Limit to the number of tyres you can use at Nationals

[wacattack]

For me the single biggest expense in a season is new tyres, yet to compete against either the "richer" drivers or team drivers, I really need to spend even more.

I personally dont think this is fair and would quite like there to be a limit on the number of tyres you can use per meeting.

They do it in F1 where budgets are even higher, so why not in our sport where we do it as a hobby??

What are other peoples thoughts on this?

[jim76]

think this has been suggested many times in the past. It's a great idea to keep costs down, the only problem is how to police it. The meeting organisers already have their work cut out to keep the meetings going like clockwork.

[telboy]

They do it at TC nats and other TC meetings, and it's policed very well and easily. If anything new tyres in off road are easier to spot than on road. They just mark the tyre and wheel with a coloured paint or something when the car goes through scrutineering.

[dibble34]

Got my vote too, like you say it can't be hard to mark the tyre with something.

[bodgit]

When I used to scrutineer tc cars we used to mark the wheels with permanent ink, say green for the first setof tyres and put a mark by the drivers name on a heat sheet. When the car came in after each race to be checked over if the wheels had no mark then we would dab them with another colour and mark the drivers name with 2 ticks to say he had used his allowance. If that car came in again with no mark then it would be disqualified.

[spenner]

Wayne....

Problems with number of tyres allowed - Some tracks have high wear rate and this would make the class less appealing.
What happens to drivers who make the A finals.... you are still looking at quite a few pairs..

Benefits - Makes the racing more interesting from an outsider point of view.
Keeps cost down slightly.

But......

How about 1 nominated tyre/compound ???

As Craig knows we did this at Silverstone for our weekender and it was good when the rain came down and we were all using our skills to get round as quick as possible.
Easy to police...
Keeps cost down as you don't need various compounds etc...

Just ideas but i like your thinking, but sadly this is not a cheap hobby and if you want to reach the top you need to spend a bit to get there first.

[ben]

Like said, you need people to police it.
Do you REALLY need enough tyres for a new set every run/every two runs though? 4wd at stotfold i ran the same set of tyres all day, they had done 20 minutes running round rhr before hand aswell.
Id say dont over complicate the system!

P.S you got my shock tower mount you were replacing at stotfold wayne?

[ben]

Originally Posted by spenner

Just ideas but i like your thinking, but sadly this is not a cheap hobby and if you want to reach the top you need to spend a bit to get there first.

Agreed!! The people who are at the top of the game now have all payed for stuff at some point to get to where they are now!

[DaveG28]

The only national this year that I felt "needed" lots of tyres was Oz, but I'd be in favour of 1 nominated tyre, 6 tyres per meeting and then another 4 for A finals...

[telboy]

Originally Posted by spenner

Wayne....

What happens to drivers who make the A finals.... you are still looking at quite a few pairs..

.......

Just ideas but i like your thinking, but sadly this is not a cheap hobby and if you want to reach the top you need to spend a bit to get there first.

Allow the A finalists ONLY to use 1 extra set for the finals, When they use it would be up to them, could make the strategy more interesting.

Not all of us have plenty on money to splash, why should this stop people like us from being on the same playing field as the top drivers? If anything this could drive some people away from racing, as they are never going to be able to run the same amount of new tyres as the faster/richer guys.

I've only used 4 sets of tyres all this year, because of low funds. But my god, on some tracks when I put one of the new sets on it made a hell of a difference and moved me up the tables.
It would be nice to have the chance to do this every meeting, but not everyone can do it. So like I said, why should this put the poorer of us at a disadvantage?

I voted for it. I think it would be a good idea.

[wacattack]

Originally Posted by spenner

Wayne....

Problems with number of tyres allowed - Some tracks have high wear rate and this would make the class less appealing.
What happens to drivers who make the A finals.... you are still looking at quite a few pairs..

Benefits - Makes the racing more interesting from an outsider point of view.
Keeps cost down slightly.

But......

How about 1 nominated tyre/compound ???

As Craig knows we did this at Silverstone for our weekender and it was good when the rain came down and we were all using our skills to get round as quick as possible.
Easy to police...
Keeps cost down as you don't need various compounds etc...

Just ideas but i like your thinking, but sadly this is not a cheap hobby and if you want to reach the top you need to spend a bit to get there first.

I personally dont think the 1 tyre compound rule would make too much of a difference. When its dry, its yellows; When its wet its greens. Also, becasue we only run greens in the wet, tyre wear is normally pretty minimal so you can use them at another meeting with no drop in performance, making it the dry weather yellows the issue and where the costs stems

To your point about tyre wear being worse at some tracks more than others, yes I appreicate this will be the case, but 2 sets per national should easliy be enough and should actually make for some better racing.

Also, as a "reward" for making the A, then maybe allow a 3rd set for the A finalists?

And to your last point about this not being a cheap hobby, this is precisely why I've proposed this. It already costs a heck of a lot to compete and Im just thinking of ways to reduce costs so the sport can appeal to more and more people.

PS Craig said the Silverstone weekned was awesome, wish I could have made it

[ben]

Wayne.. i dont have a scenario for your poll. Money is an object to me, i pay just a little less than full price for all my tyres and other racing gear.

[wacattack]

Originally Posted by ben

Agreed!! The people who are at the top of the game now have all payed for stuff at some point to get to where they are now!

Why exclude people who cant afford to spend fortunes in the first place to get to the top?

[wacattack]

Originally Posted by ben

Like said, you need people to police it.
Do you REALLY need enough tyres for a new set every run/every two runs though? 4wd at stotfold i ran the same set of tyres all day, they had done 20 minutes running round rhr before hand aswell.
Id say dont over complicate the system!

P.S you got my shock tower mount you were replacing at stotfold wayne?

I do mate, just havent seen you around

[wacattack]

Originally Posted by ben

Wayne.. i dont have a scenario for your poll. Money is an object to me, i pay just a little less than full price for all my tyres and other racing gear.

Thats just my tint/humour on the response. In terms of the results I'm taking the "No" response to mean simply that

[DaveG28]

I don't see how it can be a bad thing. Let's be honest, the same guys will be in the A, the B etc, but we all spend a little less money getting there!?

[ben]

Not excluding anyone? Im in the same boat, theres no way i could afford to put a new set of tyres on every run of each national! But i make do with what i have.

If you want it to be a rule next year, you'll have to propose it to the BRCA...

[wacattack]

Originally Posted by ben

Not excluding anyone? Im in the same boat, theres no way i could afford to put a new set of tyres on every run of each national! But i make do with what i have.

Exactly, so why not try and create a situation that promotes a level playing field, where you dont necessarily have to "make do" with what you have because everyone is in the same boat

[DaveG28]

Originally Posted by ben

Not excluding anyone? Im in the same boat, theres no way i could afford to put a new set of tyres on every run of each national! But i make do with what i have.

If you want it to be a rule next year, you'll have to propose it to the BRCA...

I assume he means to do just that if he thinks it's widely supported?

[Smartalec]

Basically it's the national series and if you can't afford the running costs then you should stick to regional or even club racing.

Personally I ran every round of the series and I thought it was the cheapest year on tyres by far, I only used a couple of sets of tyres at RHR and the other astro tracks. The most expensive national was Oswestry and I only used two sets of tyres for each class.

Surely you wouldn't travel up and down the country to race a two day meeting and not put a set of new tyres on at the start of the day?. That in itself means if you run 2 and 4wd you are going to use 12 complete sets for the series at best !!!!!

As I said, it's not expensive for a national series, it's as expensive or cheap as you allow it.

On top of this, every yellow or green minispike that I used in a national heat I used again at regionals/club meets afterwards so that makes it even cheaper