One thing that I've learned in my 25 years+ of racing 1/12th scale.....the fastest guys will always be dramatically faster than most. That has always been the case no matter the rules, no matter the equipment , no matter what. It was true with t-bars, with crappy 1200 mahr ni-cad round cells, and with closed end bell brushed motors. It was true with handout 27 turn motors and better round batteries. It was true with brushless motors, with boost, with blinky, with lipos, with anything. Some guys always have and always will find ways to best exploit the equipment of the time. And some guys just flat drive better than the rest of us. No need to fret too much over the rules. Regardless, the same guys will always find ways to run up front. The real key (IMO) is to make the racing enjoyable and reasonably affordable for "the rest of us". Going to a spec tire should do exactly that. Personally, I'll be glad to remove the search for the absolute fastest tire from the equation. I'm fully supportive of going with spec tires for 1/12th.