Tyre Question/Class for 2016

[windy]

I asked the MSA for clarification of Championship Regulations specifically with regard to the new tyre regulations and whether we would be allowed to specify that Road-Going cars can run 1C tyres.

 

The answer has come back that Road-going cars will definately only be able to run tyres from the 2016 1A or 1B lists. Any cars running 1C tyres will be have to run in the Mod Prod category. So that's the rule that will be applied.

 

The SSOT have all been discussing the tyre issue at length and now that we have this definative answer we will have to consider what we do with the Speed Series for 2016. So whilst I am sure you would all have liked the answer ages ago it's going to take some time, so please bear with us. This is a possibly big change.

 

It is also worth pointing out that the Tyre lists are drawn up by the MSA Tyre Committee which has representitives from the tyre companies on it. They have to specify which tyres go in which lists. They should all be aware of the regulations that Windy has quoted.

But were the tyre companies aware of what would happen if the MSA were to ban certain emarked tyres from the road going classes? I think the answer is no.

If the tyre companies were aware that for sprints and hillclimbs there would potentially be no market for their tyres they would surely have made it very clear to the MSA that they should not put this rule in.

[windy]

And how would we determine who has what power and what weight. My Supercharged Duratec for example has 89hp

 

Oh and it weighs 4000kg  

Weigh car & driver at their first event. I had this done to me early in the season using portable scales.

I had also provided a copy of the dyno figures for my engine at the first event.

There is talk over the winter of holding a rolling road day at Northampton Motorsport to establish comparable power figures for the engines. A good PR activity for one of our sponsors.

[Scottish Bloke]

Not sure it's workable, for starters how do we get all the cars dyno'd before season starts, all dyno's give differing results and same issue with weighing.

Also you have to consider that different people's first event could be spread over 6 months.

All too difficult to manage in my opinion, we really don't have to make our volunteer organisers jobs any harder. Just my opinion.

[windy]

Richard have you had your car dyno'd?

There is just 1 guy managing the engine, weight and tyre data for the season. It can be done.

[Terry Everall]

I agree with Richard that having cars attending a specific rolling road is costly and will not be popular!. How does this account for mid season mods or engine changes. Who is going to weigh all the cars/drivers and with what equipment?

Its just one more piece of unnecessary admin that will put people off and I am not happy that a P2W approach for a handicap work when we have BEC and CEC with totally different torque available and our cars have syncro/dog/sequential boxes plus traction control/launch control/flatshifter etc which would all need to be accounted for

[woodman]

The easiest way forward is to adopt the L7 approach as Simon has said

Ask for our own class on day at events we are invited to .

then we can do as we please with tyres/classes

[windy]

I'm guessing most cars have already been dyno'd so the figures are already available.

It's the overall weight we are concerned about, not corner weights, simple to measure, doesn't need a flat floor.

Make the handicap method of scoring voluntary in the first year if you like, see how it goes.

It would be interesting to see if the championship result would have been affected much this year when applying the handicap system to the known times for comparison. Anyone care to check it out?

[Nick Algar - Competition Secretary]

The easiest way forward is to adopt the L7 approach as Simon has said

Ask for our own class on day at events we are invited to .

then we can do as we please with tyres/classes

This is one of the possibilities, but any car running 1C tyres would have to comply with Mod Prod regs and the driver would need FHR.

[Terry Everall]

There are quite a few few cars that have not been on a rolling road especially with newcomers and many figures are bhp at the rear wheels with flywheel bhp being estimated

[John Loudon - Sponsorship Liaison]

Is it such a problem that if we allowed list 1C tyres in (for example) classes E & F, they then have to run in mod prod on the day? Is it not similar to the situation which has prevailed up to now, where in many of the events, Classes A and C have had to compete in the same class as E, and classes B and D have had to compete in the same class (on the day) as class F?

Just my thought, playing devil's advocate.

I suspect that in truth most of us are far more concerned about our fellow competitors in the Speed Series classes, than ever we are about our position in the event organiser's class on the day? I know that was the case for me in the last couple of seasons.

 

What about the pot hunters and people who want to attempt event class records (some of us do exist   )

[Onliest Smeg David]

What about the pot hunters and people who want to attempt event class records (some of us do exist )

I'm sure there's more than a few who like to compete for awards on the day.

Definitely where I'd like to be at some stage down the line (never happen in the Lardy One though)

[Paul Aspden]

Richard have you had your car dyno'd?

There is just 1 guy managing the engine, weight and tyre data for the season. It can be done.

Congratulations Windy, you have won yourself a job attending every competitors first event and then draining all the water from their chassis tubes, emptying their fuel tanks, and removing the lead overcoat they are wearing.........

 

Get real! 

[Paul Aspden]

This is one of the possibilities, but any car running 1C tyres would have to comply with Mod Prod regs and the driver would need FHR.

Are the cage requirements different for a mod prod car too? (not looked, just being argumentative!)

[windy]

Congratulations Windy, you have won yourself a job attending every competitors first event and then draining all the water from their chassis tubes, emptying their fuel tanks, and removing the lead overcoat they are wearing.........

 

Get real! 

Paul, sorry you feel that way but it's already being run like this in some championships. Have a read of this which defines how the things are measured and the handicap is calculated.

 

http://media.wix.com/ugd/fd72d2_d5277766197d44c1b69424c334a58307.pdf

[Terry Everall]

I have seen that before as have the Speed Series Organising Team but IMHO it is no better than we already have. It does not seem to cater for torque, does not cater for BECs, does not address  syncro boxes, dog boxes or sequential boxes, does not cater for launch control or traction control etc. What we have is Ok apart from how we deal with list1C tyres