The problem comes with a fear of lack of entries. when you and I were talking the other weekend we noted that a few of the regulars were absent. As you said there had been the Eiffel Classic the week before and some people can't afford the time or the cash to do two major events in ten days.
Going back to my point above we may be looking at a need to coordinate the calendar so that entries are assured (barring accidents).
I think there is also another issue Terry,
The mix of cars in the Allcomers races is too extreme and unless there is a concerted effort to separate the sports prototypes from the sports/saloon cars these races will also lose entries.
That said we have to remember that apart from "Oldies but Goldies and the actual Top Hat classes the others "Sebring Salute" and "Groovy Baby" are based on regs defiened by other clubs thus it is difficult to police. Gentleman Drivers and U2TC are based upon App k so again they are easy to police.
I do think that all races should limit entries to cars more than 25 years old. In my case I was removed from the race by an "S" registered Lotus Elise that had been wrongly entered as a Lotus Elite!
So to tyres.
I firmly believe that whilst we should not run slicks or indeed any kind of super sticky tyre there is a good case for running tyres of a similar profile and adhesion to those that the cars ran in period. Let's face it tyre manufacture is more advanced now so any tyre is likely to be better than they ran in period.
Thus as with Top Hat which specifies Dunlop L or M section for pre 1967 and Groups 2 and 5 cars and Dunlop D84 for post 1967 Group 1 cars, I think this should be applied across the board at all levels.
So, to summarise:
All major international events should be coordinated to allow a more "relaxed" calendar and thus assure the organisers of the entries.
Cars/models of less than 25 years old should not be allowed in a "Historic/Classic" event.
Tyre regs should be uniform across the entire spectrum and race organisers should enforce the regs either by excluding those that don't comply or by disqualifying cars from races.
And finally here's an idea to stop those "questionable" V8 engine capacities. Only allow entries for cars of maximum six cylinders and maximum capacity 4 litres.
