The last time I bought RA-1's, it was right around $200 per tire, shaved and mounted up. I also got the last set of tires that were available in the country at that time... other racers were left out in the cold, which is certainly nothing new.
We can make the case for Nitto NT-01's all day long, prove how much of an obviously better deal they are, etc., but the reality is that there's no way 944-Spec is going to change anytime soon. NASA is in bed with Toyo, and nobody here has authority to change 944-Spec. No sense in arguing it anymore.
Like any of their decisions, it's all about money. It's in our best interests to stop pretending that they're our best friends, and treat this like the business/customer relationship that it is. Those who prefer to race with their checkbooks have an automatic advantage with such organizations, but there's still hope for those of us who want an honest race, or who simply don't feel the need to piss away money just because we can... We're just going to run our own deal in PTE and stop interfering with NASA's destruction of 944-Spec and themselves. Besides, there are much more effective ways to flaunt our income levels (since that's obviously very important here) than to spend excessively on 25 year old cars that can barely beat some high school girl's Miata.
