Im not blaming anyone, it is a very unfortunate situation. We have it easy, were just trying to figure out what tires to run, not where we are going to work or live as the manufacturing workers are.

Its just a very "sticky" situation for those that purchased tires before this dilemna and are now forced to spend a very significant amount of money if they plan to be competitive.

-Nick

Before anyone makes big decisions here, lets remember that the final rule/details has not been announced specific to our class, and it is not clear how this will play out in individual regions. No, I'm not aware of another development, just that it's not set in stone that I can see.

Things are not always as simple as they seem in multinational natural disasters on short notice.

Hoosiers are legal, right now, in PT, and if I were serious about competing in PT, I'd mod my car to have them...

I give up! Think I'll go see what SCCA, PCA or some other group that has their sh!t together, is running for the 944's and join up with them. Someone high up in NASA is getting a kick back from Toyo and that is whats holding this mess up. They don't want to lose their "golden goose" by just coming out and naming another tire. It's also BS that they don't go through the channels of letting their national directors know first hand whats going on!!!!

Don't get me wrong, I feel sorry for the folks in Japan but come on now, it's been how many weeks now? And we still don't have an official tire!

I don't care what we run but just officially name something!

RANT OVER!

Ken, NASA announced that the exclusive deal with Toyo will be done soon. We just lack of good options. Most of the nation is asking to do as little as possible, and some of us MW guys are begging to "do something". It's a no - win situation. No other sanctioning body has announced a better solution, or any solution to this yet, either.

As we talked on the phone, either get the R-888's you had a line on, or if they're not available anymore, find something round and black to put on your car, and we'll figure it out at the track. We are not going to turn you away in this situation. Desperate times...

RacerX wrote:



Firstly this situation is not a normal situation at all. PCA for example does not have any spec tires so this situation would never happen. PCA does spec Toyo for both 944 spec and Boxsters however. They just may not have be dealing with this yet.

I am not sure what you are implying about Toyo and National kickbacks. I see the National office doing what they can in tough situation given there are multiple classes involved with multiple sizes and lots of varition on the current supply in each region.

I can't speak to the details of their relationship, but with respect to 944-spec we have run on Toyos as spec tire since January 2003. That pre-dates and NASA and Toyo deals. The tire was chosen for our class by our founders based on it life properties as an ideal spec tire for budget class. Were it not for this supply situaton I would be supporting staying on the RA-1 contingency or not. Now some like the Nitto NT01 as well as it appears like it may work for us. I do not have any hard data on it and for now that option is moot given where it is make and the supply issues there. For now at least the NTO1 is just another stop-gap option.

My advice to all 944 spec drivers. If you have RA-1s right now great. Keep them and run them. Do what you can to make them last. If you need tires please contact your local series director before you buy anything. We will advise you on the best situation locally to both maintain both the spirit of the class and keep you on track and having fun on a reasonable budget. We regoinal directors are 100% commited to keeping to the ideals that the class was built on and has grown with. We are not waivering on that concept.

Be advised that if you are planning on Nationals it will be handled different from your local region due to the nature of event. Best advice is to consult with Eric early on to ensure your Nationals experinece goes as smoothly as possible.

I would hope that we can all be back on single long lasting spec tire by 2012. However mother nature may make that a challege. Did you know there was another earthquake in Japan yesterday. It was only a 7.2 magnitude. Point is Japan overall is concerned alot more about survival right than making toy tires for us to play with. So hang in there and don't give up on your fellow racers right now.