In what car?

Sorry Andrie, i'm new around here... Don't know everyone yet

 

Tires: We will be changing our tire rules for 2008... Some points of interest:

- Tire model must be readily available to the North American public (no one-off models or "versions" available in Japan but not in the USA, no "prototype" versions, etc.)

- No Auto-X Compounds permitted

- Instead of covering all tires by the UTQG ratings, like we have been doing for the last 2 seasons, we will classify tires individually... For instance, we may be allowing the use of the BFGoodrich R1 tire in Modified, even though its UTQG rating is below 50.. Basically, we will not be going off of UTQG alone...

- we will be limiting the tire size "widths" in each of the three divisions in Street Class (FWD, RWD, AWD) to reduce the significance of HorsePower, and increase the significance of chassis setup and the driver's skill. Those teams that want to make tons of POWWWWAAHHH and run MASSIVE tires, will need to step up to Modified, where they truly belong.

 

Nik those are good ideas.

Alex

 

as long as is not going to be unfair tire advantige.
i think the rules are working when they are simple and clear for everybody.
Don't get me wrong ,i just wonder on this one:

"- Instead of covering all tires by the UTQG ratings, like we have been doing for the last 2 seasons, we will classify tires individually... For instance, we may be allowing the use of the BFGoodrich R1 tire in Modified, even though its UTQG rating is below 50.. Basically, we will not be going off of UTQG alone...
"

 

Those are helpful improvements Nick. I would follow Martin's suggestion of checking tires after the cars come off course. It is super quick (couple of seconds a car as they roll by and do a quick stop then head for the paddock). It is also cheap and simple.

you can find them here:

http://www.stockcarproducts.com/acc4b.htm

I tried like crazy to find one at Buttonwillow but couldn't, think of how many posts have gone back and forth on whether the HKS EVO used standard or softer A048s. If I had that guage I could have empirically stated the durometer numbers and it would have been end of discussion.

Also checking would alleviate two paranoia's teams have:

1. tire treatments; you can buy cheaply tire treatments that are worth .5 seconds a lap and are visibly undetectable.

2. Tire Manufacturer Cheating; it is relatively easy for a manufacturer to produce a tire that says one thing on the sidewall (like adding "DOT" or no "A" in the compound code) when in fact it is a special "cooked-up" version of the tire. I am not suggesting that this has been done in RTA but it certainly has been done before in other series.

It would also help you help participants by creating a data base of which tires are best in class and you can keep track of running changes by the manufactures that they often do that may change the competitiveness of any given tire.

for those of you wondering why the R1 may be allowed in modified...yes it is that hard

Regards,
Paul Gerrard

 

I was talking about the CTS-V driven by Pilgrim

 

Great suggestions Nik!

I've always thought it was strange to put 275+ tires on 18x10 wheels on a car that came stock with 225 and 17x8 and still categorize it as a "street Class car". Some car models can readily accept wider tires while others cant. This leveling of the playing field in Street class is welcome, will help with diversity, and will avoid a "one make" race.

As some of us have allready initiated plans, setups, and testing for next year, could you please clarify exactly what the street class tire rules will be ASAP so that our early efforts wont be a waste of time? I do have suggestions if you would like to contact me.

Thanks

 

Hey PG,

Check out this link to the special (and allowed at this race) HKS A048 tire from Buttonwillow that has very different sidewall markings than my locally sourced A048's do....

It's kinda like putting pro-drivers in street class just for this event, huh?

http://jcmotophoto.smugmug.com/galle...221454574-A-LB

 

^ nice, lol

 

Holy spacer! That thing is at least 3" thick!!

 

Ouch! you have dented my "pro" sized ego

oh and remember to level the playing field they handicapped me with dead shock (there I feel better )

 

werd.. especially for street tires..

i hope jc doesn't mind some discussion about this.. but i walked away with a weird feeling.. when a manufacturer delivered street tire runs 0.8 secs faster than NT-01s and only 0.5 slower than a new DOT-R tire.. it doesn't make a lot of sense for some of us who have driven a lot of laps on both.

im mean its fully possible that unbeknownst to the driver, some tire manufacturer delivers some cooked tires in exchange for big sponsor stickers and a win.

i saw a few tires with spray painted model names on them.. usually a good sign of a 'experimental' tire..

maybe something as simple as coughing up a tire rack receipt may help.. who knows.. i hate the 'more rules' stuff but if theres money involved.. sometimes its a necessary evil.

 

HAHA! It's all good! My main gripe is that I have to personally spot you about 100lbs! I'd like to see how fast you would drive sporting my man-*****...... Besides, dont 3 1/2 Ohlins beat 4 "tuner" style shocks anyday?




Ryno, tire disscussion is always good! I'm not sure what cars/tires you were refering to but I can assure you that my tires were not cooked. In fact, my OTS Yokohama Neovas had 1 autocross, 200 street miles, and about 400 track miles (about 20 heat cycles) on them prior to the RTA race on Sunday. I only gained about 1 second on my same sized A048s. According to Tanner Faust, my street tires could have used a little more camber and slightly lower pressure but were otherwise working well while my A048s needed a lot more camber and much lower pressures. Using the same car/set up for both Street and Modified with only a tire change really doesnt optimize the set up and forces compromise. I bet that I had at least 1 and poss 2 seconds in my car on the "R" tires if I had optimized settings between classes and prob could have broke into the :39s on street tires if I could have made those adjustments too.

BTW Ryno, did you get your car fixed and will we be seeing you at the races next year?

 

oh.. i thought you told me they were delivered by yoko.. my bad.

i was just a little shocked when you were running NT-01s all weekend.. then went out and blasted those times on street tires... and then could only find less than a second on the R048s.

in most peoples experience, DOT-Rs are worth about 3 secs over street tires.. and since most of us street tire guys were in the 41-42 range.. your car, and the similarly prepped cusco car going 38-39 on DOT-Rs made sense... but then you ripped off back-to-back low 40s on streets... just seemed too fast for a OTS 180 treadwear tire.. and when i thought you said yoko delivered them as a sponsor it just brought up visions in my head of black helicopters delivering them.. you know how it goes... heh

and as far as the evo? IM OUT BABY! no more throwing cash at a daily driver trying to make it compete on a track.. hehe.. im just going flog the race car from now on... good luck next year!