September Minutes

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Dietmar
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September Minutes

Post by Dietmar »

The FV Ad Hoc Committee met September 2, 2015
Members attending: Alex Bertolucci, Stevan Davis, John Petillo, Bruce Livermore, Phil Holcomb, Dietmar Bauerle
Guests: Fred Clark, Bill Johnson

Spec Tire request: SCCA has now received a large number of letters on the subject and will undoubtedly put the issue out for membership input in the future. However, with the Runoffs this month, this issue had to take a back seat to other items that needed to be addressed by the FSRC and the CRB. For this reason, the Committee has not as yet received a formal request to address this issue, and exactly what the SCCA wants the Committee to provide back. However, the membership should be aware that the Committee has been discussing the tire issue. The Committee is aware of the large number of members wishing for a longer lasting/cheaper tire but must also take into consideration those who wish to maintain the “look and feel” of the current slicks (with a possible harder compound). Also under discussion are the potential safety implications of further increasing the speed differential between the other open wheel classes and FV.
One of the suggestions that was posed on the Interchange is to allow an alternate tire and wheel package. The Committee discussed the merits of this idea including both the potential positive and negative affects of allowing an alternate tire/wheel combination. A change of the actual FV rules could address the needs of those wanting to run a DOT tire and also allow participation in any Majors event – knowing that the alternate tire package would be a disadvantage. Under the current rules, an alternate wheel tire combination can be use in Regionals only and then only via a specific request to the sanctioning region for a change to the supplemental rules. This does not really appear a reasonable option for an individual driver and so it almost never happens.
This discussion does not mean that the Committee is only looking in this direction as an option. We are going to be looking at many options over the next few months as this issue will not likely be resolved for the coming season.
It was also brought up that the American Racer tire is available right now, is legal at any SCCA venue, has a longer life span, will fit the current rims, and is about half the price of a Hoosier. Yet it's use is very limited at SCCA events except possibly in a few areas of the country. Is this because people do not know about them or because they choose not to use them? Maybe some feedback from the membership might help us understand why they have not been used more regularly, given they provide such a significant cost savings.
A survey is surely going to enter into the decision making process somewhere down the line and we anticipate the FV Ad Hoc committee will be involved. In order to get a jump on this, the Committee will start with a review of the structure and results of our previous tire survey and also the recent FF survey. Once we get a specific request from the CRB, we will finalize our recommendations for a survey to submit to the CRB. Hopefully, the Committee can produce a survey which will truly help us all decide what will be best for the class going forward.

No other topics were presented or discussed.
Next meeting scheduled for October 6
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