R888s - as quick as Full Slicks..? Nearly.

As many of you know, I have been running R888s as my road & track tyre for sometime now and over that period (2+ years & 10,000 miles) I have been nothing but impressed by them in all conditions.

I have run at Spa in typically wet conditions, Le Mans in very hot conditions and even in the snow at Nurburgring (though we didn’t get on the track obviously!) and in all cases the tyres had outstanding grip and out performed standard road tyres. Even on very wet roads any negatives were no worse than normal tyres as the cars are so light and fast, that these conditions should be taking with extreme caution anyway. I would have no problems recommending them as an everyday tyre for those who use their tvrs hard on the road or track. How many times do you drive your Tiv in torrential conditions in any case? Lets face it, if you got caught out in a storm, you’d probably stop for a coffee anyway.

Back to the Grip. When I did my first Toyo test at Spa a couple of years back, we made seven seconds per lap up against regular road tyres. Seven seconds! That’s a HUGE margin even on the very long lap of Spa, and to be honest I was amazed. The car had no set up changes, we just bolted them on and went! Full info can be seen here http://www.tvrmonster.co.uk/tyresup.html  I was keen to try them in extreme circumstances, so I put them on a Race tvr.

As we now race in the Dunlop TVRCC Challenge, we are fortunate enough to know all the Racers now, and the Ultimate tvrs at the moment are the awesome GTFs. These wonderful cars are developed and built by tvr Tuscan mainstay Tim Hood who races under the banner of Jet Black Racing and has the fastest tvr on the grid. A jet black, Tuscan based GTF with a sequential box and Sagaris style body.

During Testing at the recent Oulton Park round of the Challenge, Fred Tonge (the “T” in GTF) agreed to put a set of the R888s on his flame red GTF to try them out. The results were remarkable. Straight out of the box, the tyres were right on the pace. Tim drove first and pushed hard. The tyres came to temperature immediately and were very close to full race pace. Pressures were adjusted and he went out again. Within 3 laps Tim was within 1 second of his race pace on Full Dunlop Slicks. “They’re remarkable” said Tim. “For a road going tyre, the pace was amazing and they held on well for the whole session. I’d race on them tomorrow.”

I was as surprised as you possibly are now. A road going tyre, that is within 1 second of a Full Race Slick with no set up difficulties or handling issues. Superb.

Fred was so pleased that he decided to race on them next day. His first time on the tyres was in Qualifying and being caught in traffic and uncertain of the new tyres in the very cold and damp conditions, he found himself in the back half of the Grid. By the lunch time race, and dry line was just beginning to appear though the track was particularly green and greasy after the nights rain.

From the Off, Fred was well on the pace. Overtaking several cars (on Slicks) on the first lap, he was back in contension by lap 3. After a beautifully driven and hard fought battle with Darren Smith (tvr Tuscan) Fred ended with his best result of the season. On the Podium with a Third in GroupA and Overall. Well done Fred, a cracking drive.

So there you have it. Race proven, and given the Thumbs up by some of the top tvr drivers around. R888s for your Track or Fast Road Griff…it’s a bit of a no brainer now isn’t it!

Andy
R888’s are available for all tvrs in our shop here, as are all other Toyo Tyres

http://www.tvrmonster.co.uk/shop/tyrestoyo1.html

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