Tyres for sprinting road-going JPSCs

[David]

FWIW I have sent the following to the MSA:

Dear Sirs

As background, I hold Competition Licence No.181463 and am a member of affiliated clubs: Borough 19 Motor Club, Westfield Sports Car Club, and RAFMSA. I have competed in sprints regularly since 2004 in road-going kit-cars (Striker and Westfield with 1600cc car derived engines).

I refer to the proposal (https://www.msauk.org/assets/speedevent ... tation.pdf) to outlaw the use of tyres from L List 1B for road-going cars in speed competition from 2017 on "cost and harmonisation" grounds.

With regard to "harmonisation", I must know personally at least a hundred competitors running kit cars in road-going classes, and cannot think of a single one currently using List 1A tyres. As kits almost always compete only against other "kits and replicas", it is difficult to envisage with whom it is intended we be "harmonised".

On cost, each of these competitors (assuming they remain such) is going to have to "invest" in a new set of tyres for 2017 (many can make a set of List 1B tyres last two or three seasons). Also there will undoubtedly then be a "performance war" as in the past when it suddenly became received wisdom that the Scudo Stunner was the grippiest tyre available in List 1A. Many competitors will find themselves "reinvesting" if they think they have made the incorrect initial choice.
Worse still, almost all competition oriented road-going kit cars run on 13" wheels -- for which there is a dearth of List 1A rubber available. Many competitors will therefore find themselves having to buy a new set of 15" wheels -- adding weight (unsprung at that) to their cars. Whilst most will run lower profile tyres on 15" wheels to avoid having to change differential ratios, that fact might well require set-up adjustments. Once again, it is difficult to imagine that anyone will feel that their motor sport has been rendered cheaper.

If there is an unstated fuel economy argument with regard to the mandated use of "less sticky" tyres, it should be remembered that most speed competitors will cover no more than 200 miles on track in a season -- meaning that any difference is de minimis.

Lastly, the main point missed is that amateur motor sport competitors pursue their hobby because it is fun. I don't think many kit-car competitors will be found who think that driving such a car on 1A tyres is comparable in enjoyment to having 1Bs. Some, me probably included, may simply seek their enjoyment elsewhere.

I think that you will be able to tell that I do not support the proposition, and hope you will rethink.

With regards

[jeffw]

MSA Tyre Regulation Change
Proposed Regulation Wheels and tyres
11.6.1. Deleted.
11.6.2. Except for Period Defined Vehicles (NonRally) A-H inclusive tyres are to L List 1A .
Reason: Nationwide harmonisation and cost for what is seen as the entry Category Implementation: 1 st January 2017
This regulation change will affect all Roadgoing Series Production Cars and Roadgoing Specialist Production Cars. So every car currently competing in the roadgoing classes of Sprint & Hillclimb.
The effect will be to ban all List 1B & 1C tyres, which will have a major impact on the sport as currently significant numbers of competitors use these tyres including:-
Most high performance cars eg:- Porsche, Ferrari, Lotus etc together with performance saloons eg Audi RS, BMW M Series and Mercedes AMG all have these tyres fitted as standard by the manufacturer and it is believed that list 1A tyres are actually NOT available for some of these vehicles. Thus effectively banning the vehicle from competing.
Almost all of the Roadgoing Specialist Production cars not only come with list 1B tyres from the manufacturers, but the vast majority of Championships specifically allow them. For a larger number of car in this class running 13” wheels there are no safe alternatives to List 1b tyres.
So this one rule change will affect around 50% of the competitors in the Sprint & Hillclimb events, either directly stopping them from competing or making it costly to do so by this change.
I therefore object to this change and request that it does not go ahead.

[jeffw]

The current 2015 List 1b tyres will be List 1c in 2016 as the EU regulations have made these, existing, 1b tyres illegal for road use. This is the result of the EU deciding to introduce a Fuel Efficiency rating on Tyres (like you get on a fridge) and unsurprisingly the tyres which have the most grip have the worse fuel efficiency (mind you we are only talking 10% between Grade A & Grade G). All the current List 1b tyres are G rated and the EU has decided they must be F or better to get an E mark. No E mark no road-legal, no List 1b. There are new track tyres which are F rated (Toyo R888R and Avon ZZS for instance) and these are likely to be in the 2016 List 1b.

So, in short, the decision has been made to outlaw G rated tyres for RG sprinting from 2016 (even if they are road-legal still and have an E mark).

On top of this a proposal has been put to the Speed SC to ban all List 1b from Road Going classes from 2017. So not only do we need to buy new 1b tyres for next year but they want us to use 1a tyres from 2017.

The impact of these changes will be staggering and we will likely see only standard road-going cars and single seaters at club sprints. Indeed I would expect the kit car classes are likely to break away from the MSA and run their own sprint series like MLR do now. Please take the time to object to these changes which will decimate our sport.

[David]

Sticking to the knitting of the List 1A proposal, I'm pleased to report that the Westie fellas are now getting mobilised.
I know of several emails which have gone in today.

[dopdog]

I sent one in today as well, let's hope it is not in vain.

[David]

Apparently, not in vain. The proposal seems to have been dropped -- for now.

If I understood correctly, the consultation contributions from competitors were 119 against and only one in favour.

[jeffw]

POWER TO THE PEOPLE !

[dopdog]

good news for you guys