Actually, WGT-R came about because WGT foam was dead already. I loved that class too, but for whatever reason, it never really took off. If every person who posted on the internet that WGT was their favorite class, actually raced WGT, then this conversation might not be happening.

There are several tracks where WGT-R is the biggest class. World GT, in both forms, has never been overly popular in the western part of the country.

We took a class that was on life support and tried to inject some life into it. CRC still sells a foam WGT car, tires and body.

We also sell a rubber car and tires.

So run what you want. Judging by what I ship out of here, I would say that rubber has taken over. Our local entries went from 5 foam WGT to over 30 WGT-R cars a night.

Our rubber tires are good for the whole season. I was just in Ohio racing and won on tires that were from the IIC. What is wrong with that?

Brian Wynn

Team CRC

In Myrtle Beach we basically had a group of about 6-7 at our track with WGT prior to the shop unfortunately shutting down. It started from when i purchased mine and kept running it and letting people run mine and enjoying it. I do know WGT-R didnt kill WGT, i just had to put the blame on something lol. I just wish it was bigger as it was my favorite class. Now 12th scale is my favorite class as i've learned more and more about it.

Great dialog, I can only comment on what I see very locally and that is that at the two tracks that I race at there are now two full heats of F1 and two full heats of GT-R. Most of the increase has been in racers from other forms of racing...mostly off-road and per conversation with them it is, at least partially, attributable to the ease of the rubber tire classes to run.

Now before the foam tire purists stand outside of my house with pitchforks, you guys like foam tire and that is cool, others don't and that's great too. Blondes vs brunettes, Ford vs Chevy and cake vs pie. My intent in bringing this up isn't a master plan of 1/12th scale destruction...to the contrary, I would LOVE to race one but when a newer on road racer show up to the track and they see 10 sets of paper thin foams all lined up ready to go versus bolt on one set that lasts the entire season, it is a little off putting.

I don't have any backstory on WGT versus GT-R but I love the GT-R class as it is and likely would not be running it if it were foam so I am thrilled somebody, CRC in this case, stepped up and made the investment in the rubber tires...I surely wish they would do the same for 1/12th scale.

Im against rubber tires in 12th scale only because i dont want 5 stock classes of 12th like we now have in tc.. all these classes suck and are killing the hobby.

Valid point about class splitting. However, with a little thoughtfulness in class design it could be used as a great consolidator of classes....for example rubber tire = stock, foam tire = mod. I know...oversimplified, just thinking/typing out loud.

I think every form of racing needs a "gateway class"...a class that is assessable, driveable, durable and relatively inexpensive to draw as many racers as possible. Of those, some will love the form of racing and progress to the next level, some will hang with that class and some will race a while and sell out. Think the Slash for off-road. Perhaps that class already exists with GT-R???

1\12th scale is and has been the most stable and consistent of all of the on-road classes. I'd hate to see that long run of stability messed up (or even risked) by the introduction of rubber tires. Just look at what has been taking place ever since the introduction of sedans and then their conversion to rubber tires. So many classes are now offered, with so few participants in each. I long for the pre-sedan days when on-road consisted of just 2 classes.....1\12th stock and 1\12th mod. Making the A main in those days was a HUGE accomplishment. Nowadays folks say how great it is when there are actually two full heats of WGTR or F1. Big whoop. On my first trip to the US Indoor Champs, the stock heats started with the A and went all the way down to the P or Q. Making the A (or even the B or the C) at such an event was a huge accomplishment. Such will never happen again so long as there are so many on-road classes to dilute the competition. We have way too many on-road classes to pick from already. I vote NO on adding yet another one and HELL NO on the prospect of potentially messing up the one class that has outlasted all of the others.

If you all want pan car with rubber tires just go to WGT-R

I agree with Perry on this one. I'm currently running 12th scale at my local track in Springfield Ohio. I do have a CRC WGT-R car on order as this class seems to have sparked some interest there and it does look like fun. I will say though that if rubber tire does make it to 12th scale that the class will die immediately. I have talked to and heard many racers say that if and when that happens they will stop running that class. Sad part is that many of them only run that class or type of car. Now you've alienated a very strong core group of racers. Touring car has died because once rubber tires were introduced there were many classes that seem to sprout up overnight. I would hate to see this happen again. I say we keep what we have now and leave it at that. 12th scale is awesome the way it is!!!

That is fine for big races but for local club racing people aren't going to want to burn up 2 to 3 sets of tires per race day. We need a way to make local racing both fun and affordable. I'm not saying rubber tires is the way to do that...as much as I love F1 racing I really don't like the way they handle on rubber tires.

I think wgt died. Foam tire. Because you needed tires to be near done to be competitive. At my track when top guys ran the class it was four guys then rest of field. This takes its toll and interest of other drivers

I think it happens in tc as well. That's why you see usgt so big

After runnin some f1. I must admit I'm curious to see what 1/12 rubber would be like

Years ago. You were able to run tires through the day. Now with high bite you need next to no tire to be competitive. Especially with top drivers in town
This deters a lot of guys from running

I'm curious to what wgt with 25.5 or 21.5 2cell would be like

Trying tires blows. It's slowly dying imo

If it wasn't for rubber tires, my local track would probably be closed. F1, USGT, VTA, Touring and even WGT-R. But all this makes 12th scale kind of special. I recently just bought my first 12th scale kit in like a decade - just to race on occasion when the 12th scale guys show up and at our club championships. Just for fun. But I can't help imagine how awesome it would be to have some mini F1 rubber tires on my new 12th scale. 12th scale on foam is nostalgic and cool and everything but maybe it's time to move on. My local track is small and well suited to 12th scale but fewer and fewer new racers will choose foam over rubber these days. I don't know. This is a tough question. Will the class die completely if it doesn't go to rubber? Maybe.

A poll or survey on the question of 1/12 rubber tires might be interesting.

Richard

done;)

Side note: I would not suggest changing the bodies if it ever goes to rubber tires - no need for that. Properly scaled F1/Lemans style rubber and rims that look really awesome and super dee duper.

Leave 12th scale alone. If you want rubber tires, there are plenty of classes for you.