This is a tongue in cheek comment so don't take too seriously (if at all)...
When they (SEB?) disallowed sucker cars in AM, wasn't one of the reasons
cited: The danger of small engine's flywheels exploding and causing harm?
Wouldn't 60 generators in grid pose this same problem? Not to mention the
mass electrocutions in case of sudden rain :)
Seriously, IMO, this would just be another thing we would have to drag to
events/grid etc. And also be one more thing that would separate the have's
from the have not's. Also, this is something that would only be useful to
many people for a few events. In the summer in the Midwest, I've checked my
tire temps at 90+ deg BEFORE I TOOK THE CAR OFF THE TRAILER!
Dave
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark J. Andy" <marka@telerama.com>
To: "autox mailing list" <autox@autox.team.net>
Sent: Monday, October 02, 2000 4:07 PM
Subject: Tire warmers
> Howdy,
>
> Ok, I promise my comments on this topic won't make everyone think I'm a
> dickhead. I've already done that and see no need to keep proving the
> point... :-)
>
> I'm curious why electric tire warmers are disallowed? Is this a potential
> safety thing or a "keep the costs down" thing?
>
> If its based in cost, I would bet that a set of tire warmers & a generator
> ends up being considerably cheaper than a tire-warming co-driver that it
> seems like a lot of people use, particularly over a couple seasons.
>
> I've got experience with electric warmers from mc racing and they very
> definately do make a difference both in initial stick and also in tire
> wear (no "cold-tearing" and you can reduce the heat cycle count to one per
> run group rather than one per run).
>
> Having said all that, I've got no idea what car-sized tire warmers cost.
> For the bike warmers, you could get a set for $600. I would assume for
> cars you'd be in the neighborhood of $1k to $3k. $1k is one set of tires
> for me, about a season's runs for a codriver (not to mention additional
> wear and tear. Oh, and its really hard to flat spot a tire with an
> electric tire warmer... :-)
>
> There's also the physical aspect to consider (ie. you gotta be able to
> have the car in one place pretty much until its ready to run, then strip
> the blankets and go). For Nationals / Tours this doesn't seem like a big
> issue, but for ProSolo you could probably only really use them in pre-grid
> (since you gotta be able to move the car in grid), limiting their
> effectiveness somewhat.
>
> So whadda folks think? Is it time to remove this rule? Provided there
> are no safety issues that I don't know about, it would give folks like me
> that don't have tire-warming co-drivers a way to close that gap a bit for
> similar or perhaps less cost.
>
> Mark
>
> (btw, tire warmers can be a PITA. More stuff to haul around, more stuff
> to setup when you get to grid, gotta be able to quickly strip them before
> you run, etc. I don't think I'd bother for anything less than divisional
> & up competition.)
>
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