Rule Changes for 2020

[Dave Barker]

One of the things that most competitors like is a stable rule set. Therefore the changes for the 2020 Ontario Time-Attack series will be few.

The biggest change is in our tire rules. The definition of a "street" tire rated at zero PIPs is now for a treadwear UTQG rating of 180 to 249 up from 140 and over last year. Again the Toyo R888, R888R and Nitto NT01 tires classify as "street" tires despite their UTQG rating of 100.

We are also introducing a new class of tires (as yet unnamed) with UTQG ratings of 250 and up which will actually classify as negative 5 PIPs or 1 class.

Next year will be a 6 competition event season with the best 5 out of 6 events scored. There will be no double points event. The schedule will follow shortly.

A few cars will have their classification adjusted as follow.

The handling index for the 2015 and newer Mustang GTs will increase by 5 HI

The handling index for the 2010-2013 Grand Sport Corvette will increase by 5 HI

The handling index for the 2017 and newer Camaro SS 1IE and Camaro ZL1 will increase by 10 HI

The handling index for the 2009 and 2010 Nissan GT-R decreases by 5 HI

Please note that the above changes are now reflected in the CCDB.

[S1motorsports]

So the 200TW yokohama A052 is okay to run in the series as a zero pip tire I assume ?

[Dave Barker]

So the 200TW yokohama A052 is okay to run in the series as a zero pip tire I assume ?

Yes, we decided that as long as there is no accurate way to measure UTQG ratings between different manufacturers and as long as the SCCA defines 200 as their limit, we could not keep up with which is the latest and greatest tire rated at 200 to be legal in various SCCA classes. For a few years, it has been the Bridgestone RE-71R but now it appears the Yoko may be even faster (and personally I would assume have even less longevity but that is yet to be seen). I gather that some folks feel these Bridgestone and Yokohama tires behave like 80 UTQG tires rather than the 200 that they claim.

So rather that forcing competitors to buy the flavour of the day (and hope we don't relegate it to being an R comp) we decided to add a new neg 5 PIPs class just to offer competitors more choice.

[Saj5DJ]

Feedback from the autocross world is that the A052's are generally lasting about 2/3 to 3/4 the number of run of RE71R's before cording. Mileage seems to vary greatly though.

Some middle weight stock class cars with poor camber and lack of wheel width (a scenario that the RE71R's have coped very well with) have been seen to cord tires in 30 autocross runs while being no faster, whereas the lighter and mid weight Street Touring cars (with lots of camber and better wheel width/tire width ratio) have been getting closer (still quite a bit less) to the life of the RE71R's with an increase in performance.

No one knows how they're doing on the heavier cars due to lack of sizes available.

From what I've heard, I wouldn't run this tire unless you have a bunch of camber and don't be tempted to pinch it on a wheel in the same way that the RE71R's will tolerate.

Offered for info only, not debating the new rules

The -5 category looks like a great step.

[Saj5DJ]

PS: Anecdotes so far are that they get less runs than A7s on equivalent cars.

[jimmo-san]

I did some "what-if" scenarios for the GT1 - GT4 classes for this new 250+ UTQG rule.

If the 3rd place finishers in these classes had taken advantage of the 250+ UTQG rule in 2019, and no one else did, then the 3rd place competitors would have had to have bettered (or could have worsened, i.e. driven slower) their best 2019 times by these amounts to have won the next lower class (GT2 - T1). e.g. the 2019 GT1 3rd place finisher moves into the GT2 class with 250+ UTQG tires, GT2 into GT3, etc.

3rd place GT1 finisher in 2019: -1.07 seconds (i.e. the 3rd place GT1 competitor would have had to have driven 1.07 seconds faster in each of his five best events to win the GT2 class)
3rd place GT2 finisher in 2019: +1.33 seconds (i.e. the 3rd place GT2 competitor could have driven 1.33 seconds slower in each of his five best events and won the GT3 class)
3rd place GT3 finisher in 2019: -0.55 seconds (faster)
3rd place GT4 finisher in 2019: +1.1 seconds (slower)

This analysis also assumes that the "double point" events rule wasn't in place either. It just complicated the analysis.

So, some interesting questions: is it possible to better one's best time on a 250+ UTQG tire by as much as 1.07 seconds (drive faster)? Or is it possible to get within 1.33 seconds (slower, but almost as fast) of one's best time with a 250+ UTQG tire?

This also assumes that the GT1 - GT4 3rd place finishers were already using a 100 UTQG or 140+ UTQG tire, not a 250+ UTQG tire.

[Dave Barker]

Jim, the general idea is that a class represents around 1-1.2 seconds on a 70-75 second lap to it looks like we are in the right ball park.

One of the issues we deal with is that in general more serious competitors invest in track wheels and tires which the newer folk don't want to do, at least not just yet. The new tire rule makes the newbies or budget constrained. more competitive. As to whether we get any consistent class winners from the neg 5 PIP tires, we will have to wait and see.

As mentioned above, we now have more consistency in our rules so that we don't have to decide before each season which is the hottest tire and should they be listed as zero or plus 5 PIPs. You are free to try whichever of the so called "street" tires with a 200 UTQG rating you like but you don't have to and now have some alternative choices.

[Maddog]

We are also introducing a new class of tires (as yet unnamed) with UTQG ratings of 250 and up which will actually classify as negative 5 PIPs or 1 class.

.

Thanks for this new 250+ class. I don't have the budget this year to buy race wheels/tires so this will help me get back in the game on crappy tires..LOL Although I'll probably just do the 2 TMP events this year.

Oh, and BTW, meet Scorch. Should be topped up in GT1 with the new 250+ tires. Won't be competitive with the crappy tires, but will have fun.

[G-ForceJunkie]

Can this be a sticky instead of the 2019 rule changes please?