I've ridden many Tufo tires back in the day, as well as the oft referenced Sprinters, along with many other tires. I know that the Sprinters have changed over the years, but Tufo's line-up has been very stable for a long time. It may be that I had better access to the Tufos compared to other riders ( I would call up the factory in the Czech Republic and order tires direct from them. Languages
). I even gt a few of their World Cup only tires thrown in with a couple of my shipments.
In my experience, Tufo's were no worse/better than the mainstream high end tires you could get through your LBS or North American mail-order. I never found them slippery, and I rode them regularly on the only plastic coated tracks in NA. They are fast, and many people also think they seem "harder". This I can attribute to most people pumping them up higher than their regular tires. People see the 220 PSI that you can pump them up to, and figure "why not?". This is fine for a pursuit on a smooth, compliant track. In reality, I used to run them between 130-150 psi.
They had better grip than Conti's silica tread compounds in my opinion. The black carbon compounds were about equal between the two brands. Many people also decry their low thread counts in the casing, but if you go for the Elite model, then the tire specs are abut equal to other high end tires, at little more than half the price. Their World Cup only tires that I tried were the best tires I had ever used. These had a painted on latex tread similar to Dugast or FMB tires. I haven't ridden those tires, so I can't compare them, but the Tufo tires weighed in at 85-90 grams.