The ZIII is the tire I use for HPDE as well ads daily driving. I get 10+ HPDE days out of a set and they are not as noisy as the RE71R on the street. They do not have as much grip as the RE71R, but they're close and good enough for non-competitive events. I'm on my 5th set on the R, and I ran them previously on my BMW. Hands down my favorite tire, but they are sold exclusively through the Tirerack.
I have a second set of wheels with RE71R tires mounted that I use for autocross events, which _are_ competitive events. I got 5 HPDE days out of the last set of RE71R tires that I ran on track, so I save them for autocross. A friend of mine just polished off a set of A052 tires on her E36 M3 and she indicated to me that they wear more quickly than the RE71R. I'm on a budget and that budget says that if I try the Yokos, they would be an autocross only tire for me. edit: I ran the Hankook RS3 on my BMW and they were ice cubes until they got heat into them, making them useless for autocross. They were OK on track but nothing special.
In terms of pads, Ferodo DS2500 is an excellent choice for a street/autocross/track day pad. I ran them on my R for several years, and they are on the rear brakes now. I ran Porterfield R4S pads on my car before the Ferodo pads became available in the US and I would not run them again. I experienced pad fade at Thunderhill with the Porterfield's and had a big problem with pad material transfer in the rear.