo Tire U.S.A. Corp. “Our Proxes RA1 has long been popular with amateur and professional racers and is a great fit with this exciting series.” Great for vehicles ranging from sport compacts to European and American muscle machines, the Proxes RA1 is cost-effective by delivering excellent wear and winning consistency on the track. NASA classes using the Proxes RA1 include: American Iron, Camaro-Mustang Challenge, Factory Five Challenge, Honda Challenge, Spec 3/Spec e30 (BMW), Spec Focus, Spec Miata, and 944-spec. To learn more about the many driving opportunities provided by NASA, whether racing or high-performance training, log on to nasaproracing.com. To learn more about the full line of Proxes tires from Toyo Tires, log on to toyotires.com. Toyo Tires manufactures and distributes a complete line of replacement tires for high performance cars, luxury vehicles, light trucks and SUVs as well as tires for commercial trucks, buses and off-road and construction applications. Look for discussion on this here: http://944spec.org/944SPEC/component/option,com_fireboard/Itemid,30/func,view/catid,9/id,5247/#5247 Quote
schwank Posted August 11, 2009 Posted August 11, 2009 Crazy... I am amazed they are allowing such a small changeover period considering that the RA1 was 'gone' last year and the 888 was the new 'standard'. Very inconsistent rule making. I don't mind either way as I have the option to run whatever tires I want in Cup/ITS. Let me know if you guys have cheap 888's for sale now! Might be willing to postpone hitting the Hoosier pipe in favor of cheap tires. Quote
944-Spec#94 Posted August 11, 2009 Posted August 11, 2009 Crazy... I am amazed they are allowing such a small changeover period considering that the RA1 was 'gone' last year and the 888 was the new 'standard'. Very inconsistent rule making. Well inconsistant yes, but the RA-1 is the best tire for our class. It was one major reason our class has grown over the years. I believe we were all hopefull that the R888 would be better tire, but it seems that at least for us it just does not last long enough. The good news is that for 2010 we will be back to the good old RA-1 and the change overshould not take very long since the R888 burn up fast anyway. As for testing... we just go back to RA-1 set-up and styles and move on. Quote
bpanther Posted August 11, 2009 Posted August 11, 2009 (edited) GREAT NEWS ! and guess what THEY ARE SOLD OUT ! How can they already be sold out for 2010? Try calling a few places. Edited August 11, 2009 by Guest Quote
bpanther Posted August 11, 2009 Posted August 11, 2009 Crazy... I am amazed they are allowing such a small changeover period considering that the RA1 was 'gone' last year and the 888 was the new 'standard'. Very inconsistent rule making. I don't consider it inconsistant rules making. It really is flexibility and willingness to try to do what our racers want and doing the best for 95%. Toyo said they were stopping production of the RA1 (as seen by the lack of RA1s right now) and so NASA said let's take the 888 so that we have 1 tire (i.e. an open tire rule). Racers said they didn't like the 888 and wanted the RA1 back. NASA went toe to toe with a GIANT tire company and said if you want our business then you will give our racers the RA1 back. They did and here we are. I think a 9+ month changeover period is quite generous. Quote
JerryW Posted August 11, 2009 Posted August 11, 2009 Love hearing the RA1 is coming back. Hate the fact that I just bought and mounted a set of R888 this weekend as I finally had faced the fact my RA1's were toast. Quote
bpanther Posted August 11, 2009 Posted August 11, 2009 No worries Jerry. Those 888's will be toast in 2-3 weekends and you can buy RA1s. Quote
JerryW Posted August 11, 2009 Posted August 11, 2009 No worries Jerry. Those 888's will be toast in 2-3 weekends and you can buy RA1s. Yup and if I don't change my camber it will be even quicker ! Now to explain to the wife "Hon - you know those new tires we bought -- they are toast !" Quote
Weston Posted August 11, 2009 Posted August 11, 2009 Crazy... I am amazed they are allowing such a small changeover period considering that the RA1 was 'gone' last year and the 888 was the new 'standard'. Very inconsistent rule making. I agree, except that it's not really a small changeover period... Enough people simply ignored NASA and stayed on RA-1's, or at least exploited the surprise legality of RA-1's this year to buy a fresh set in order to get a competitive advantage. And the rest of us, who were silly enough to cooperate with the R888 change and the spirit of our class ("low cost, equal racing"), will need to buy new tires anyway because they simply don't last. In retrospect, I was too naive and trusting, in more ways that one... I don't intend to make that mistake again. I'm glad we're going back to RA-1's, but that's not the end of this mess for us... we still have to deal with the price and availability problems with our current size these days, or switching to 205/50-15 (that's my vote). I just hope that lessons were learned on all sides from this disaster, so that this kind of thing doesn't happen again. Quote
bpanther Posted August 11, 2009 Posted August 11, 2009 I just hope that lessons were learned on all sides from this disaster, so that this kind of thing doesn't happen again. This is the best quote of this whole thread !!!! From Toyo to NASA to the racers, this was not a peaceful process. Quote
944-Spec#94 Posted August 11, 2009 Posted August 11, 2009 I just hope that lessons were learned on all sides from this disaster, so that this kind of thing doesn't happen again. Weston... It is pretty clear to me there are no "winners" in this situation. Drivers sufferd. Directors suffered, Toyo dealers suffered (they just want to sell tires not deal with crap), NASA suffered (who want to waste time dealing with all this), Toyo suffered (Do you think manufacturer was to "go back" to the old coke?) I will say despite all the pain this solution is the best. Maybe in a few years Toyo will have proper improvment over the RA-1. Who knows. I do think that they will think long and hard about how to roll it to the American market not just NASA. Quote
cbuzz Posted August 12, 2009 Posted August 12, 2009 Great news!!!! The nationals will still be a two tire deal but at least this is going in the right direction. It will be interesting to see who shows up at Nationals with what tire. As well as which one is faster at Miller. Quote
Chuck T. Posted August 12, 2009 Posted August 12, 2009 Great news!!!! The nationals will still be a two tire deal but at least this is going in the right direction. It will be interesting to see who shows up at Nationals with what tire. As well as which one is faster at Miller. I will still be on the R888's . I will bring stickers to the big show and I plan on winning a set of RA1's ! I guess that depends on price ... a shaved set of those bad boys will cost more than the #913 donor car . Quote
Weston Posted August 12, 2009 Posted August 12, 2009 It will be interesting to see who shows up at Nationals with what tire. As well as which one is faster at Miller. I don't think it's any secret that the guys with good condition RA-1's will have an advantage, so we'll see some people buying new RA-1's for that reason at Nationals. I had been planning on R888's since that's what our class is supposed to be on, but mine heat-cycled out last weekend, so it's looking like I'll have to run my old abused RA-1's for the main race since they're at least better than the dead R888's I have. It sucks, but I'm not buying new tires until I know what we're doing next year, if I even decide to stick around after all the crap I've been through... Quote
tonysenese Posted August 12, 2009 Posted August 12, 2009 Thank God common sense prevailed both in NASA and SCCA. I am lucky, I have had such a crap season mechanically, I only bought and used one set +1 tire of R888's. It is a great tire if you have an unlimited budget. 10 heat cycles and mine were toast run at the exact specs recommended by TOYO. Quote
Tim Comeau Posted August 14, 2009 Posted August 14, 2009 I'm glad that I only ever bought one set of R-888's. That's all it took for me. One taste and you weren't getting me to swallow any more of that dish. Newer isn't always better. I'm very relieved and encouraged that we'll be using the tried and true RA-1 for next season. That will help our class grow more still. I'm worried about increased tire temps with regards to using the 205 tire size though. If you put the same work through a smaller tire, won't it heat up more? More temps = less life? I'd rather stay with the 225. Quote
cbuzz Posted August 14, 2009 Posted August 14, 2009 I totally agree Tim. Without Imperical data we should not be making a move to a smaller tire. If this were a lighter car I would be more inclined to go that way. The Spec Miata guys are 2,450 lbs. I believe and they have to take good care of their tires to make them last. You can overheat them just like any tire. Still worth testing, but we need lots of data. Quote
Chuck T. Posted August 14, 2009 Posted August 14, 2009 Woudn't the SE30 group be able to give us that information ? more power , more weight ... and they run the 205 . ? Quote
Tim Comeau Posted August 14, 2009 Posted August 14, 2009 The E30 crowd could certainly add to the pool of data. But, not the Mi-az-duh crowd, because those are STILL chick cars. (as he ducks behind flameproof shield). Quote
944-Spec#94 Posted August 14, 2009 Posted August 14, 2009 The E30 crowd could certainly add to the pool of data. But, not the Mi-az-duh crowd, because those are STILL chick cars. (as he ducks behind flameproof shield). Hey Tim, You still using that "girls" race suit. Quote
Sterling Doc Posted August 14, 2009 Author Posted August 14, 2009 Pics of the 205 RA-1's vs 225 R-888's Here's some pics of the car on the 205's: 225 R-888's on the left, 205 RA-1's on the right. Quote
sagoston Posted August 14, 2009 Posted August 14, 2009 If we need to get some empirical data, I wouldn't mind running a set of 205's for our next SoCal race weekend (after nationals). Quote
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