Tire Rule - Good or Bad?

[jhansen]

Simple poll. We are six races into the championship. What are your thoughts about the tire rule in effect for this season? Has it been good for the sport, or has it been bad for the sport?

[Jeff 8]

I voted for the third one but not because I don't care but I think it is neither good nor bad, but it will throw in some odd results. Like Stoner at Jerez, his tyre would have been good with Saturday's weather but it was too hard for Sunday and only came good at the end of the race.

Oops I mentioned an Aussie, now the complaints will start.

Jeff

[Pro Racer]

i think it's good (not only because Aussies are winning) but because it can throw and odd resault and the tyre companies can't fly in a miracle tyre for the race.

[jhansen]

I haven't decided yet. I like the cost reduction and the fact that it throws in the odd result. But, I think it places a lot of hurt on the single bike teams, which we need with the current grid size. I also dare say that it may be hurting the racing a bit.

[Gerben24]

Call me old-fashion, but I'm all for a control tyre. When the WSBK came with a control tyre from pirelli I was all sceptical, but what a good decision it has been. I think the racing has become really good because of it.

Last year the differences weren't that big, but this year Bridgestone seems to have the upperhand (except in qually I know). Bridgestone is most definitely the tyre to have when it's wet. These advantedges are wrong. I don't have a problem with one bike being faster than the other because of a better engineered bike, but for some reason I don't like tyre advantedges, it often ruines the racing.

Sorry Jhansen, I dont know which one to vote for.

[chunder]

Good for spoer but absolutely not coz the damned Aussie are winningmt hey would win on anything so whats the point in that.

Its better coz it stops teams and tyre people makeing more specific tyres for a rider, that occasion when Michelin made a tyre overnight for Rossi is insane.

[FPV GTHO]

I think its positive, i wasnt 100% aware before reading about this years tyre rules that the tyre companies were previously able to do overnight tyres as such. So far it seems only Rossi has anything clearly negative to say about the new rules, understandably as it seems Michelin were taking better advantage of the previous situation than Bridgestone. On that front its perhaps fairer for Bridgestone if they werent able to compete on a logistic level previously. IMO by the end of the year all the suppliers should have their heads around weather predictions and such when choosing their tyres. It could mean more testing, but less production costs i suppose.

[Hazza]

I think the tyre rule is great.

But...I voted for something else...some...other...power...compelled me.

[Pro Racer]

Colin POWER......... GO Colin GO .

[jhansen]

Hazza, you are not beyond help. We'll be glad to get you started on the road to recovery. Please repeat these words, and you'll be on your way.

Hi, my name is (insert name) and I'm a Colin Edwards fan. It has been 2 hours since I last held hope that he would win a Moto GP race. It has been 13 hours since I last watched the youtube clip of him racing against Troy Bayliss in World Superbike. Ah the good old days. I am a broken man, please help me.

[Pro Racer]

and you will be broken for ages if you don't take the help.

[f1manoz]

I like it simply because it will create unpredictability.

[racer69]

I don't like it, mostly because i fail to see what it adds to it all? If anything it just contrives it all abit more........

But then again i don't care because i'm an Edwards fan....well he's half-Australian so i have to support him......

So then again i love the rule and think it's great for the sport as the Aussies are winning

[bestfit]

Originally Posted by racer69

I don't like it, mostly because i fail to see what it adds to it all? If anything it just contrives it all abit more........
But then again i don't care because i'm an Edwards fan....well he's half-Australian so i have to support him......
So then again i love the rule and think it's great for the sport as the Aussies are winning

I'm sure Edwards (Go Colin!) is glad that the new tyre rules don't include wet weather tyres. After practice today he said -

"Today was very adventurous! We started this morning with a set-up we had used before and it wasn't terrible, but when it started to dry out towards the end we couldn't go any faster and ended up several seconds off the pace. I knew that wasn't right; despite the recent results I know I'm good in the wet, I always have been, so there had to be an answer! This afternoon Michelin came to us with a trick up their sleeve, we tried it and it worked. We were suddenly five seconds faster and things felt good again.

[Mystery]

I'll be honest and despite watching most of the races this year I don't actually know what the new rule is so I guess that's the 3rd answer for me.

[Bleu]

Originally Posted by Mystery

I'll be honest and despite watching most of the races this year I don't actually know what the new rule is so I guess that's the 3rd answer for me.

IIRC 14 front and 17 rear (dry) tyres are allowed per weekend and those need to be choosed before the weekend. This applies only to tyre companies that have won race in last few years. Dunlop has unlimited tyres.

[FPV GTHO]

Its not simply dry tyres either, its the tyres overall. At LeMans for instance, apparently Suzuki never brought any intermediates, so had to finish the drying race on the wets.

[jhansen]

It certainly can be frustrating it seems. Some riders are not able to do the Sunday morning warm-up on the same compound as their race tires, as they are out.

[Pro Racer]

wet dry or indifferent Colin will drift back, lucky for a podium.

[jhansen]

Well we are a bit further into the season, any new opinions?

I cannot say that I like the tire rule. I do think it's fair that Michelin can't ship in any race specials. I have no problem with that. But maybe make a few more tires available. The outcome being decided by which brand of tire a rider has is not very pleasing.

Although, I'm sure the Aussies are still quite pleased.

[FPV GTHO]

I think perhaps some clarification needs to be made with what constitutes a slick and what is a wet tyre. IIRC, the intermediate tyres are classified as slicks and as such make up part of the 15/17 tyres or whatever the number is.

[Gerben24]

Yeah, that is correct. An intermediate is considered as a slick. This means no one ever uses one, as everybody has to nominate their tyres on Thursday. You can never predict it is 'damp' enough to use an intermediate, so nobody nominates that kind of tyre.

This rule has not been thought through properly. The least they can do is to consider an intermediate as a wet weather tyre.

[Gerben24]

There is a war of words beginning to start between a certain Australian and Italian rider (although at the moment it's one way traffic). It has something to do with the tyre-rule. The Italian has been quoted as saying the rule is bad and he wants to be able to use more tyres during the weekend. The Australian says stop whinging and get on with the job...

Just for the record, I don't think the tyre-rule is bad with respect to the amount of tyres! It is the same for everybody.

What I don't like is the tyre-war. It should not be the tyre that decides the outcome of the race!

[FPV GTHO]

Well thats where you have to start disecting what's good and whats bad. From what i think, inters being slicks is bad, but the 15/17 limits and no overnight tyres are the same for everybody. Then how do you take Rossi's comments - are they genuine concerns the "form" of the tyres is making it too much of a lottery, or a thinly veiled swipe that he's losing because he's not on Bridgestones?

[Gerben24]

Well, I agree with Jeremy Burgess, his crew chief, saying it is not just the tyre that is the main reason for Rossi not winning.

Since Bridgestone entered Motogp, Michelin always had an advantage, until maybe last year where they were equal. Still, the racing was always good. This year Bridgestone has the advantage. It is just that Michelin has the two best riders in the field, who make the difference for them. If you'd take them out of the field it would be a Bridgestone fest and I think a lot more people would complain. The last two races were kinda boring, which was a result of the tyre situation. Now, when a rider like Rossi says something about that, the world listens and his words will be taken out of context.

Sure, Rossi would not have complained if the situation was the other way around, although he is not just complaining about the tyre, he also acknowledges the bike is not up to scratch.

I don't agree with him saying he needs more tyres, again, it is the same for everybody.

I do agree with him saying it is bad for the show. But what can they do? Michelin has to come up with something good!

About the intermediate, I agree, it's not right that they list them as slicks. But again this is difficult, cause (in the past at least) an intermediate was just a cut slick. If they could use unlimited intermediate tyres, the tyre-rule could just as well be scrapped, because the teams would use the intermediate tyres to do the tyre testing in practice. You also can't say the riders are allowed to use a certain amount of intermediate set of tyres, because what do you do when you have intermediate tyre circumstances for most of the weekend???