was that from bush? read my lips,..........................

Clearly you didn't see the interview I just watched. What is it about that interview that caused you to lose respect for him?

I talked with Mike for a bit after the interview and I have to tell you I have even MORE respect for him now. He was very honest and explained to me why saucing should be controlled and why it makes for an unfair advantage to some countries vs some others where saucing is strictly prohibited. To be honest I think this puts some well needed clarity on the whole process of teching the tires and such they went through at the worlds AND it also pinpoints what a tough job it is setting up an event at this level of competition. I think he deserves credit for speaking his mind.

I honestly think we should have a discussion in a different thread (if there isn't one already) about banning vs not banning sauce. After going to the worlds and hearing the big deal (seriously it was all people were talking about for at least 2 days, almost more so than who tq'd) I tried running an additive on my tires (legal at most tracks in the US including the one I was running at) and I'm not the best driver, certainly not of the caliber of the top guys at the worlds but even I noticed how much of a difference it makes.

This was the WORLDS, I mean this is like getting your one shot at saying you are the best in the WORLD at something ... that is really really big.

+1

Ignore him. Stefan is convinced that Americans are evil and that we alone are to blame for sauce. Despite the fact that Mike clearly says that he was told about it by a couple Europeans.

It was a good interview. good questions good answers

i don't know but I'm convinced stefan does not like swauger he's his biggest critic now back to our regularly scheduled programming

I have been keeping up with since the mains of the Worlds. I have been racing 8th scale in the Texas region for the last 2 1/2 years and have never "sauced" tires. The track we run on are prepped with VHT so I would not see the need for "saucing" tires. The current set-up on my car is pretty good and keeps my car planted (when I am not making mental mistakes). In all my years of racing foams on asphalt (10+ to be exact), I have never really seen the need to put traction additive on my tires; just go to a softer shore if traction becomes an issue. I did experiment with "sauce" one time on my 200mm car a few years back and my car was all over the track. I believe the additive did not react well with the VHT and made my car slide like a bowling ball down a lane with the wall being the big, white pin.

I know this "saucing tire" debate will probably never end. Why don't we all "agree to disagree" and put this to rest. What happened at the Worlds happened and nothing good can result in clunking each other over the head about what can now not ever be changed.

+1 As our local politician said after making a boo boo.. it has already happened ... let's move on.

The interview does raise questions though, the one person I didn't get a chance to interview was someone from Protoform. They ahd a rep there but with everything going on I kept missing him. There is talk of reducing body height to reduce the corner speeds of the cars, but I think it's not going to work. Engineers and drivers are going to come up w/ ways to get the corner speed (forumla 1 and ribbed tires, smaller engines etc anyone hahaha) back and think this sauce discussion is relevant to all the proposed changes to slow things up a little.

Uriah Murnan was clocked at 70mph on the back stretch, 70! Paolo was on throttle for I'd say 80% of the track, it was amazing to watch the top guys blaze around this circuit. I mean I am still in awe in the display of the skill these guys have and it's been weeks since I've been back.

I think the problem here in the states comes when you go to some tracks that don't (can't?) use VHT. I travel to allot of tracks and there are really some tracks that aren't allowed to put anything (even soda) down by the people who own the property so in those situations sauce is almost a requirement along with 32 shore tires.

Full disclosure here guys, while I am a racer I do run a small (and I mean small) brand and one of the products we've been asked to produce is sauce oddly enough. Funny thing is before going to the worlds I wasn't going to release the product we'd been working on because I thought as you did, there really isn't that big of a need for it. But after hearing what the racers at the track from all over the world had to say it kind of made the decision to go ahead and release the sauce easy.

JLock you are correct it has been a debate, it was pretty interesting being there in the middle of it and hearing all sides. I also agree that it is one of those things that folks do have to agree to disagree on hahaha but hopefully I'm not clubbing anyone as that wasn't my intention.


On Swauger, o.k. yeah because that was probably the second best interview I did there hahah. The best one is the Hara one, I got some offers to help so hopefully I can get that posted soon!

I'll say it again too that the Wong family and all the supporters who put that event on did an AMAZING job. I can't tell you what it was like being there, I am looking forward to the worlds in Thailand and Japan!

That was a great interview. Thanks to you Tory and Mike for shedding some light on things. Now I have to plan my trip to Hawaii for this new track, 808 Raceway. If its anything like the "drum machine", It should be "Banging"

Ditto on the IGNORE HIM.

Not despite the fact, but because of the fact.

Trying to put it on the Europeans, yeah right!

Who fell off the pace all of a sudden?

I don't think Americans are evil. Both my children are Americans.
It's not about the passport.
It's about indoctrination from the youngest age on, some would even call it brain washing.

The reason I left this country, to give my kids a chance to grow up with free minds...

I feel not much more than pitty.

you never mention collari only swauger all negative responses from you are always at swauger even at sedan worlds are there any other rc racers besides him I'm just sayin you saw him in lastsallo but didn't man up I'm just sayin strange I'm just curious as to why

Well let's see, here is the top ten after two controlled practices just before the tire ruling.

1. Robert Pietsch (D) – Mugen/Novarossi – 37L/10:14.490 (2)
2. Paolo Morganti (US) – Serpent/Novarossi – 37L/10:15.143 (2)
3. Atsushi Hara (JP) – Mugen/OS Speed – 36L/10:00.523 (2)
4. Dario Balestri (IT) – Capricorn/Novarossi – 36L/10:01.395 (2)
5. Flavio Elias (BR) – Mugen/Max – 36L/10:05.081 (1)
6. Takehiro Terauchi (JP) – Mugen/Novarossi – 36L/10:05.525 (2)
7. Walter Salemi (IT) – Motonica/Max – 36L/10:06.401 (1)
8. Keisuke Fukuda (JP) – Mugen/Novarossi – 36L/10:07.088 (1)
9. Daniele Ielasi (IT) – Shepherd/Picco – 36L/10:07.089 (1)
10.Mark Green (GB) – Serpent/Novarossi – 36L/10:07.905 (1)

I don't see Mike on that list. I DO see a couple europeans that failed to make the main and a couple other nationalities as well.

I would also point out that I saw Mike's lap times in the main, he was not off the pace at all. Mechanical problems are quite different from being slow.