It's time to get new tires. From all that I've read, the Hoosier A6s are the stickiest, the Kumho V710s are the more forgiving and last longer than the Hoos, and the R1s last longest and stick good when warm (but take longer to warm up). Well, we typically race on a 60+ sec course on a road course track with 6 runs an event (also getting into track days). So longevity is a bit of a key point. We also tend to have a small run group, so less time waiting around with tires getting cold.

With all that, I'm kinda leaning towards the BFG R1s since I need a tire with long life, and since tires don't really cool down too fast I can use my first run to get them up to temp. I'm not concerned about national or regional competitiveness, just gotta beat the other MINI in GS.

Has anyone had or know someone that has experience with the R1? I can't find many trustworthy testimonies.

Besides the R1 which is OK (longer wear [treadwear 40] but not as grippy)

Toyo Ra1
Toyo Proxes R888
Hankook Ventus Z214 (R compound)
Hankook Ventus Z212 (street tire)

I think for being competitive over longer tire life the Kumho V710 is better than the R1.

Longer tire life might be true but if it means always trailing the competition then what is the point.

Other longer treadlife R compounds-
Kumho Victoracer
Yokohama Advan A048 treadwear 60

Very few drivers in my region use this tire- one out of 110.
Owner reports it's OK. He has an RX8 in B Stock and recently got 35th out of 113 on raw time, 25th on PAX.

Well, I got the R1's. I've put 1 autocross on them and one trackday on them. At the autox, I didn't push them too hard as I was more intent on using that as a heat cycle. But even so, I could tell they had a good amount of grip to them. Maybe not as much as the Kuhmo's but a nice bit. On the trackday, I started to open them up towards the end of the day. With about 2 hours and maybe 120 miles of track use, they look like they've only been heat cycled ( apart from a few off-line-marble bits I picked up).

I have no doubt these tires are capable of lasting 2 seasons with semi-competitive grip. Which is exactly what I needed as I plan on starting my project car at the end of next season.