Yikes, I guess Stephen and I will keep our mouths shut next time, even if it is a joke!
My 2 cents....
Foam tires are definitely faster. To have a good car in foam tire requires extensive chassis setup knowledge, or someone who has that knowledge to help you.
Regardless of foam or rubber, to go fast you will need to spend a good chunk of money. Like Kevin said, at a big race, to go fast on rubber tires requires a new set every one to two runs. The same goes with foam tire. And with the costs of tires such as the premounted Takeoff's, the prices come out about the same.
Adrian, I seriously doubt things such as that will happen. If it did, the cars you speak of wouldn't be touring cars. Yeah 12th scale bodies have gotten a little disproportionate (but they look very cool), but the basic design of a 12th scale has really not changed over the years, just some tweaks to it.
I think each kind of tire has its own disadvantages and advantages. You can't chunk rubber tires, for a club racer, they last a good long time, and it is more of a challenge to drive, which makes it a lot of fun. Only disadvantage i see is their GOOD traction lifespan is very short and they have less traction overall than foams. Foams offer a ton of traction, are easy to drive with a good setup, and are faster. However, you can chunk foams if you hit stuff, and the tires do wear down over time.
Myself, I'm taking a small break from foams for a couple weeks and running some Rubba Tiya on carpet
. I look at it this way, I have 2 months till the next race I attend, I have time to have some fun.
And to think all this discussion was started over a true statement...
