Bigpower

After several long telephone calls with Alan it is looking more and more unlikely that we will be at the first round of TA this year.

This whole tyre situation has got out of hand, our main objection is the 3 different tyres as this would put us at a clear disadvantage which would be massively disheartening after all the work we have put into this project.

Gordon isn't happy either as it's his company logo on the side of the car. Caparo wouldn't be too pleased either if we went to 18" wheels as they have made these brakes on the basis we run 17's. Yes they would fit but it's about how they would look.

We went to Caparo and laid our portfolio on the table, covering power to weight ratios of the top runners for the past 2 seasons and our predicted power to weight. Even down to how we planned to achieve everything. The tyre situation has just blown all that out the window and thge meeting that me and Alan will be having with them on Tuesday will be difficult.

Anyway you guys deserve to know whats going on as you are also a part of our team. We will be competing in about 3 rounds but want to wait to see what happens with these tyres and the feedback from oulton park.

We can't even buy a set to test with as all the TA tyres are branded as such and you can't buy them till you've paid the entrance fee

Sorry to hear this guys. It sounds as though TA is try push the smaller guys out and just have the big money teams running which kills the whole idea of the series

Detune your car and come join me and Chris in the Trackday Trophy in class A

Tommy, we have looked at that series but alas were committed to TA in the long run.

pablo wrote:Tommy, we have looked at that series but alas were committed to TA in the long run.

Since you say 'long run' that leaves you free to do something else this year without having to buy new wheels and tyres and having the unlevel playing field of three different tyre sets gnawing away at you

It is very tempting. I know what Alan would say 'let's do it', but de-tuning the car would conflict with our plans for the ford events as well. We would have to fit a restrictor which wouldn't work well with the size of turbo we run. It's hard enough dealing the all the regs from TA without adding another series into the equation:)

Well, when all the dust has settled just remember one thing, you're here for a good time, not a long time!

Don't waste too much energy on the negative shit. There are loads of race series you could get involved in, or loads of sprints if that's you're preferred choice.

Your basic choice has been made already. You don't want to run 18's and the decent tyres are in that size. If you run the car in the series as it stands, you know you're going to be up against it. That does no favours for you, Al or your sponsors.

I know it's not an easy decision mate but I think you could do a lot worse than consider your other options.