May Solo Fastrack - ST* Tirepocalypse Edition

[Davidss]

http://www.scca.com/assets/12-fastrack-may-solo.pdf

So the May fastrack is out. For street touring there is a proposal to increase the minimum tire treadwear rating to 200. This would basically make all current tires illegal and we would all need to go out and spend a bunch of cash retesting/tuning to make our cars slower. Below are a few of the reasons as to why this is a bad idea. Pick a few of them, submit a letter using www.sebscca.com and post up here after you do.

- Current tires are cheap, long lasting, and more importantly fast and fun to drive on.
- In the short term switching to 200TW tires is incredibly expensive.
- There is far less variety of competitive choices and sizes at 200TW.
- The same inequalities exist with 140TW tires will exist with 200TW.
- 140TW allows for dual use autox/track/TT cars as it is more in line with NASA TT and other race organizations.
- Many higher TW tires will actually have a shorter competitive life as they can't handle the heat and stress of competition.
- The problems with tire cost/life are in stock class not ST*.
- The Dunlop Star Spec is the only current competitive tire that would remain and it is being discontinued. It's replacement will be sub-200TW, so for 2013 "old Star Spec hoarding" may result.

[CosmosMpower]

I'm sure the tire manufacturers could just update the TW to 200 if they saw the market demanded it. The number is arbitrary anyways but I do agree the rule change would not fix anything. In the realm of 200+ street tires we're trying the fairly new Michelin Pilot Super Sport on the Cayman now, it won't be as fast as the RS3 etc but it should still be pretty fast and a great all around tire.

[altiain]

I don't understand what problem they're trying to "fix" with this proposed rule change. Is this due to the short lifespan (in some sizes and on some cars) of the Toyo? Or is it because Hankook never has 255s in stock?

I thought Street Touring had a tire exclusion list. If there is a problem with a particular tire, add it to the damn exclusion list. If they don't have one, it would be better to create one then to arbitrarily change the current arbitrary treadwear number and eliminate most of the common cheap and durable competitive tires.

[slates]

There is also some noise on the forums about Road Tire classes being subject to the higher tread wear rating, because these would be more like "real" road tires. In my opinion, the RT classes should use the same tires as available to the ST* classes, ensuring that grippy, inexpensive, durable tires are available from several manufactures in most every size. Write your letters RT competitors....

[OZMDD]

I put 200 runs, 2 track days and 5000 street miles on a set of RS3's last year, and my last set had about half that with tons of useable life left in them. I don't see the argument against them being "real" street tires. They Toyos are the only street tire I am aware of that has a very short useful life, and I still ran them as my DD tire all spring with no problems or excessive wear.

I agree with altian that they are trying to fix the one set of classes that ain't broke. I don't have the exact count, but I beleive the 140 TW tires made up almost 40% of the entries at the Pro, and something similar at the Tour in CS. Leave well-enough alone and go figure out the stock classes.

The only competitive autox tire I am aware of with a 200+ rating is the Star Spec, and they cost 50% more/tire than the Hankook, Toyo and Kumho (all eliminated by the proposal) The Yokohama AD08 and Bridgestone RE11 are also eliminated. The Falken RT615K is still in the mix, but they heat cycle quickly, are not heat tolerant and cost $100/tire more than the Kooks. This kinda becomes a single-tire class if the Dunlop is the only decent choice. Imagine the backorder problems then...


I do agree that whatever they do in Street Touring (with tires) ought to be the same in RT and Street Tire classes, which is NOTHING!!

[Steve E]

Our letters of opposition were sent the day after FS was posted. Ridiculous proposal IMHO.

[jrj512]

Sent my letter yesterday.

[onething]

Can someone just send this thread to the SEB?

[OZMDD]

I'm sure the tire manufacturers could just update the TW to 200 if they saw the market demanded it. The number is arbitrary anyways but I do agree the rule change would not fix anything. In the realm of 200+ street tires we're trying the fairly new Michelin Pilot Super Sport on the Cayman now, it won't be as fast as the RS3 etc but it should still be pretty fast and a great all around tire.

There are limits on how much they can fudge those numbers. No offense, but the Pilot SS costs $100/tire more than the Hankook/Toyo, and is not available in any diameter below 17". Also not made in a 255/40/17, so I'd have to give up tire and run 245/40/17, which sucks with a 6-speed. Spending $1000/set for Miata street tires kinda defeats the purpose of a non-Rcomp class. I can buy Hoosiers/Kumho's for close to that.