Ed,
I agree with your comments to a point. I used to use R compound tires about 9-10 years ago when I autocrossed a lot. I also used them 7 years ago for my first year of track driving. It was only when I switched back to street tires (Z rated, etc) that I was able to really learn how much the sticky rubber was hiding my mistakes and making me feel faster than I actually was. After continuing to use streets for the last 6 seasons, I can say that I would not be as good a driver without doing this. I'm still faster than a fair number of guys that use race tires with faster cars. And I truly love when it rains, as I am pretty comfortable with slipping and sliding around the track.
IMO, there should be a minimum number of track days of experience required (Say 40 or so) before a driver is allowed to use anything other than streets. Or they must reach a certain group first, lets say White or Black.
However, all that said, I'm switching to Toyo RA1s this season, but will still use my streets too, mainly because I really can't keep up with the other high HP, sticky rubber laden, ABS and PSM equipped 996s, GT3s and 997s with my 172 horsepower and skinny street tire relic and I need all the help I can get.
