In a message dated 2/25/01 8:44:17 AM Central Standard Time, "Paul Foster"
<pfoster@tampabay.rr.com> wrote:
<< I just read the proposal in Fastrack and I am totally mystified. It appears
that some people want to run competitively in Prepared with DOT tires. Is
this the gist of it? If so I am terribly saddened. The Comp Board in it's
infinite wisdom has all but decided that they will make the older GT cars
uncompetitive for the sake of the newer equipment by requiring windshields
and hardtops, and now Prepared looks like it is going to become another DOT
class. Please tell me I'm wrong because I am getting very frustrated that
every time I decide to go one direction the club changes the ground rules on
me. >>
I am a bit interested in this also, and have followed the evolution of this
proposal. I don't currently have a prepared class car, but I have thought
about building one, so this rule will affect my choices if I choose to go
that way.
After reading it over completely, I can say two things for sure.
1) They are not stopping anyone from running the current cantillever tires.
2) They don't expect the alternative to be any better, it will probably be
worse.
The idea is not to make the old way obsolete. They fear that the production
of cantillever tires may end. The whole idea of limiting rim width was to
limit the tire contact patch. The cantillever tire was a cheat around the
rule. If cantillever tires are no longer available new in the next few years,
you will have a case where some people horded the tires and will have an
advantage for a few years.
So what they are doing is making a new way of measuring the itres which will
still allow the current tires, but also allow a wider rim with a similar
sized contact patch. In many cases there is not a non cantillever race slick
tire that fits the desired size. They used available D.O.T. tires as a
reference of what size tires would fit the proposed rule. If this rule change
is accepted, they expect the tire companies to fill the void with proper race
slicks as they stop making the cantillevers.
With a few years of research, the wider rim package may become the faster
setup, but only time will tell. If you are already running cantillevers, keep
on running them. If you are setting up a car, and don't have rims yet, you
may want to wait a little longer.
Gary M.
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