Driving to an event on RE-71r?

[Murph]

Hello,

This may be a stupid question so sorry in advance. I have looked around the interwebs and seems I can not get a straight answer regarding how to treat RE-71r's. Some say treat them just like an true R-compound and be careful of how many heat cycles, other say it's still a 200TW street tire etc.

I am using them for Auto-X and there is one event that is around 160 km's (100 milles) of highway driving away. What i would like to know for the convenience of putting those tires on the car at home and driving to the event am i actually reducing the life of those tires by a lot? Or should I cram all 4 of the tires into the mustang, with tools and everything else i need for 1.5 days (multi-day event) and swap the tires in the parking lot of the event?

Thanks.

 

[Mad Hatter]

For me, the RE-71 would be fine driving to the track as they will not get very hot and would not count it as a heat cycle.... assuming you are not a lunatic on the way! I started cramming tires in the car when switching to 100 TW semislicks. At the track, 200TW tires will also cycle out, but that's after reaching temps that you usually only get at the track.

Never actually used the RE71, but went through may sets of its kissing cousin the Dunlop Dirreza 2.

 

[Bill Pemberton]

Either should be fine , I know quite a few folks who commonly drive 60 to 150 miles plus to Lincoln , Nebraska to run at the Nebraska Region SCCA Solo events because it is the same site as the Solo Nationals , so more seat time on the surface. Saying that there are many drivers who stuff the car with their street rubber and switch over to the RE71Rs at the event. This will reduce the time the tires are on pavement for the really serious folks. When I was young that was exactly what I did, but now, I would just put them on and drive down ----- could be an older age, beginning arthritis, bad back and carpal tunnel syndrome issue , but who knows, ha,ha.

Mad's advice is solid , yet I would say the RE71R is at leas t2 generations away from the olde Done Lapps, they are fasssst! That said the Dunlops will likely last longer on a road course.

 

[drj2k1]

Having run RE71r's for the past few years, I've had no issue driving them on the street to autocross events. I'm actually using my current set on the mustang as summer daily tires between events (although being a teacher I don't commute in the summers so street mileage is limited). The exception being that when they are super worn (but still fast for dry autocross) they can be sketchy in heavy rain, but that's the case with just about any tire.

Last year when we drove from NYC to Bristol Tennessee for the SCCA Match/Championship Tour events we drove my former civic 650 miles down on RE71's in the rain, did a few runs up the Tail of the Dragon, swapped over to our BFG Rivals for the 4 days of the event, then drove another 650 miles back home. The tires were used for another couple events then put away for the winter, sold them to a friend who is using them as daily/autox tires on his car this season (and they still have plenty of life). I wouldn't hesitate to drive anywhere on RE71's above freezing temps, but can't say the same for the BFG Rivals.

As previously stated, if you want them to last as long as possible then swap them at the events but this is can be tedious. We used to do this for every event, but grew tired of the hassle.

 

[steeda5]

There great autocross tires. Think they would be great for time attack as well. They require very little warm up for track day events. I did a hpde event back in Feb at Chuckwalla on these tires in a Boss 302. Temps in the mid 70's. I felt they did grip great first 3 laps out. After that I didn't find them to be anything special. On the BMW forum they think these tires are greatest thing sense sliced bread.

 

[Mad Hatter]

Until you stick a big fat Hoosier (...or some such) slick on the beast.... then all the fog clears

 

[Gearz]

RE71's are fine for driving to/from events. I'm one of those guys Bill's talking about. The only issue I've had is if you run into rain like I did on the way back from Topeka last Sunday. Spent about 15 minutes under an overpass waiting for the hail storm to move along and there was still enough standing water around to make driving dicey for the next 10 minutes or so. I have driven through relatively heavy rain on new full-tread RE71's without problems in the past. These are about half gone.

 

[Dave_W]

I've used RE-71R's on a 110 mile roundtrip daily commute (97% highway) without much impact on grip. I usually get a new set about every year due to autocross wear, though. Heck, I drove from CT to OH for 2 tours (Wilmington & Toledo) and to NE for Nationals on them. If I were looking for a jacket at Nationals, then maybe I'd have carried a fresh scrubbed set, but I'm not that good. As others have said, be very careful in standing water / puddles when they get worn.

 

[Murph]

Well very late update.

I drove the 150 kms to the race no problem, including the massive rainstorm on the way back. In addition to that this was the first event with some "sticky" tires and I shocked a lot of people on how fast a mustang can be.

Now i just need to eventually get rid of the 3v and go Coyote.

 

[Duane Black]

drive them, they're fine. 100 miles or so.... they're fine. i used to put them on for autocross the night before all the time. i wouldn't daily them. but, i got to where i changed at events since my Muscrat is my daily and I changed anyway, it was almost as easy to change at events