Don't have the new bible to quote chapter and verse... but the wording
is something similar to "no active mechanism of heating tires". Which
means anything passive should be able to be used. What that has generally
been read to mean is that you can use blankets, even with reflective
material on them... but using the sun to heat them, or ducting exhaust
or engine heat onto the tires is questionable at best. Anything electric
is pretty much right out.
Another loophole would be to leave your tires in the back of your van
or truck... while you have the heater blasting. Then take them out
and mount them just before your runs. Probably illegal, at least by any
reasonable interpretation of the rules. Leaving them in a non-running
car that is retaining heat when it's ice cold outside... gray area!
--Darren
You wrote:
> What's the Solo II rules on tire-warmers, and how are they defined?
>
> (Wasn't that asked in a weaselly lawyerly-like way? ;-) )
>
> My problem is I can't get autocross-compound tires for my front wheels
> so I run road-race hoosiers in front. Last year, it meant my first run was
> always wasted. This year my run group was so big that I had a long-enough
> wait between runs that the fronts cooled down each time.
> I *would* consider using battery-powered warmers, but I expect they're
> banned. However, as a feeble survival technique, I might consider just
> wrapping the fronts in a towel or something, after the first run, just to
>conserve
> what heat they came by honestly. Would this run afoul of the rules?
>
> thanks,
> Joe Weinstein
>
> PS: My all-wheel-drive car requires that the running diameter of the fronts
> and backs be equal. Hoosier is the only competitive source of DOT 18" tires,
> and they have two sets that would give the proper diameters, but they
> only make the rears in autocross compound for one diameter, and only make
> the fronts in autocross for the other diameter. I have tried begging them to
>make
> a full set... :-) If I find no other solution, I may try autocrossers in the
>front, and
> road-racers in the rear next time.
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