I just ordered my 275/40/17 Azenis from (of all places) Sears last night. They had a better price than Edge Racing, which blew my mind. SHould be here in a couple days.
The 'stones should be the favorite for my class, but they don't make a 275. Driving a RWD car in STU, I'm allowed a 275. So, dammit, I'm going to run a 275.
The Avon Tech-R was replaced by the Tech-RA in 2006. The Tech-RA was then discontinued at the end of the year. I was bitterly disappointed, as I used both tires. The RA was a
huge improvement over the R, mostly in construction. I also know an engineer at Cooper, who owns Avon, so I got some fantastic advice and support for the tires.
So, yeah, no Avons for you.
I did our first test and tune day on the Sumitomo HTR-III tires the dealer put on my RX-8. They wore well for the one day we ran on them, but I don't want to use them again. It was only in the mid-60s outside, but they overheated halfway through each run. We were cooling them with water in between runs, but that wasn't enough. The car was most responsive at the beginning of a run, but halfway through it simply wouldn't turn in any more. The sidewalls are
very soft. Even for such a low-profile tire on 18s, I feel a lot of sidewall squirm.
On a 60-second course I was 2 seconds off a guy in another RX-8 on 710s. If the Azenis are on the car by our first event, next weekend, I hope to be even with him.