Bridgestone Potenza RE-71RZ: First Driving Impressions Preview Report

Introduction

"If you're not first, you're last."

Competition has always been at the core of the tire world, and there are few things more steeped in that spirit than performance products. Bred from the DNA of racing motorsports, they embody the strive for greatness, for pole position, for victory. Greater, more immediate availability has led to fiercer, faster competition than ever among brands for the attention (and wallets) of their audiences, however niche, and the importance of staying on top, of fighting for visibility, is just as important as ever.

There are very few tires in amateur motorsports today that have the identifiable legacy of the Bridgestone Potenza RE71. The RE71 Denloc was original equipment on the roadgoing version of the Porsche 959 Group B race car back in the 1980s (and is still available today.) The 90s saw follow-ups with the RE710 and RE711, followed by the RE-01 in the early 2000s, and further iterated on by the Potenza RE-11 and RE-11a.

Then, in 2015, the RE71 name made a triumphant return with the Potenza RE-71R. The impact of that tire was both immediate and lasting. It changed expectations, not just for the brand, but for the landscape of 200 treadwear tires as a whole, and became one of the go-to options in the category. Its successor, the Potenza RE-71RS, released in 2020 in Japan, and followed by a 2022 U.S. launch, has continued that tradition, routinely topping our own testing for Extreme Performance Summer tires while racking up wins in real world competition.

All of that leads us to the latest release: the Potenza RE-71RZ. Rather than take the lead, cool their heels, and wait for the competition to catch up, Bridgestone decided to take the initiative and continue pushing the envelope of performance.

If it ain't broke...

If you've seen a Potenza RE-71RS, then at a glance, the Potenza RE-71RZ may not look like a drastic departure from its predecessor - because it isn't. As previously mentioned, Bridgestone crafted an excellent tire. That's laudable in any category, from any manufacturer, full stop. Consequently, it meant they had an excellent foundation to study, to adjust, to tweak compound formulation and pattern, and make subtle, impactful changes. The compound is a new high-silica blend that aims to not only improve traction in both dry and wet conditions, but also improve wear characteristics as well.

It's not just the compound - the tread pattern might look familiar, but it's also been refreshed - an asymmetric design with a substantial outboard tread element and low-angle lateral voids for enhanced traction in corners and overall pattern stiffness. It also may help address the beveling of the first intermediate rib that can occur in the Potenza RE-71RS. On the inboard side, the wide twin grooves help evacuate water for hydroplaning resistance, and Bridgestone claims noticeable improvements in both wet and dry lap times.

A storied tire, an enthusiast product, and eager drivers. We wanted to get ahold of the Potenza RE-71RZ as soon as we heard about it, as, if it wasn't clear from the preamble: this is the kind of release that doesn't happen often. Naturally, in a typical "preview drive" like this, we would compare and contrast the new tire with its predecessor on the road, on the track, in the wet... and we fully intend to do just that, but-

Why Isn't This a Test?

Now it's the middle of winter.

Months back, we reached out to our contacts, any of them, all of them, to secure a set before launch and ultimately what we were offered was a set of production-spec 265/35R18 prototype tires. Smooth sidewalls and no DOT branding was less of an issue than the fact that they were shorter and narrower than our test size, and moreover, they were used and worn down to 5/32". Not ideal, though in lieu of waiting several more months for the winter launch, and waiting more months yet for Spring to arrive, we would make it work.

Obviously, comparing a worn product to a new product would be poor testing protocol for a true comparison, and a full day was dedicated to wearing in a set of Potenza RE-71RS tires to match as close as we could manage until we had two sets of used, heat-cycled tires.

That said, there were too many variables in how each tire was worn in to call it a truly equitable comparison. So any charts, lap times, braking distances and the like will wait until we can do a true "new-to-new" comparison. Even calling this a "preview drive" feels like a bit much, so instead, let's go with-

The First Drive

Just because this won't have the typical data dump doesn't mean there's nothing to talk about here. We spent two solid days testing the worn tires, and the results are worth talking about. We also looked through the many experienced drivers here at Tire Rack and invited Chris "Trent" Harvey, nationally competitive autocrosser, endurance racer, time trial competitor, and consistent source of solid lap data, to join us on Day 2.

Across both days and all three drivers, results were consistent. The Potenza RE-71RZ was faster than its predecessor, every time, by every metric. Fast-lap, top 10 laps, average lap times, it was consistently faster. That's big on its own, considering how good the current tire already is. Arguably just as, if not more impressive is the way it managed heat. When both tires were cool, the Potenza RE-71RS was debatably a little more precise, a little sharper compared to the new tire, but after a lap, it began to fall off, and that only continued into the 3rd and 4th laps, losing a lot of precision and pace. On the contrary, the Potenza RE-71RZ plateaued and held steady lap after lap. Its first cool lap was still the fastest, but the change in pace from lap-to-lap wasn't nearly as sharp in decline.

Handling-wise, the new tire did lose a bit of stability in the transition from "cool" to "race temp", but remained very controllable throughout, able to turn small bits of movement into useful rotation and never felt smeary, like its predecessor. As a final anecdotal touch, the Potenza RE-71RZ did seem to resist wear better too.