In all the recent discussions on tires, a thought occurred to me. The
tire
rules specify various tires and make no concessions about track conditions.
I'm talking about wet weather racing here. The rules do not allow for
bolting on non-approved tires when the wet stuff comes down, but there are a
lot of wet weather specials out there.
Hey, I'm as guilty as anyone, I saved a set of full tread Yokohama 001s
and
mounted them on a set of spare wheels just for wet weather driving. They
were once grandfathered as acceptable tires but I don't think they are
anymore. I just use them in the wet.
Other set weather specials I'm aware of: The hottest ticket seems to
be the
midget dirt Hoosier tire -- wide tread design and very soft. I understand
the old Goodyear Eagles work pretty well (Peter Krause - 2nd fastest car in
the wet session at Savannah in a Fiat 850. He's also very talented)
Do we need any wet race tire rules? I have told people that just about
any
modern street performance tire with a good tread pattern would be a good rain
tire. When my Yoko's wear out, I will probably get some full tread, modern
performance tires for rain events.
Rain races are pretty rare. I think full tread street tires are safer
than
some of the vintage tires (Hoosiers seem to hate water). I would say that
any DOT approved tire in an appropriate size should be allowed. It's also
cheaper than grooving a set of the approved tires.
Anyone else have some thoughts on the subject?
Doug Meis
Team Escargot
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