145 replies to this topic

[Brian Ghidinelli]

RACING MEMO

DATE: October 16, 2013 NUMBER: RM 13‐11

FROM: Club Racing Board

TO: All Participants

SUBJECT: Spec Miata Tires

Effective 1/1/2014, In GCR section 9.1.7.6.c.

 

1. National Regional and Majors Competition

All cars shall use the P205/50ZR15 Hoosier “SM6””SM7” Spec Miata Dry or the

P205/50R15 Hoosier “H2O” Spec Miata Wet Tires.

 

All cars may run SM6 or SM7 dry tires through the first two Majors conference weekends

in Mid-States, Northern and Western Conferences. In the Eastern Conference, the SM6

and SM7 may be used until the completion of the third Majors weekend. After these

dates, only the SM7 tires will be permitted in Majors competition. In Regional

competition, both the SM6 and SM7 will be permitted through the end of 2014.

Only the SM7 and H20 tires will be permitted in the 2014 Runoffs.

 

2. Regional Competition

Tires must conform to 9.3.45. Individual Regions may require spec tires for Regional

Races. Supplemental regulations for specific events should be checked.

[Ron Alan]

Same tire labeled different?

[Stix37867]

My source gave me a little of heads up a few weeks ago and did say that a stiffer sidewall will be introduced leading to increased corner speeds.

I suspect they did this due to the premature wear issue we get on the edges of the tire. Hopefully we will see increased life of the tire with the new change too.

[Todd Lamb]

Knowing what I'm not supposed to know, I will wait for the info to surface from those who may or may not have tested these tires....

[LarryKing]

 

Knowing what I'm not supposed to know, I will wait for the info to surface from those who may or may not have tested these tires....

 

Then why even bring it up?

[Terry Hanushek]

The big change I see with this memo is the application of the tire rule to Regional as well as Major races.  Up until now, Regional tires have been unrestricted and may regions have permitted other tires like the Toyo RA1 / RR to facilitate crossovers.  I don't have any hard statistics but I suspect that this extension may make racing a bit more difficult (or expensive) for some regional racers who have access to multiple sanctioning organizations and drop a couple of entries from our regional races.

 

Terry

[svvs]

My line of reasoning is 7 > 6, so it will be a better tire.

 

This way i don't have to worry.

 

I hope that since 7 > 6 we will get more competitive heat cycles out of them.  That would be nice.

 

Faster corner speeds sounds better for my 1.6L.  Does this mean a new parity debate?

[Jim Drago]

Hoosier did a one day test. Well, not so much a test as confirmation that the tire was suitable for SM. All Hoosier R coumpounds will be the 7 compound next year, SM would have been the only tire left on the 6 compound. Hoosier believes the 7 is a better tire and wanted Sm on their best tire.

I was asked to put help put something together and attend by the SCCA. We chose a track notorious for needing stickers and hard on tires. Roebling Road in savannah, Ga. I asked Dan Tiley, Keith Andrews and Todd Buras to drive the cars. None were paid to drive, but Hoosier did give all of them a set of tires for particapting.

The guys can chime in who actually drove.

My observations..
-What I saw was a tire that was very comparable to the SM6.
-Overall lap times were thought to be faster, in actuality they were a little slower.
- The drivers all commented that the tires were much easier to drive ( which is suprising as the SM6 is already very easy to drive)
- wear was not an issue in either tire and I don't rememeber seeing much difference in wear in the tires
-there was no "magic lap" in the SM7 like there is in the SM6 (usually lap 2) We did not see that in SM7
-The drop of SM7 sticker was comparable to that of the SM6
-The SM7 is not supposed to grain( neither grained in test, but we were assured the Sm7 will not grain like Sm6 does at certain tracks ( COTA, Hallet, Mid Ohio)
- drivers all felt if the new tires read SM6 instead of SM7, few if any would notice any difference.
-this is not a new compound, this is what is being run in Grand am now
-also look for a regional contingency to be announced

[Michael Colangelo]

The big change I see with this memo is the application of the tire rule to Regional as well as Major races.  Up until now, Regional tires have been unrestricted and may regions have permitted other tires like the Toyo RA1 / RR to facilitate crossovers.  I don't have any hard statistics but I suspect that this extension may make racing a bit more difficult (or expensive) for some regional racers who have access to multiple sanctioning organizations and drop a couple of entries from our regional races.
 
Terry

As a regional guy, this is a concern for me. To whom do I write my letter asking for the old regional rule back?

[Mike Collins]

Because of the change from Nationals to Majors and considerable fewer races, expect to see a contingency from Hoosier based on the number of competitors at all SCCA races, not just Majors...

[pat slattery]

As a regional guy, this is a concern for me. To whom do I write my letter asking for the old regional rule back?

Good luck with that

[Brian Ghidinelli]

The big change I see with this memo is the application of the tire rule to Regional as well as Major races.  Up until now, Regional tires have been unrestricted and may regions have permitted other tires like the Toyo RA1 / RR to facilitate crossovers.  I don't have any hard statistics but I suspect that this extension may make racing a bit more difficult (or expensive) for some regional racers who have access to multiple sanctioning organizations and drop a couple of entries from our regional races.

 

Terry

 

This does NOT change the ability for regions to have their own regional tire or open tire rules (as confirmed by our Area Director). 

 

ALL it requires is the specific class "SM" must run Hoosiers.

 

Regions are still free to have classes like SMT (SM Toyo in SFR) or SSM or anything else they want.  The only issue here is the designation SM is reserved for National-rule cars which means Hoosiers.

 

No change to regional authority to permit other tires locally.

 

I believe this is necessary if Hoosier (or anyone else) wants to offer a regional tire contingency.  You have to know how many cars are actually on the tire.

[Ron Alan]

This does NOT change the ability for regions to have their own regional tire or open tire rules (as confirmed by our Area Director). 

 

ALL it requires is the specific class "SM" must run Hoosiers.

 

Regions are still free to have classes like SMT (SM Toyo in SFR) or SSM or anything else they want.  The only issue here is the designation SM is reserved for National-rule cars which means Hoosiers.

 

No change to regional authority to permit other tires locally.

 

I believe this is necessary if Hoosier (or anyone else) wants to offer a regional tire contingency.  You have to know how many cars are actually on the tire.

Thanks for the clarification Brian(at least for SFR). Do you foresee SFR still allowing all 3 tires...I mean 4   for 2014? 

 

My guess is at least half of the SM/SMT crowd will run the new tire from the start...will it be a certain car count to offer up any contingency? At least from Hoosier?

[davew]

As a regional guy, this is a concern for me. To whom do I write my letter asking for the old regional rule back?

 

You will have a hard time calling yourself a "regional guy" from now on. There is no such thing any more. Around here they are calling them Divisional races and think that is the term being used by SCCA corporate types.

 

Since there will be a path to the Runoffs through Divisional races, these races must use the same rules as the Runoffs. Thus the same tire rules.

 

My understanding is that local regions may have local classes like SMT, SSM, ITT, ITJ etc. But these classes have no path to the Runoffs, so they can run any rule the local rule makers decide.

 

Consider this the same situation as the change from RA1-R888-RA1 we experienced a few years ago. I hope our experience is better this time

 

Writing letters to Topeka will probably get you nowhere fast. 

 

My question, does this extend the Hoosier contract with SCCA beyond the 2014 race season?

 

Dave

[Jim Drago]

My question, does this extend the Hoosier contract with SCCA beyond the 2014 race season?
 
Dave

No it does not

[Stix37867]

Any change in price? Or are they still priced according to the contract?

[William Bonsell]

IF pricing remains pretty much where it's at, AND the new SM7 proves to be a longer lasting tire, which is important to many of us with limited funds, then that's a good thing IMO. If there is the potential for greater cornering speeds, will this not add more stress to suspension components, especially wheel bearings.

 

And bringing a contingency to "Divisional" races is great. It's one of the things that makes NASA work in SM with their Toyo RR contingency (as long as you have a minimum of 5).

[Alberto]

Hooray for SFR Regional racing rules.  I'll stick to my RA1s until they are all used up.  I don't give 2 shakes of a lambs tail about Majors or Nationals.

[Todd Green]

IF pricing remains pretty much where it's at, AND the new SM7 proves to be a longer lasting tire, which is important to many of us with limited funds, then that's a good thing IMO. If there is the potential for greater cornering speeds, will this not add more stress to suspension components, especially wheel bearings.
 
And bringing a contingency to "Divisional" races is great. It's one of the things that makes NASA work in SM with their Toyo RR contingency (as long as you have a minimum of 5).

How is having the two sanctioning bodies on different tires good?  Also you only need 3 entries for contingency with Toyo and NASA.  Though it gets better with more of course.

[wheel]

There are no "Divisional" races, only Majors and Regionals.  The Regional name was chosen because all of the non-Major races are organized by the Regions, not the Divisions.  The Divisions have all set up their Divisional Championship points and races that they designate as Runoffs qualification races.  If you are not racing for Runoffs points, you can run in another class, like SMT, if it is offered by your Division.  Of course, you will not receive the Hoosier contingency.

wheel