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[sidecar steve]

I've been following the thread on tyre conditioning. I can see that this will be a problem on some tracks and was not something that came to light during the discussion on regulations. I was not aware of this being done to any cars in previous DUPRs.

Not being a chemist I don't know how shellite would react with the various tyres being used. On the other hand I am of the view that WD40 is more of a treatment than a cleaner.

As a track owner, I would not allow cars on my track where the tyres have been cleaned with anything that could either soften the rubber or leave a residue on the track. If there is a concern that Ferrodor leaves a residue on the tyres (which it hasn't from my track and may be more about how the finish was applied as to the properties of Ferrodor it'sself) a clean with water and a light sand should remove any traces.

Also, I think this places Manic in an unenviable position. The aim is to keep it fun, keep it close and keep it interesting. I really want to see all the cars that started back at Gotterdammer-Ring for the final round.

So, as organiser I propose the following rulings and I will allow a 24 hour window for submissions on the subject before making the rulings official. Submissions should be PM'd to me directly, not posted as this thread will be locked.

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A number of valid points have been made in the submissions I have received. I honestly hadn't thought to ever clean tyres with anything other than water (gawd, I'm such a newbie!!) so I had a mess around with some new, untreated NSR tyres last night.

I ran them hard for a a dozen or so laps and couldn't see any noticable effect from the Ferrodor. I also cleaned them with WD40 (a light mist on a rag then rubbed over the tyre) which did lift off some grit but also made the tyres feel "tacky".

I then cleaned them with a damp cloth (water) and a light scrub with a scourning pad which took away the tacky feel and basically restored the tyre to how it felt out of the box. I then ran the cars again and it left no trace of contaminant on the track. This would seem to me to be a compromise solution if acceptable to the NSR runners. However it will be dependant on the wishes of each track host.

I have taken into consideration that:

• there is a wide variety of tyres (MJK, NSR, Slot.it, Ortmann, Scalex, MRRC and FLY) being run in this series,
  
• the majority of track owners have expressed a preference not to clean or treat tyres with any agent other than water, and
  
• I need to be fair to all parties.

So the options I propose are to allow the cleaning of NSR tyres as per the method I have described above where permitted by the track owner OR to allow NSR runners to change tyres before Round 2 without suffering any penalty.

So the supplementary regulations are as follows:

• No tyre treatments of any kind are allowed.
  
• SUBJECT TO THE TRACK OWNERS APPROVAL Tyres are to be cleaned in accordance with the entrants expressed preference. Where tyres are cleaned with a product such as WD40, this should only be to remove grit, etc.. and then be cleaned with water (as described above) and set aside until the tyres are dry and leave no residue on the track.
  
• Any car that requires a tyre change during the series will incur a 25 point penalty per set changed.
  
• Any request to add or remove ballast will be allowed during the first 4 rounds subject to a 10 point penalty
  
• Repairs as a result of damage or catastrophic failure will not incur a penalty provided the replacement does not alter the performance of the car
  
• All replacements must be like for like (eg 10T plastic pinion replaced with 10T plastic pinion)

Replacement of braids or any other replacement of parts that do not alter the vehicles performance or handling characteristics will not incur a penalty


These changes are effective immediately.

Edited by sidecar steve, 03 April 2008 - 12:05 PM.