2002 Ford Mustang GT Nitto NT05R Drag Radial Tires

Initially, only one tire company manufactured drag-radial tires. While that rubber was street legal, the radials were employed at drag-racing events more often than on the street. (Did you know that the first official "class" for drag radials was called Heads Up Radial, and events were held at Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey?)

Nitto Tire jumped into the drag-radial fray several years ago with the introduction of the NT555R Extreme Drag Radial. The Triple 5R gained a loyal following among 'Stangbangers who needed more traction from their high-horse street Stallions. This loyalty is largely due to the 555R's best-of-both-worlds characteristics: excellent treadwear on the street and grip on the strip. Of course, balancing traction and treadwear leaves some traction on the table.

We had our first look at NT05 technology in 2008 when your tech editor visited Nitto's Itami Technical Center in Japan. At that time, the non-drag-radial NT05 street tire was in its final stages of testing, and based on the close-to-final version that KJ viewed, it was clear that a street tire with road-race-tire attitude would soon be with us. It only made sense that a drag radial would follow.

So, with that said, we welcome the all-new NT05R drag radial! Also in the works since 2008, the NT05R is the newest drag radial on the Mustang scene. It's the result of Nitto's extensive research, development, and testing efforts to produce a DR that is built to hook big steam on the street, and especially on the quarter-mile.

After receiving a set of the new boots, our plan was to give them a try at the Pacific Street Car Association's Spring Break Super Show event at Auto Club Dragway in Fontana, California. A and A Tires & Wheels of Reseda, California, mounted 315/35R-17 NT555Rs and the same-size NT05Rs on two pairs of American Muscle's replica FR500 wheels, and we set out to make some laps with Jerome Citrolo's 475hp, nitrous-injected '03 Mach 1

From a street perspective, the new DRs definitely are as good at holding the road as their street siblings. We put extensive mileage on the tires in normal street-driving, freeway, and desolate-area/full-blast conditions. They performed well-the only thing we'd be a little reserved about is driving on the NT05R drag radials beyond 5,000 miles (the new tires have a 0 treadware rating) and in extremely wet conditions.

The NT05R's soft compound really is not conducive to the same type of regular operation as the street version, so the tires may be more "limited-use" for budget-conscious enthusiasts than those with deeper pockets. Pricing for the NT05Rs is said to be comparable to the cost of Triple 5s.

Comparative photos of the NT555R, NT05, and new NT05R Nitto tires are next, along with our critical 60-foot and 330-foot dragstrip data for the company's original drag radial and its long-anticipated NT05R DRs.

"How does it hook?" is a drag racer's biggest question whenever a new racing tire is introduced. To find out just how well the Nittos hook, we called on Jerome Citrolo of Simi Valley, California, and his '03 Mach 1. Jerome's daily driven Mach is impressively modded with a stout DOHC bullet that features Ford Racing Performance Parts' aluminum big-bore block, a Mach 1 crank, Manley rods, Diamond pistons (10.2:1), '03 heads worked by Boss330 Racing, custom cams designed by Modular Performance, and a trick Nazty Performance short-runner intake manifold.

The combination is good for putting 475 hp to the feet, and Jerome is borderline obsessive about taking his Pony to the dragstrip whenever possible, attempting to achieve new personal-best e.t. and mph results at every outing. One of the good things about using Jerome for this particular exercise is his consistency as a driver. He knows his car and has extensive experience driving it on drag radials.

The interesting results of our test are included in the table. We definitely intend to do more track testing with the NT05Rs, because the impressive results of our session prove that Nitto is onto something with the new drag radials. It will be interesting to see how they perform when more horsepower is applied.