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Old 01-10-2008, 12:26 PM
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syndr0me
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Originally Posted by or8ital
Wow, glad to see you have finally come around on rubber tires . I always had a lot of respects for your post but never got why you were so pro-foam, now I think we agree on just about everything. Ha ha...

I second all the talk on moving towards rubber tires.
Now we're really on a tangent. Sorry Jim. :-(

The most respected racer at our track is hardcore foam, and pretty anti-rubber. Most new racers (myself included) are deeply influenced by the fast guys they race with, and often adopt their views. That can be good and bad, as some people don't tend to look outside their box and see if the views they've adopted are what they really feel. I find this unfortunate, because you can find pockets of racers in certain areas that group think, and form their opinions based on the original opinion/bias of a single person.

I started out thinking that rubber tires were for beginners, were slow, never had any traction, and only lasted 2 runs. A lot of people probably still think that way. It took me a while to realize none of those things are true.

Anyway, I'd say the switch to big wheels is what ultimately killed my interest in foams. The tires wore out faster, chunked easier, and pretty much enhanced all the bad things about foam tires. That's what pushed me over the edge. You can call me a newb and roll your eyes, and that's fine, but I'm relatively intelligent person that's been a dedicated on-road racer for 3 years, and that's how it ended for me. I consider myself an above-average consumer with a strong passion for racing, and I was at the point where I didn't want to race anymore. Foams are dead to me. I was a real live racer that paid full price for tires ALL the time, and I'm done with that. Sorry it didn't work out.

On a more personal note, I find rubber tire racing more interesting. It seems like the cars react to setup changes in a more predictable manner. Just about every car can work on rubbers (love my 416!), as opposed to running the same two or three cars on foams. The driving seems to require a lot more finesse, throttle control, and driving technique. Sure, I can't throw the car into turns, but I consider that a good thing. I'm notorious at our track for calling foam tires a "crutch" for bad driving habits, and I still feel that way. Foam can hide a lot of bad technique, and I think that's one of the core reasons people don't like rubber.

Crutch, out!
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