Something having to do with the launch killed the gearbox. I'm not convinced it was the tires though. Azenis are nowhere near as sticky as slicks (granted the sidewall is not as flexible) but I don't think they'd be harder on the driveline than some slicks.

Anyway the Azenis are a good dry-oriented performance tire. There are better tires in the wet but basically nothing this side of the BFGoodrich g-Force KD will touch it in the dry. If you want something that is more balanced with both dry and wet traction I would look at the Kumho MX.