sticky tyres

 Nick, I presume the Compound is of a Sticky one, which needs to be warmed up.When done, the grip gets better & Better.As it has the tread stated its road legal, BUT--- the wear rate will be high for Road use.I have Yoko,s similar, But track use and maybe 15 miles to and from a circuit.

                                     SAFETYFAST

Before we all spend too much time and in some cases unpleasantness (referring to parts of the anatomy expressed one or two emails earlier and it has to be said quite incorrectly and totally inappropriately, does anyone need to be quite so crude?) over this press release.

When I received a copy of the journal last week I could not believe as a Club official what I read. These feelings were duly noted and sent through to the club office by return. In response I learned that it was simply an error made by putting in a press release without thinking.

With all the debate about such tyres over the last year it was a most unfortunate and unecessary occourance.

The clubs stance on sticky tyres is very simple: With increasing awareness of insurance issues and safety at such events we believe it is better for members to concentrate on improving driving skill and driving standard than to let sticky tyres do the work.

If someone were to lose adhesion with sticky tyres (as all tyres let go at some point) it would be at a much increased speed with more likelihood of greater damage.

The club is there first and foremost to support owners of BMW's regardless of whether it is a 316 or an M3 CSL, better driving days have been in existence for perhaps 20/25 years I dont know as I have been a member for only 10 or so and the original focus is for its members to explore their cars and their individual capabilities but not in race type situations.

There is also a responsibility for less skilled members not to be harrassed or pressured by faster drivers and to be able to enjoy the freedom of a more safe environment (than for example on the road) to learn and develop.

Where I believe the waters have quite unintentionally became muddied is that the clubs focus has always been the same but with the advent of the 'trackday scene' which came well after the club started their days, it has without us realizing it become associated with 'another' track day but operated by the BMW Car Club. To bring matters back into line something had to be done and this is a clear and simple way of bringing matters back into line.

'Trackdays' as operated by many organisations are focused to the out and out driving enthusiast and so one can say that all attending are of a like mind and situations on track can become almost race like, nothing wrong with that if that is what one wants but it is not the same focus for the car clubs BDD's. 

Richard Baxter   

Jon

I'm afraid the information banded around re who banned what tyres etc is incorrect. As we know Brian Bradley organised and ran the Donington day as he has done so with great success for many many years even going back to the days of the first CSL.

Brian is not as far as I know paticularly a supporter of the line the club is now taking over sticky tyres those reasons were outlined in my response yesterday evening,

In terms of members who bought sticky tyres without being consulted in advance of the ban, I personally have some sympathy but with the insurance constraints causing the club increasing pressure along with the need to reduce cornering speeds (a common problem at all circuits) a decision had to be taken that did not allow prior consultation.

I do hope that those who were so financially inconvenienced have been able to put these tyres to use on other track days. But using offensive descriptions of people on a forum where free speech is allowed reuires some personal responsibilty is just not on, particularly when the story believed is totally incorrect.

I will be asking a club moderator to remove this word.

Richard Baxter  

 If a there is a problem with driving standards, swift action by the club officials will soon sort it. Any one found intimidating others or driving dangerousely should be asked to leave.

I do not subscribe to the idea that racing drivers are less likely to cause problems. Have you not attended a club level motorsport meeting. The driving standard is often quite poor and sometimes more akin to demolition derby standard. Is not the additional power and stiff suspension more likely to lead to a large speed difference than the odd sticky tyre. At the last donnington meet I avoided going into group 1 as it mostly consisted of full race cars. As there were only two groups I was in the same group as the novices. I did not want to go in group 1 as I felt with road tyres I might get in the way. To be fair i did not encounter any problems running in this group but some cars did seem to be cornering considerably slower.

 If I was able to run the sticky tyres and run in group 1 I am sure that some of the slower drivers would be better off.

 Ps I agree with richard that there is no excuse for personal insults on these pages. I think its fair to say that we all forget about all the hard work that people carry out to make these events possible. Although I do not agree with the tyre stance, it doesnt mean your efforts in general are not apreciated.

 Cheers