I've been quiet through most of this discussion, but something occurred to me.
What would be one good way to keep people from spending exorbitant amounts on
high dollar tires? Raise the minimum treadwear. Mine this year at Nats were
180 front and 160 rear, I believe, for the Toyo T1 tires (BTW, Loren, mine were
225/40 front and 215/40 rear). If you increase the treadwear, you also increase
the life of the tire, allowing them to run longer and decrease cost. From a
quick look at the TireRack pages, The Pilot MXXX3 are 140, Yoko A520 are 180,
AVS-I wasn't listed, Dunlop SP Sport 8000 are 200, SP Sport 9000 are 280.
Firehawk
SZ50 is 220, BFG KD is 200, KDW is 300. I think this as a limiting factor would
help greatly. Maybe also making sure the tire is available in more sizes than
just 17 and 18 would make it better for all competitors.
My feeling on the whole "to R or not to R" debate is that if the non-R class
is offered at larger events (Tours, ProSolo and Nats), I would run it. I don't
mind changing tires at events as I do now, but I also like getting a full season
from a set of tires, including street use, like I did this year. I ran monthly
events from January to August with the same fronts, and am still using the
rears.
My fronts got trashed (because of alignment) and wouldn't work in the wet
anymore,
so I bought new ones. I like the non-R idea since in the long run, it will be
less costly. Speed or times compared against other classes doesn't bother me,
it's the competition within the class and the drivers that I'm there for.
Lance Schueneman
96 Neon ACR Sedan - Barney Racing
11th place ST
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