Types of Tires to Run During a Competition.
There are typically three categories of tires that you see on the race track (road course), and they each have their pro's, con's, places, benefits, and strengths. They also have their price points which have to be factored in. In my opinion these categories are: street tires, inexpensive lapping tires, and competition tires.
Street Tires: (examples: Michelin PS4S, Accelera PHI-R, Firehawk Indy 500, and yes, the stock Pirelli's) These are typically 300 treadwear or higher, have good ride comfort, decent grip when not at the limit (not too hot), and can be driven to and from the track. They are typically moderately priced for our car (PS4S at the top end at around $1250-$1350), and offer an incredible balance. The downside is that they can get destroyed in a single track day if heat is not managed extremely carefully. These tires are designed to work at ambient temperatures and factory recommended pressures. They *should* offer around 3 laps at-pace for lapping practice running 7/10ths of your 'fastest best ever' pace. I know that some (including myself) have used them as a track tire and really pushed them, however I've also destroyed the fronts in as little as 5 sessions. Upside, they have a tread life warranty. I also think this category works amazing as a track-rain tire, and I still keep them at the track for this purpose.
Conclusion: Street tires work okay for learning purposes, however they are typically expensive and don't handle heat well enough for constant lapping exercises unless you're okay with blowing through them on a weekend.
Inexpensive Lapping Tires: (Examples: Federal RSR, Accelera 651 Sport, Falken RTK650) These tires are typically in the $550-$750 price range for our cars (per set!), are in the 200TW category (lowest before people start accusing you of being in a race car and needing a cage/fire suit/etc) but can also be driven to/from the track if you wish! These are AMAZING as an educational tool, can handle the heat, are relatively inexpensive, and allow for consistency lap after lap, even pushing all the way up to time trial speeds. This category is where 95% of folks who do HPDE's probably should live. On these tires, you can actually learn the line, push the car reasonably hard, and be damn competitive. I just did a full TT weekend with my inexpensive Accelera 651 Sports and won 1st in class ahead of a Tesla Model 3 performance on RE71r's simply because I took the time to learn the track and the car. This also means you can afford spare tires! I corded one and had a full set of spares to choose from... it worked great! These are also typically rather noisy, and while they could be driven on the street, they do need some heat in order to achieve the predictable, repeatable grip to allow you to learn a course. The biggest downside of these is that you're now in the category where heat cycling actually starts to mean something to you. Heat cycling is the process of a tire coming to temp and cooling down - the compounds used in track tires (especially this and the next category) have a limit on how many times this can happen before they begin to lose grip - sometimes incredibly quickly - and usually before the tread is completely gone, even. This category is specifically why I'm running Accelera 651 Sports as my regular track tire - cheap on the wallet, I don't really have to care about them *too much*, and I can go learn (and teach) with good results.
Conclusion: This is where a lot of people can save money and time on the track. Even hardcore racers that run a brand new track in something less expensive so that they can keep their nice tires for the timed runs that really count.
Competition Tires: Examples include - Bridgestone RE71r, Yokohama A052, Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar 3. These are typically priced in the $1000+ range for our cars - assume $1200 installed and you won't be disappointed. This is the cream of the crop, fastest 200tw that you can get, make your car go faster than you possibly can make it go otherwise - for 5 laps. They have ultimate grip very quickly, and are highly competitive. This is what the guys that are doing 2 seconds per lap faster than you are managing. If you push them that hard, you'll only get 4-5 laps before you need a cool down (usually), have GREAT grip from the start, but will last a weekend of hard use. But if you're on these, you already know that you're paying for it and it'll hit the wallet. TireRack rates these tires as the fastest of the fast, but they don't take heat cycles into account. You can drive these to the track, however you have to account for driving to the track as a heat cycle in some cases, and you'll get roughly 40 cycles out of them before they are just dead, so you pretty much *need* to use them on the track. The compound in these tires is essentially a race tire, however they have tread so they can be run in the rain (please don't), and they have decent road manners to drive them daily (also, please don't). If you're willing to kick in that type of cash to do this hobby, go for it, however it's really not necessary to accomplish the goals of 90% of folks out there. In all candor, putting a relatively new driver, on a new car, onto a brand new set of competition track tires will not actually make them any faster (see note above about the Tesla on RE71r's... I was an average of 4 seconds faster per lap than him... and it infuriated him, 14 seconds faster across the weekend).
Conclusion: Competition tires should be saved for exactly that - competition. If it's all you have access to and you already have them, that's awesome! Use them! but be aware that there is a cost associated.
Final Thoughts:
If you're heading to the track for the first time to see if it's something you really want to do, run your streets. Do 60% of what you feel like is pushing the car at it's hardest. First timers aren't used to pushing a car for a full 20 minutes as compared to a canyon run. It can be exhausting for your mind, add in the fact that you need to check the pressures and temps when you come in and reset everything while it's still hot. Taking a slightly less costly tire, like the Accelera 651 Sport XTRA, that does the job, and does it well, is where I'll remain as it's still extremely competitive.
