jrgordonsenior

Jackson charges Cali sales tax on tires shipped to Cali and has for many years. I'm certain he sends those recipts back to the morons who run this state. Well almost certain....

jrgordonsenior

I'll refrain from the multitude of sarcastic comments that flooded my mind just now but yes, there's big money involved with the private 'for profit' organizations like IMSA/Patron or Competent Motorsports and their Pirelli Cup series. Nothing wrong with that....

Is PCA receiving monies from Michelin? I don't know. They're a non-profit so I suppose eventually any income from Michelin would have to be disclosed in a tax filing. It would be in the spirit of transparency if someone from PCA would answer that question. If so, I'd like to know how much "we" received and how they're planning on using those funds....

Phokaioglaukos

Here is an e-mail I just got from the vendor:

Chris,

I was told that yes, these should be the same tires used in the GT3 Supercup races.

Karis

analogmike

Grid Girls?

racing916

Maybe they could use those funds to offset the fees of a dyno at the track to equally class the GT cars based on HP/Weight. That way i don't have to sell my house for a competitive engine and subsequent rebuilds.

Stuttgart

I fully appreciate all the hours of volunteer work that the PCA Club Racing staff puts in to make our races happen around the country, but I'm not exactly excited about this decision. From everything I've seen here and heard elsewhere, a spec tire was not what the racers wanted. What problem did we solve by mandating a spec tire?

It's clear now that we did not get a discount so is PCA getting a rebate of some kind on our tire purchases? If so, I think that should be made public.

How much does everyone care about "bringing a new level of competition and visibility" to PCA racing? Not sure what everyone else thinks, but I don't care. While many of us might have grandiose ideas of being hot**** drivers that could "hang" with the pros, we choose to race in PCA because we have jobs, enjoy the competition, lower costs and most importantly the camaraderie. With open tires, we had the ability to lower our costs if we so desired at the expense of outright speed, PCA has now taken that opportunity away from us.

I personally love the yokohama's; raced them for years on the 993 cups and looked forward to using them on the 996 cup. The cost is lower, you can get a million heat cycles out of them, and you can slide the car around more with less degradation in grip. With 20 heat cycles I could turn times 1.5-2 seconds off my best lap, try that with the Michelins.

With this rule change they have dealt a serious blow to the other tire dealers such as Bob Woodman. Bob's team has given PCA great support for years, especially at the smaller events, and it's my understanding they were never brought into the fray in this tire negotiation. Did PCA negotiate in the contract that Michelin/Jackson will provide trackside support at ALL the races? Last I checked they won't touch a wheel that has another brand of tire on it, so who's going to take care of the other non-michelin racers at the smaller events when the lost revenue makes it impossible for the other tire distributors to attend the smaller events?

Just my .02

-Phil Gilsdorf

mklaskin

Well said.

jrgordonsenior

+ 1. Eloquently written, I'm jealous.....

PS: Why isn'tths thread on the forefront of the Racing Forum?....

KaiB

That's a damn good question JR.

We just finished up a large thread regarding GT clases and possible changes.

There's been quite a discussion regarding Spec Boxsters and possible changes.

And on and on...it certainly appears PCA made decisions behind the proverbial screen here, what could occur elsewhere? Spec tires for the alphabets without input, alterations to the GT classes without discussion, or perhaps changes in SB without consideration from those who participate.

One wonders....

TwentySix

At another P-Car site, I came across this response from PCA President Manny Alban on a thread called Good News / Bad News for Cup Drovers

Link here see post #5

So I invited him to come on over here and find out what our concerns are...

TraqGear

Wow. The outcome is certainly not what I was expecting. I thought they were looking to save drivers a little money and have a spec tire at the same time. Actually, this rule change had me looking strongly at a 996 cup in the upcoming, later part of the season. But now, I think I'll target another class, if I go back to PCA at all. Really sux.

flatsics

I'm not trying to debate if the change to spec tires for the cups is good or bad. Personally I don't see a need for a spec tire.
I don't race a cup, so I did not send my opinion to PCA during the rule change comment period.

I would just think, before you come on here and make a statement about PCA Club Racing, you would have some understanding of how the rule change process works. It is very obvious a great many people don't.

If there is a proposed rule change for your class and you don't send your opinion comments to PCA , then you have essentially lost "your vote".

Comments like "this is not what the racers want"--Then let PCA know how you feel about it during the proper rules comment period. If you did not, then shame on you.






This is from Volume 11.3 of the Club Racing News

From the PCA Club Racing News
2012 Proposed Rules
Changes

Here are the changes to the
Club Race Rules which
have been proposed by
you and the National staff, and have
been determined to be worthy of
racer comment. Note that this does
not mean that the Rules Committee
favors any particular proposal. Our
job was to eliminate those which
simply would not be approved.
For example, the proposal to allow
engines of any manufacture in the
GT classes was eliminated and not
brought forward for further comment. What survives the next cut will
be heavily influenced by comments
received, and the comments will, in
a proper case, affect the views of the
committee’s members.
While we do tally the comments for and against, I cannot
stress enough the value of technically
informed comment, both for and
against. Even collectively, the Rules
Committee hardly knows every technical detail or quirk of every model
of Porsche. For instance, last year not
a single person commented on the
proposals to update the specifications
for driver’s suits. While the changes
which were made are quite reasonable, it is possible that suits meeting
a 1989 specification which were less
than ten years old and in good condition could have been continued. We
didn’t think there were any of those,
but we didn’t know just when the last
manufacturer ceased making suits to
the old certification.
Comments should be sent to
crrules@pca.org. I will get them,
but separately from the regular rules
questions I receive. And the other
three members of the Rules Committee will also have access to your comments. The deadline for comments is
October 1, 2011.

GTC:
4. Change the GTC3, GTC4, and
GTC5 tire from free to a Spec
tire, with the Spec tire to be determined by the National Staff
based on negotiations with tire
manufacturers.


The deadline for
comments is
October 1, 2011

Phokaioglaukos

I voted, and lost.

K964

Great post Phil!!!

flatsics

Chairman’s Corner
By Bryan Henderson, Chairman PCA Club Racing
Club Racing News Volume 11.3


The rules committee is currently
reviewing the rules change suggestions made by our racers and staff.
The committee combines, rewords
and evaluates those suggestions
and then sends them out to you for
comment. They appear on page 12 in
this issue. There are some
interesting proposals. One
proposal is for a spec tire in
GTC3, GTC4, and GTC5 which
are more spec cars than some of our
“Spec” classes which already have
spec tires. This one may have some
serious sponsorship implications and
open up sponsorship opportunities
that will allow us to bring more good
services to each race weekend. It
could also tie into our points series.
Look them over carefully then give
us your input. We are listening.
After we receive and evaluate
your comments the rules committee
meets to determine what, if anything
will change in the rules. The new
rules will go into effect in January
2012.