Howdy,
On Fri, 27 Oct 2000, Jay Mitchell wrote:
> Don't care. They are reasonably priced, and they work better for
> me than any other autox tire I can legally use on my car. If
> somebody else comes out with a better tire, I'll change to that.
> It would be exactly the same with a "real street tire" rule: I'd
> do my best to identify the best legal tire, keep a set of them
> dedicated to competition use, and replace them when they wore out
> or aged (the latter being by far the most likely scenario). It
> would likely cost me more money to do that, and the net result
> would be that autox would be less fun for me.
We were talking about enforcement as compared to stock classes, not if
you'd like to run these tires. I don't wanna run 'em either (12" wide
slicks are wonderful things). That doesn't matter.
> >I'm under no illusions about the ease of enforcement etc. for ST
> tires
> >rules, but I don't see the effort there to be any amount greater
> than the
> >current stock class rules.
>
> I do. DOT requirements are relatively stringent compared to tread
> wear ratings. And, as Roger pointed out, putting a specific tire
> on an exclusion list will only happen _after_ that tire has done
> the damage.
Treadwear ratings are nothing other than shorthand for the exclusion list.
Just like with stock classes, you say tire models must be available prior
to xx date to be legal for the season. You further say that any model
rated at less than 140 treadwear at that time is prohibited. You also
have an exclusion list _that can be updated at any time_ in case a
manufacturer tries to put a 140 stamp on a R tire. Your scenario can't
happen unless the tire company cheats by changing an existing model and
lies about it, something that's been shown to have happened with the R
tires already (and which therefore isn't a valid reason to say that it
can't be done with street tires).
So if manufacturer A puts a 140 treadwear rating on their R tire 1 day
before the eligibility cutoff date you do potentially have a delay until
the tire gets stuck on the exclusion list. Given that the cutoff date is
early in the season, this means that while potentially one or two
tour/pros are affected, nationals isn't.
> Given that ST is not a new _class_ but rather a new _category_,
> I'd say that it is nowhere near popular enough at this time to
> justify a permanent place in the rulebook, extra effort by Denver
> to enforce new tire rules, or National status. Get three or four
> full classes at Nats in your new category, and I'll change my
> view.
That's a very nice justification for ignoring an entire group of people
who are coming out to events despite the close-mindedness of existing
autoxer's like yourself.
Me, I'd rather encourage the growth of the sport and welcome the new blood
these people are bringing in. Call me crazy.
Mark
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