Mike Rosen wrote:
...
>This is whats driving so many racers into newer cars. There's a huge
>disincentive to race a series 1 seven or front-engined Junior when the
>'newer' cars can be made to go faster by taking advantage of tire
>technology that wouldn't exist for 5 or 6 years, which a car using 15"
>wheels can't do.
When the whole vintage 'tire war' thing started a few years ago, I tried
to make this point to no avail. The plain fact is that with skinny 15"
rims, there isn't a whole lot of difference in tread width or rolling
diameter between the various section tires. The guys with the wide 13"
rims have so much more cornering power, there should be some sort of
accomodation given to the older cars that still have tall skinny rims.
Actually, some of the early cars do have 13" rims, but they're narrow.
On the track, there's about 30-40 seconds/lap difference between a BMC,
Elva, Stanguelini (or my Bourgeault) of 58-59 vintage and a Lotus 27 of
1963 vintage. I get lapped at least twice in a 10 lap race. For some
reason, the cars I race with have been getting faster and faster, and I
have not. I can still have fun, but it's like driving a rear view
mirror around the track, not a car. There's your disincentive.
I came across some race results from 1967 that listed my Bourgeault in
last place behind a Stanguelini with a Lotus in 1st. See, nothing's
changed in 30 years! ;=)
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