However, the long-time hue & cry to do away with "R"
type tires (seen annually here on the net for the last 5-6
years) has always been answered with reference to the
impossibility of policing such things as treadwear.
IOW, if a manufacturer wants a National win badly enough,
they will build tires to get it. With the necessary treadwear
label of 140.
>My point is that a DOT stamp is just as unenforcable as a
treadwear
> stamp.
You can't enforce just about any rule that references a standard based
on the arguments I've read in the past few days here. Roger, you
mentioned just the same type of thing during the town hall meeting in
Topeka about stock classes and ECUs. Should we give up on stock classes
or open the ECUs to alteration? Please.
Roger, I do want to applaud you for bringing this up. I think I read a
sincere effort to bring up a legitimate problem that you foresee with
the class. However, a respected co-worker once told me that it is
impossible to legislate morality (cheating in this case). We can only
depend on the power of individuals to make the group conform to the
rules. For example:
I have a good friend who runs in DS with a stock Neon similar to mine.
Our times are basically equal now. I have bridged the gap of the R-tires
with a superior suspension and quality street tires. We've always
wondered what kind of times we could run if we swapped wheels and tires.
If I did this I would basically know how much R-tires could lower my
times and if someone beat me by that much I could put up my $$ and
protest. Heck, with ST being a new ballgame persay, why not put that
person's wheels on another car and see what they do? If a tire
manufacturer is caught cheating, the SCCA could write them out of
competition or whatever, thereby creating a deterrent to future
cheating. Our new sponsor the TireRack has alot at stake in this,
doesn't it?
I agree this is a potential problem and from what little information
I've been able to find about treadwear ratings and UTQG, it would be
very difficult to define "street tires" vs. "race tires" other than with
those ratings. STS is too cool and important of a class to give up on it
because of this issue. Just my $.02
Thanks,
Steve Wynne
#6 STS
member STAC speaking, err typing, for myself
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