Good News for SK1 & SK2

[73STS]

We have been cleared to run SK1 & SK2 at the San Diego National Tour. :banana:

Sign up for the event in AMod - in the notes to registrar box add your class - i.e. SK1 - AS.

At the event you will be called SK1 & SK2. Online registration can't be changed so you must register in AMod.

Don't forget that national tour rules for car numbers apply.

This is a great opportunity to show SCCA what this class is all about.

[woodrufj]

I highly suggest drivers support this. We did this a few years ago for IS, and hardly anyone showed. SCCA dropped it from their SD Tour schedule for many years after with a bad taste in their mouth. Similar thing happened at the SD Div last year for SK.

Jay W

[488]

Awesome! Count me in (SK2).

[Tyson]

I would have so signed up for this if I knew about it before. Morgan and I already made plans to run HS for the year at big events...

[nalbar]

You can change your class when you check in at the event.


nalbar

[Tyson]

You can change your class when you check in at the event.


nalbar

But then what would we do with our R-comps? :) Morgan and I talked about seriously running tours and pros this year, so we'll stay in HS, but I do hope the SK regulars sign up and support the class at the tour. I'll cheer for 'em.

[Mike]

Hmmmmmm.........

[Bimota Guy]

"Why is SCCA letting these non-racers into the National Tour?"
-j_rho

:eek: I'm just kidding, he said no such thing.

[Tyson]

:eek: I'm just kidding, he said no such thing.

:popcorn:

[ASPC5]

:eek: I'm just kidding, he said no such thing.

Wow. Rough crowd around here....:thwack:

[j_rho]

I wish nothing but the best for SK participants, and should the class achieve national status, I hope it can avoid the same fate befalling ST.

Is the 140 treadwear Pirelli P-Zero Corsa legal for SK?

[nalbar]

I hope it can avoid the same fate befalling ST.



Jason, could you explain what you think is befalling ST? I am VERY curious about this statement.



nalbar

[73STS]

I wish nothing but the best for SK participants

Great

Now I guess I have to cancel my [ J-Rho was wrong ] shirts that we ordered for SK1/SK2 winners:thwack:

[K-Mo]

Jason, could you explain what you think is befalling ST? I am VERY curious about this statement.



nalbar

It's kinda like when Toyota and Honda are fighting to make the best compact car with their Corolla and Civic by constantly improving it and making it better all the while making it more expensive. Soon enough you realize these cars are so good yet pricey enough you shoulda just bought the Camry or Accord in the first place. It's a vicious cycle that soon requires another class of "smaller, simpler, less expensive" cars that slot in where the Corolla and Civic whence existed, eg. Yaris and Fit.

:banana:

[nalbar]

I am afraid your analogy is so good it completely missed me.

:confused:

Now I need an explanation of the explanation.



nalbar

[Steve35]

I am afraid your analogy is so good it completely missed me.

:confused:

Now I need an explanation of the explanation.



nalbar

Pretty soon the 140 tread wear tires will be performing better than the "R" compound tires of today.
Then what? The SK class goes to a 200 tread wear?
See this thread for an expiation of the possible tire issues of a140 tread wear class.

http://www.sdsolo.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1892

Does that help? (Not meant to be a snide responce.)

Steve

[j_rho]

Jason, could you explain what you think is befalling ST? I am VERY curious about this statement.

nalbarHi Warren,
Stock category has already been through the process ST (and with the same tire rule, SK) is currently in the middle of. That is, the progression of tires from normal/regular street tires, to R-compounds. The club has shown itself incapable (on the national level) of regulating tire performance while maintaining parity and happy club members. The "must be DOT approved" standard is the lowest common denominator they could stick to.

While I don't agree with everything Dennis has to offer on the subject, this has some good history:
http://farnorthracing.com/street_tire_faq/

ST was the answer to SP, made at the request of the people who didn't want to prep to SP's levels. For a while it was the utopia they sought - lots of people competitive in lots of different cars, on lots of different tires. With 8 years of progression, a person showing up today in their lowered fart-can import will be no closer to the top ST car than they would have been to the top SP Civic in 2001. This is the fate I speak of.

The worst thing that can happen to a class like SK IMO is its acheivement of national status. Right now there are a bunch of different cars and tires that are competitive in the class and people are happy with it. As with any national class, the top cars would quickly be distilled out (disenfranchising the vast majority of the existing body of SK drivers), and as is already the case in ST, you'll end up needing dedicated wheels/tires that require no less investment than their R-tire counterparts.

I think if SK is going to hold onto its "inncocence" a bit longer, the people making its rules need to more aggressively manage the tires allowed. A while back I proposed a process for maintaining a committee-managed "spec tire list" of tire models and sizes per class, but it was shot down as being too complicated. There may be a better solution out there, I don't know what it is though.

Lest ye think I'm just a whiner on the sidelines, I spent a few years on the STAC (Street Touring Advisory Committee) trying to do my best to develop rules and standards (like the one above) to better keep things like tires in line with what people actually wanted. I even built "something other than a Civic" for STS partially to show you didn't have to have one to do well there.

There has been talk of beta-testing a 140-treadwear rule for H-Stock at the national level, might want to write to the SEB if you think that'd be a good idea. If it succeeds there on the national scene, it would much easier to see that standard spreading to GS, DS, ES, etc., than it would be to see an entirely new parallel category made for street-tired stock (SSK, ASK, BSK, etc.).

[ASPC5]

j-rho,
I am very familiar (I thought) with Dennis' site but had not read this page! Having just read through it, I can't find anything that isn't flat out true. I have run on almost every tire he mentions at some point, including McCreary retreads, Mickey Thompsons, P7's and Phoenix Stahlflex. I have also run BFG R1, GY VRS, A001R, etc. I will never forget when ** ** ** (which Dennis declines to name, and so will I) had different compounds depending on who you were, even among "contract" drivers, most of which had no freakin' idea they were getting the shaft by the company supplying them tires. One of the reasons they didn't realize it was all tires had to be returned to the truck! I used to walk around with a durometer gauge so I knew who was really on the inside at the moment. I was livid, but nobody would listen. :wallbash:

I can also attest to some of his other tidbits, as I have seen grooved slicks (they were protested at an event !), and at a OEM tire test we did, many years back mind you, the fastest tire there was a proposed "140" tire, and we had the then-current DOT-R tires to compare at this test....so they're out there.

Recently, I had an in-person conversation with a major tire company engineer (not the K-tire, BTW), and asked specifically about treadwear ratings. To summarize, he said they do go thru the official motions of running the (very expensive) DOT treadwear test on a set of tires when a new model comes out, but after that......well, you know....., anyway, the cycle has started to repeat.
OK, enough pot stirring for today.

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

[Steve35]

*** *** ***

could that be the American tire company without the blimp? :rolleyes:

[woodrufj]

It's called RallyX, bring your rental beaters! This cost my co-driver and I about $30 and we took 1-2.

http://jaycomservices.com/images/rental1.jpg

Jay W


It's kinda like when Toyota and Honda are fighting to make the best compact car with their Corolla and Civic by constantly improving it and making it better all the while making it more expensive. Soon enough you realize these cars are so good yet pricey enough you shoulda just bought the Camry or Accord in the first place. It's a vicious cycle that soon requires another class of "smaller, simpler, less expensive" cars that slot in where the Corolla and Civic whence existed, eg. Yaris and Fit.

:banana:

[frosty]

It's called RallyX, bring your rental beaters! This cost my co-driver and I about $30 and we took 1-2.

http://jaycomservices.com/images/rental1.jpg

Jay W

And when we lose Qualcomm, it might be the only racing available in San Diego.

[justint5387]

IS there Contingency for the SK2 class?

[73STS]

IS there Contingency for the SK2 class?

SK1/SK2 is a local class - not a national class.
So - the answer is no.

But win your class and you can get a trophy!