In a message dated 4/23/99 9:49:51 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
alliancemillsoft@worldnet.att.net writes:
<< ...do you really think that BFG would have produced hundreds of
thousands of dollars of tires for that event without some "quiet approval"
by at
least one SCCA official???? I wonder ....
John Whitling >>
This question could lead to some interesting exchanges.
I confess, I enjoy the little battles that break out about tires.
That's about as far as it goes though. Just some net fun. The people who
are in a position to change rules don't wish to do so. They sense no
groundswell of demand for change from the peasants. There is none. Not yet
anyway. No one knows how that might change as time goes by.
So whether durometers are consistent or not, whether a z rating means
anything or whether treadwear ratings mean something or mean nothing doesn't
matter. Not now.
If the time were ripe for a tire rule change the specific way it would
be defined and enforced would follow.
You could gather a bunch of tire engineers together now and pick their
brains as to what works and doesn't work and from that write a coherent
rule--but you'd be wasting your time. It wouldn't go anywhere.
My rather extensive experience has been that, with tires, soft = fast =
short-lived = more expensive and hard = slow = longer-lived = cheaper.
Experience may vary. If you are driving a light, good handling sports
car and you are one of those Fangio-like driving geniuses maybe you can get
long life from soft tires and still go pretty fast.
However, there are a much greater number of autocrossers who drive cars
that aren't quite so beautifully engineered and our driving style isn't quite
up to the genius standard. Autocross was at one time a place for the amateur
to enjoy some relatively low pressure and low cost competitive fun with
whatever car he happened to have. Now the rules seem aimed more toward those
who purchase cars with autocrossing first in mind, no place for the guy who
admits he is an amateur and a tightwad.
That doesn't bother me all that much. I've done a lot of autocrossing
for a long time. If it has gotten more expensive and complicated than suits
me I can find other things to do on Sunday.
Someone say something. I need typing practice.
Ray
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