Bridgestone RE-71RS Announced

[TKRiggs]

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/news/bridgestone-back-potenza-re-71rs-coming-soon/

 

https://www.bridgestone.com.sg/en/tyre/potenza-re71rs

Edited April 14, 2022 by TKRiggs
Additional Info

[Team Infiniti]

Let the tire wars and debate commence!

 

5% better wear then the old re71r does not help budget racing.....buying better laptimes for 0 points should not be a option.

[ETR]

Those 15's seem an odd choice if you're just offering two sizes.  Maybe it's an autocross thing. 

205/50R15

225/50R15

 

No worries though, I require a weekend or more out of a set anyways.

[CoachMK21]

14 minutes ago, ETR said:

Those 15's seem an odd choice if you're just offering two sizes.  Maybe it's an autocross thing. 

205/50R15

225/50R15

 

No worries though, I require a weekend or more out of a set anyways.

 

Those are the 2 most common sizes for E-Street Miata's and MR2, as well as the Street Touring Sport class.

[scottyk]

47 minutes ago, Team Infiniti said:

Let the tire wars and debate commence!

 

5% better wear then the old re71r does not help budget racing.....buying better laptimes for 0 points should not be a option.

Limiting tire manufacturer choices during a tire supply constraint doesn’t seem like such a good option. 

[ABR-Glen]

Interesting, they say the life was tested over 8,000 km with tire rotations every 2,000 km (with 215mm wide tires on a Toyota 86)

The total race distance covered in the 2020 VIR 24 was ~2,800 km for comparison. So they must be talking about street driving?

Edited April 14, 2022 by ABR-Glen

[Team Infiniti]

1 hour ago, scottyk said:

Limiting tire manufacturer choices during a tire supply constraint doesn’t seem like such a good option. 

Never said to limit choice, just make it more distasteful changing worn out tires during a event, please note, us lower budget guys are looking @ DROPPING ONE RACE PER YEAR to put 3x faster wearing tires into play.

[scottyk]

1 hour ago, Team Infiniti said:

Never said to limit choice, just make it more distasteful changing worn out tires during a event, please note, us lower budget guys are looking @ DROPPING ONE RACE PER YEAR to put 3x faster wearing tires into play.

I will agree that we need to keep the series budget oriented, but if you need to replace a tire while racing replace it, things happen. I can tell you that 20’-21’ was a very crazy year for tire manufacturers. Ocean freight went from 4K to 18/20k a container, port congestion, rubber/carbon blk/ transportation cost up 50% and there is no sign of it slowing down. 

[Team Infiniti]

37 minutes ago, scottyk said:

I will agree that we need to keep the series budget oriented, but if you need to replace a tire while racing replace it, things happen. I can tell you that 20’-21’ was a very crazy year for tire manufacturers. Ocean freight went from 4K to 18/20k a container, port congestion, rubber/carbon blk/ transportation cost up 50% and there is no sign of it slowing down. 

Yes stuff happens, Dec. sebring, both day 1 and 2 we had unplanned stops, one for contact/broken rim, day two 3rd place locked in w/ 30 min to go one popped... so personally no issue changing tires during a event, just trying to slow down those guys running fast rubber that wears at a ungodly uneconomical rate.

 

oh, Last set of sticky tires bought had air fright decals on them from the country of origin.

[MMiskoe]

18 hours ago, scottyk said:

I will agree that we need to keep the series budget oriented, but if you need to replace a tire while racing replace it, things happen. I can tell you that 20’-21’ was a very crazy year for tire manufacturers. Ocean freight went from 4K to 18/20k a container, port congestion, rubber/carbon blk/ transportation cost up 50% and there is no sign of it slowing down. 

 

You must have forgotten to use the green font with that opening comment about racing and budget oriented.

 

SCCA does not always move quickly on rules changes, but they did a similar thing to what Champcar has done when they created Improved Touring.  IT required DOT rated tires to stop people from using slicks.  Then Yokohama came along with the A008, the first of the DOT rated R-tires.  It changed how tires work. 

 

Fast forward to about 10-15 years ago and Champ and others said "only TW200" and things got going, big fields, good racing etc.  Then the TW200's started getting pretty racy and less economical.  It has been a slower change than what the DOT rated R-tires did, but it is the same evolution. 

 

My prediction is that if you give it some time we'll end up as SCCA is with a particular tire that works better than the rest and becomes the defacto spec tire.  We're currently just in the throws of that evolution.

 

Maybe we just take credit for being part of creating a revolution in tire manufacturing?

[mender]

On 4/15/2022 at 10:56 AM, MMiskoe said:

...throes of that evolution.

Sorry, can't help it.

[MMiskoe]

Not complaining, just curious.

 

What background makes you twitch upon hearing poor grammar?

 

I grew up in a house that would have made the same correction.  But it was just educated parents not wanting their kids to sound like hicks.  We might be hicks, but we do strive for good grammar. 

 

Learned something new.

[mender]

My wife teaches grade eight, and she bemoans the steady devaluing of the basics in the curriculum. But I really can't blame her, I developed a love of words at an early age. I read - a lot. Add in the fact that my grandmother was one of the first female principals up here back in the '30s and my affliction was almost inevitable.

 

I know that I pale in the light of true wordsmiths but I do enjoy putting together the odd phrase or two for my own entertainment.

[turbogrill]

I race another series that has a spec tire. Its great since there is no discussion about tires but it's problematic when the tires are out of stock.

 

Every year we switch to a different tire that we think might be in stock but they always run out or get discontinued. 

 

Also we all run the same cars. Not like this series where there are 1500 lbs cars and 3500 lbs cars of all kinds of make. Very hard to please everyone with a fixed set of tires.

 

I you race a Miata a RE71R might not be a budget concern since they might last a weekend (255@2000lbs), if you race a Corvette it might be expensive (wide@heavy). 

[scottyk]

On 4/14/2022 at 3:25 PM, Team Infiniti said:

Never said to limit choice, just make it more distasteful changing worn out tires during a event, please note, us lower budget guys are looking @ DROPPING ONE RACE PER YEAR to put 3x faster wearing tires into play.

You proved my point, Still think old tires are the way to go? 

[hotchkis23]

On 4/21/2022 at 7:53 AM, turbogrill said:

I race another series that has a spec tire. Its great since there is no discussion about tires but it's problematic when the tires are out of stock.

 

Every year we switch to a different tire that we think might be in stock but they always run out or get discontinued. 

 

Also we all run the same cars. Not like this series where there are 1500 lbs cars and 3500 lbs cars of all kinds of make. Very hard to please everyone with a fixed set of tires.

 

I you race a Miata a RE71R might not be a budget concern since they might last a weekend (255@2000lbs), if you race a Corvette it might be expensive (wide@heavy). 

Ha, corded a set of 205 r15's in 4 hrs.....2000lb miata....

Edited May 3, 2022 by hotchkis23
wrong tire size

[turbogrill]

30 minutes ago, hotchkis23 said:

Ha, corded a set of 225 r15's in 4 hrs.....2000lb miata....

 

Maybe I need to drive faster

 

Curious how long a set of re71r would last if driven to 90%.

 

Is it:

RS4 @ 100%, 30 hours, 1:30 lap time
RE71R @ 100%, 4 hours, 1:28 lap time
RE71R @ 90%, 15 hours, 1:29 lap time

 

????

 

[cowboys647]

We destroyed (even wear) front/rear 245 RS4 on our 2000lb Miata with aero at Harris Hill in 20hours. Ran ~30psi hot. I’d be scared to death to switch to the softer compounds and have them not be able to last a single race

[Chappy]

My car was a test bed for endurance racing for the 71RS.  91 Miata, 99 swap, spec Miata suspension, no aero, approximately 2050lb no driver.  
 

We ran at two different events last year with time on both the R and the RS at both events.   
 

RE71R - total run time 11.5hrs (1hr test, 2.5hr race at Road Atlanta, 8hr race at NCM).  The Atlanta race was 2021, and the R went on the car 8 hrs into the race. This is the same time that it started to rain, before it started to snow.  I would argue this time on the tire did little to no wear.  I would call total run time of 9.5-10.  We have run the 71R before at 4 other races, and will typically get 9-10hrs out of the hardest hit corner of the car. 
 

RE71RS - total run time 17hrs (1hr test, 7.5hrs race Road Atlanta and 1.5hr testing, 7hr race at NCM).  All hrs were dry, no rain laps.

 

The attached pictures show the LF tire off the car after the above time.  Looking at the tires post race, I would say overall wear was around the same even though the RS went about 7hrs longer.   
 

Obviously wear is car/setup dependent, so it will be very interesting to see if similar wear improvements are seen, but at least our initial results suggest the wear improvement is quiet a bit higher than 5% on an endurance car.  
 

I think it’s possible for us to go a full weekend (15hrs) on a set of RS, whereas with the R we would need 6-8 tires for a weekend.
 

FWIW, our quickest driver was 0.9 sec faster at NCM on the RS as compared to the R.  Keep in mind the RS also already had 10hrs on them when they went on the car.  

[ABR-Glen]

225/50R15?

[Chappy]

3 hours ago, ABR-Glen said:

225/50R15?

205/50/15s

[turbogrill]

16 hours ago, Chappy said:

My car was a test bed for endurance racing for the 71RS.  91 Miata, 99 swap, spec Miata suspension, no aero, approximately 2050lb no driver.  
 

We ran at two different events last year with time on both the R and the RS at both events.   
 

RE71R - total run time 11.5hrs (1hr test, 2.5hr race at Road Atlanta, 8hr race at NCM).  The Atlanta race was 2021, and the R went on the car 8 hrs into the race. This is the same time that it started to rain, before it started to snow.  I would argue this time on the tire did little to no wear.  I would call total run time of 9.5-10.  We have run the 71R before at 4 other races, and will typically get 9-10hrs out of the hardest hit corner of the car. 
 

RE71RS - total run time 17hrs (1hr test, 7.5hrs race Road Atlanta and 1.5hr testing, 7hr race at NCM).  All hrs were dry, no rain laps.

 

The attached pictures show the LF tire off the car after the above time.  Looking at the tires post race, I would say overall wear was around the same even though the RS went about 7hrs longer.   
 

Obviously wear is car/setup dependent, so it will be very interesting to see if similar wear improvements are seen, but at least our initial results suggest the wear improvement is quiet a bit higher than 5% on an endurance car.  
 

I think it’s possible for us to go a full weekend (15hrs) on a set of RS, whereas with the R we would need 6-8 tires for a weekend.
 

FWIW, our quickest driver was 0.9 sec faster at NCM on the RS as compared to the R.  Keep in mind the RS also already had 10hrs on them when they went on the car.  

 

So faster and last longer?

 

With wider tire that should get very good wear

[Chappy]

On 5/7/2022 at 7:00 AM, turbogrill said:

 

So faster and last longer?

 

With wider tire that should get very good wear

Signs point that way.  
 

I think we are going to have to stick with the 205/50/15 as the 225/50/15 is likely too tall for the Miata. 

[wvumtnbkr]

Less than 1/2 an inch is too tall?

 

Why?  Rubbing?  

 

Teams are running 245 45 15 on miatas.

 

 

[Chappy]

1 hour ago, wvumtnbkr said:

Less than 1/2 an inch is too tall?

 

Why?  Rubbing?  

 

Teams are running 245 45 15 on miatas.

 

 

Think most running 245 are running a 245/40/15 which is a little smaller diameter than the 205/50/15.  The 225/50 is .8” taller.

 

I’m not saying I cant get it to fit, but will require raising the car (I get LF rub at turn 11 at AMP), rolling the fenders some more, and then deciding if I need a new splitter mount to get it closer to the ground again.  Nothing impossible, is it worth it for 20mm of wire width… dunno, maybe.