Street tires in IT? My Review

[Greg Amy]

I am happy to see new racers posting here . Welcome.

That's not the atmosphere you're portraying.

The 2014 NARRC battle in ITA has been epic so far: five good drivers in five different well-prepped cars (not all Miatas!) As we head into late September the excitement is palpable for the final clash at the NARRCoffs at Lime Rock.

Everyone is parked together in the B Paddock. As we wait for first session to start the "hanger flying" and ball-busting is going strong. Suddenly, we notice a van with Ohio plates coming down the hill, pulling a well-prepped ITA Miata on an open trailer...as he pulls closer to our paddock we spot it -- Hoosier tires. Everyone gets a little uneasy...

After first qually, fears are confirmed: our top-5 warriors are all within 0.3 seconds of each other...but 1.5s in arrears to the Ohio Miata. The warriors are doing the mental math, and realizing that the difference in points between 1st and 2nd - which is larger than than between 2nd and 3rd, and so forth - will very likely have an effect on the final championship. Lots of grumbling ensues.

Three of the guys pull up their pants and walk across to Mr Ohio's paddock.

"Hey, congrats on the pole!"

"Thanks! Love this place! My first time here, surprised I'm so competitive."

"Yeee-ah, about that. See, we here in the Northeast are all running 'street tires', one with high treadwear ratings."

"Oh! Sorry, I didn't know. Did I miss a requirement in the supps? Are you protesting me?"

"No, no! You're good, it's a 'gentleman's agreement, we're just doing it within ourselves to save money. But here's the rub: we've been racing like this all year, and this is our final marquee race, and the points are really, really tight...I mean like 'you are gonna affect the championship if you win' kinda tight."

"Um, OK. So what are you saying?"

"Well, yeee-ah, we were wondering: if you're leading on the last lap, would you mind pulling off into the pits, let us all go by? That way you won't affect our championship. We'd reeeally appreciate it."

"Are you asking me to lay down on the last lap and intentionally lose, after having towed all the way over here from Ohio to compete?"

"Yeeeeah, that's it, thaaanks."

"Um. No. No, I don't think I'm going to do that."

"Uh, what?"

"I towed all the way here from Ohio, after hearing about how cool Lime Rock and the NARRCOffs was. I'm on the pole. I'm faster than you. I'm likely to win. I'm fully compliant to the regulations. I am not going to lay down and intentionally lose this race. Sorry."

"But...!"

"No. Thanks."

Our fearless warriors walk away mad, shocked that someone would not capitulate to their obvious enlightenment. "That guy's just an asshole", they assure themselves.

Well guess what? That guy wasn't the asshole, our warriors were the assholes. Our warriors are the ones that decided everyone else should play to their rules instead of the rules. And they're all butt-hurt about it.

Moral of the story: you don't want to get butt-hurt, get Topeka to change the IT regs. Or create new classes for those tires. But if you want to win in ITA, plan on buying Hoosiers.

Everybody else already knows and accepts it. That's the rules.

- GA

[mossaidis]

Nice example tGA. Balance is good. Yes, the IT rules should change to accommodate this 180+ tw tires as standard. That is, if IT is really a regional-only, entry-level, low-cost class SCCA claims it to be.

P.S. NARRC points don't get awarded if you "just showed up" in the NARRC running. hugs.

[Greg Amy]

...the IT rules should change to accommodate this 180+ tw tires as standard...

And as a member I'd actually support that*. But it's going to be a hard sell; dare I say something like "cold day in Hell"...? If something like that is to happen, it's going to have to come from within, and the way to do that is via sub-classes that, in the end, have higher participation numbers than the GCR classes. And it has to be nationwide, because it'll take only a very small handful of opponents to veto it.

Think you can do that? Then do it.

But don't f**k with the people that are following the current regs.

- GA

* Remembering back in "the old days" where we added a "discernible tread" rule because everyone was shaving the Rs down (@ ~$25/tire) to damn near the carcass..you're figuring that additional cost into your mindset of Utopia, right...?

[Ron Earp]

Nice example tGA. Balance is good. Yes, the IT rules should change to accommodate this 180+ tw tires as standard. That is, if IT is really a regional-only, entry-level, low-cost class SCCA claims it to be.
.

Then lobby to get the rules changed. Don't make some gentlemen's agreement in the paddock that circumvents the rules. It's almost like what some of you are proposing is nested layers of competition so everyone is a winner. Is that what we've become? Tier 1 - Race tires, Tier 2 - shaved/new 200TW tires, Tier 3- 200 TW tires

And, be sure you're ready for what will happen when you get the rules changed. You're still going to have the best prepped teams on the podium, and best prepped might mean new shaved and properly cycled street tires for every race.

And when you get those rules changed, are you going to consider some wheel size changes for IT? 15" 205s might be great for a 2100 lb ITB car, but they don't work so well on a 2700 lb RX7 at 185 rwhp.

[EH9racing]

The 2014 NARRC battle in ITA has been epic so far: five good drivers in five different well-prepped cars (not all Miatas!) As we head into late September the excitement is palpable for the final clash at the NARRCoffs at Lime Rock........

And they're all butt-hurt about it.

- GA

Greg,

A. Those imaginary ITA guys are competing for a Street Tire Championship and can go pound sand if they don't like that they don't get to win the NARRCoff. Sorry. But that is what they signed up for.

B. You are assuming that IT-ST will be handled like the NARRC IT7N group, however what Chip has set up down in CFR is very much different from a simple gentlemen's agreement. Cars are clearly labeled, points are awarded per grouping, IT normal vs. ITST. Also knowing Chip, he will talk/post about it alot, because Chip talks, so alot of people will know about it.