Photography Credit: Timothy Harper
Long a fixture in amateur motorsports, Toyo Tires has excelled in finding unfulfilled niches. The company was among the first, for example, to recognize the import racing scene of the late ’90s, developing the Proxes RA-1 in suitable fitments.
How good was that tire? Some 25 years later, it’s still on the market.
The R888/R888R line began a decade later, and the latter still has a home in today’s track day market. As others in the DOT R-comp market produced stickier but shorter-lasting tires, Toyo instead chose to focus on consistency and durability.
In 2012, the company added the Proxes RR to its lineup. Its minimalistic tread pattern mirrored the category-leading Hoosier offerings, but Toyo paired it with a compound that provided a longer service life. Molded to just 4/32 inch, it didn’t need to be shaved for dry performance.
These tires found a home with NASA-sanctioned road racing, both in various spec classes and in Super Touring–the latter split-ting cars by power-to-weight ratios with modifiers for various mods, including tires. Competitors could now choose a longer-lasting tire while taking a bump in power to compensate for the lower grip levels.
Many embraced this as a fantastic money-saving measure: lower costs yet comparable lap times. Toyo also provided a strong contingency program for additional incentives.
Fast-forward to today, and Toyo is replacing the Proxes RR with the Proxes R–yes, now just a single R in the name. While the new tire looks no different from the outside, it’s a complete ground-up redesign: A brand-new compound is wrapped around a carcass constructed from modern materials to produce a lighter, stiffer tire. The goal was to lower lap times through improvements in steering response, braking stability and grip, all while maintaining Toyo’s hallmark durability and consistency. Did it hit the mark? Let’s find out.
We mounted all of our test tires–245/40R17 for all of them–on 949 Racing’s 6UL wheels in the 17x9-inch size. Since the Toyos are R-comps marked “not for highway use,” we broke from our usual initial heat-cycling process and traded the highway miles for 10 laps of ever-increasing intensity. That initial cycle brings the rubber and internal belt package up to operating temperature, with the subsequent cooling period realigning rubber molecules for stronger bonds. The result is a more consistent and durable tire with no loss of grip.
For a bracket tire to measure and verify condition stability and driver consistency, we selected the Bridgestone Potenza RE-71RS, a leftover from another recent test. These had been worn to 4/32 inch, matching the molded tread depth of the Toyos.
From left to right: Toyo Proxes RR, Toyo Proxes R, Bridgestone RE-71RS. Photography Credit: Andy Hollis
That previous test, which also included a full-tread set of Bridgestones, showed how tread squirm negatively affects both outright pace and lap-to-lap consistency. At reduced depth, those street tires were quicker throughout a full session. That test was done on a warm day, though.
Test day at Harris Hill Raceway dawned quite chilly, with temps right at 40°. On the bright side, our Triple Threat ND Miata would be making all of its 180 horsepower without any heat soak, but the track surface itself would be cold. The asphalt would begin to warm up soon enough, though, as the blazing sun beamed through the cloudless sky.
To clean the track from overnight dust and also dial in the driver, we first spent a solid 30 minutes making laps on a set of 1/32-inch-tread Nankang CRS V2 scrubs that were on the morphine drip, end-of-life treatment. It … took … forever to get any heat in them to generate grip. While fun, this process clearly demonstrated the one downside to reduced-tread-depth street tires.
By the time we began our actual testing, the sun was working its magic, raising ambient temps by 20°. The track surface slowly followed that trend. Over the rest of the morning, ambient temps remained relatively stable.
The RE-71RS serves as a fantastic do-it-all tire with solid street manners and very approachable handling characteristics. Responsive and intuitive with excellent communication skills, it’s always a strong candidate for any job–even wet use.
A worn Bridgestone typically requires about a single lap to work the tread enough to generate full grip. With the track surface still cold, it took a bit more than two laps to do so on this day. The lap time chart shown here begins on the third actual pass, where max grip arrived shortly into the lap. Subsequent laps were very consistent, setting a strong mark for comparison.
R-comps with no tread typically have a tougher time generating heat to activate their compounds, but the Toyo Proxes RR did so in less than a single lap. Up to 90%, its handling characteristics felt fairly similar to the Bridgestone, albeit with a bit more linearity in the steering response.
But pushed fully to the limit, it became somewhat vague and was accompanied by audible feedback. Its weak point was high-energy, combined-loading events like heavy trail braking. This would saturate the tire, and grip would fall off, requiring a short delay for recovery. Driven carefully, it was playful and consistent, cranking out lap after lap within a narrow lap time window.
The same single warmup lap activated the compound of the new Toyo Proxes R, and we were off to the races. We immediately noticed sharper response, especially when pressing the tire hard. Unlike the old Toyo that offered some protest, the new tire guided us down to the apex as we rolled speed into a turn.
Trail braking was excellent, producing time gains in several key places. Moreover, recovery from any small exploration beyond the limit was much quicker, boosting driver confidence. And finally, basic grip was up as shown in the two very fast sweepers.
The old saying “Never judge a book by its cover” couldn’t be truer when it comes to the Proxes R. It performed substantially better than its predecessor. Bravo, Toyo.
Our final test step is always to rerun the first tire to check for any driver improvements or track evolution during the test period. Given that the track surface had significantly warmed since the day’s first session, it didn’t surprise us that the Bridgestone gripped up with only a single warmup lap.
Lap times were consistent thereafter though a couple tenths quicker overall than the opening session. Data analysis showed all of the time gain came in the first turn, indicating that some additional track cleanup had occurred there. Still, it was only a minor change, and we were confident in our back-to-back comparison of the two Toyos.
Toyo has done its homework well, with this new Proxes R delivering on all of its intended goals: better braking, improved steering and more grip. In fact, pace is now within the ballpark of the Super 200 category front-runners, which may get the new tire bumped up within NASA’s power-to-weight categories to Super Touring.
Has Toyo done just enough or too much? We’ll see what the rulesmakers have to say. Meanwhile, NASA has announced that the new Proxes R will be the spec tire for Honda Challenge, Spec Z and Spec 3 classes for 2025. Further, we expect it to find a home with noncompetitive track day participants looking for a fun, durable tire that provides full-session consistency and quick pace.
We live in wonderful times when a 200TW "street" tire can wax a "previous generation" 40TW RR compound tire around a race track.
I've spend a lot of time driving the Toyo RR tires (and loved every lap) so it's nice to see the new Toyo R pick up the torch and run with it.
That said, seeing how the RE-71RS perform makes me think I've got to try a set for track days.
Being essentially on pace with the 71RS is a nice step up, but if it still lasts a bit longer than the 71RS on a heavier car (and/or experiences less heat soak during DE) that'll really make it another great option.
In reply to QuikMcshifterson :
TW numbers are as clear as mud, with no recognized scale across the board. Basically, each tire manufacturer sets the number on their own tire because that's what they think it should be.
Do we have any idea how long this new Toyo Proxes R can be expected to last? How does the wear rate compare to Super 200s?
Spec3 does not have a space between "spec" and "3" in the name of the class. Thanks!
I'm looking forward to 2025 with the new spec tire in Spec3; I was a big fan of the RR as a spec tire. I think it will also make for some interesting experiments for the ST/TT guys with the RC1 being a +1.6 tire, the R a +1.0, and the 0 modifier R7.
Huh ... I did not expect those results. Maybe it's time to retire the Toyos and head to a set of Bridgestones. Then also get into the new XS class instead of SM.
For those considering the RE71RS over the Proxes R, something to ponder is pace consistency over the life of the tire. The RE71RS will be substantially slower at full tread, maxxing out pace somewhere around half-tread and lower. Details here.
The Proxes R already comes at that lower depth, so it will have none of the tall-tread, squirm-induced pace killers of the Bridgestone.
Of course, you could simply buy your RE-71RS's shaved to 4/32 and skip those slower full tread laps. That added cost also brings the price of the two tires closer.
QuikMcshifterson said:We live in wonderful times when a 200TW "street" tire can wax a "previous generation" 40TW RR compound tire around a race track.
The RR isn't even "previous generation" that tire hasn't changed in a long time.
Though it's worth noting, as a spec tire - no one I know of racing in a spec series cares about "absolute" pace - we care about behavior through a sprint session, how tough they are to being overheated, and how long they last since everyone is on the same tire - the RR was fantastic in those regards. We're lucky in NASA spec miata we get to run the RR one more year, I guess we'll see where we go after that.
accordionfolder said:Though it's worth noting, as a spec tire - no one I know of racing in a spec series cares about "absolute" pace - we care about behavior through a sprint session, how tough they are to being overheated, and how long they last since everyone is on the same tire - the RR was fantastic in those regards. We're lucky in NASA spec miata we get to run the RR one more year, I guess we'll see where we go after that.
But, but, but...the F1 guys seem to think it spices up the racing when tires are finicky and also fall off a cliff during a race. 
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