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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

New regs for trackday tyres


zedhex
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I wanted to get some new trackday tyres two months ago, but found that Toyo R888s are getting a bit rare. The reason seems to be that they don't fully comply with the latest EU labelling regs. This is a typical bit of Euro sleight of hand. They are introducing a labelling system which is supposed to make it easier to choose a tyre (talk about a solution in search of a problem). You might wonder why they would do this, but when you read the small print it all becomes clear. This is legislation-by-the-back-door to try to get us all to buy 'green' tyres. The labelling system has grades of fuel efficiency, wet weather performance and noise (but not dry grip - they don't want to encourage people to drive at any kind of speed at all). The devious bit comes in when they say that certain types of tyre that do not meet the standards will be phased out. That is why the most grippy R888s are no longer available - they don't meet the standards for noise and wet grip.

 

When I found that out, I started calling my MEPs. I wrote emails, sent letters. and waited... and waited...

 

I got a couple of responses, a nice letter from a Tory MP, bugger all from the lefties, and then (after a bit of email tennis - they tried to brush me off at first) I got this from a researcher for my UKIP MEP Stuart Agnew:

 

"Mr Magee is right - I was looking for EU specification change and missed 'specification removal' - so I have sympathy with him because the new labelling requirement will eventually lead to the removal of the 'G' grade of R888 from road use. Although tyres of that specification will still be available for track use it will be inconvenient to have to change tyres when you reach the track.

 

Mr Magee does not specify his tyre size and the rules for 2014 only refer to 8 tyre sizes out of 73, so possibly, he will be ok until 2018. In the attached brief report I list the 8 tyre sizes.

 

Also there are now only 10 official stockists for R888s and they all have adequate stocks, which will remain legal. It should be noted that recently Camskill, (a very large tyre dealer) has been removed from the official stockist list, so if Mr Magee was using them previously he may have better luck with an alternative.

"

 

Here is what Toyo say:

 

TOYO motorsport department confirms that the EU deadlines apply to 8 tyre sizes for the G tyre (namely, 185/60R13-3G; 185/60R14-2G; 165/50R15-2G; 195/50R15-2G; 195/50-3G; 205/50R15-3G and 225/45R16-3G), out of their range of 73 R888's but states that they will probably subtly modify the R888's to comply with F until 2018 and then bring out a near equivalent that complies with the law post 2018.

 

I should be OK for now with 275/40x17s, but not for much longer - and they will be messing with the compound.

 

and the moral is? Do not trust any Euro bureaucrat to be honest. They have an insidious green agenda that they know won't get votes, so they sneak things in under the radar hoping that we won't notice. They have got away with it this time - its already too late to change this. But we need to keep a very close eye on all Euro legislation. If you love driving interesting cars, then these people are your enemy. Be warned.

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The fun police are taking over the world. Even going to Brands on a regular basis it is obvious that they are trying to make the whole thing quieter. The only noisy cars there now are DTM , historics and the trucks. It takes a lot of the excitement out of it for the spectator.

F1 and Formula Renault are the only places that you can get the full experience. Even for those events the organisers hand out free ear pieces?

Le Mans has become even quieter with the diesel engines and fuel economy drive!

I could rant in this for ever. It is a bit much when the Le Mans Audis loudest noise comes from their tyres!

Stopping now!

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Don't agree about Le Mans. Yes the Diesel Audis are quiet but the Ferrari 458's hurt my ears last year and the Corvettes are immense with their ground shaking thunder. The sports prototype 2 are also very loud.

Looking forward to it, you going this year?

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Yep pretty pants really! Hate the sneaky over payed pompous I'm gone shout and stamp my feet at you in a building called the House of Commons like a bunch of 7 year olds told they can't have ice cream!

But yeah good right up. But this tyre legislation has been in the pipeline since beginning of last year :( verywell aimed shot to the foot!

Wonder how many self employed part worn tyre garages this will affect? It's pointless to be fair... As the general publics opinion... Or 99% of people who go to buy tyres aren't gona spend anymore just because its slightly better on fuel& may save them £30 a year!? And to honestly people don't like spending money on brakes or general maintenance!? So they don't care about wet grip stopping distance! 9/10 it's budgets... And this isn't a generalisation but an observation from where I work!?

It annoys me that car enthusiasts like ourselves who go out intentionally looking for grip for better response, braking and all around handling end up getting penalised for it.

So yeah the R888 toyo's might only just be road legal, but I could bet that they're 100 times better than the dodgy jinyus, sunnys& klebers etc!

Bah! Just like the fuel price rise investigation! Someone's benefitting from it and getting dirty back hand bribes. Thinking of number 1, themselves. Rant over.

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