RCR #2 2021

[Den341548534727]

My RCR request would be the following:

 

6.31.2 16 inch wheels must weigh 16.0lbs or more. 17 inch wheels must weigh 18.0lbs or more. One piece aluminum spacers welded to the wheel will be included in the total wheel weight. Detachable balancing weights will not be included in the total wheel weight.

 

Is modified to:

 

6.31.2 16 inch wheels must weigh 16.0lbs or more. 17 inch wheels must weigh 18.0lbs or more. One piece aluminum spacers fit to car with the wheel will be included in the total wheel weight. Only spacers that are attached to the car at the time of protest will be considered for inclusion in wheel weight. Detachable balancing weights will not be included in the total wheel weight.

 

Goal is to avoid welding spacers to brand new wheels when I already have to run them to meet track width so un sprung weight is the same with or without the spacers welded to the wheels. Argument being that if they’re on the car (whether welded or not) they are part of the effective wheel weight. 

 

Thanks,

Daniel Records

[MHISSTC]

YES!

We went round and round on this after the first year the ENKEI RPF1 wheels became legal and no one outside of the Texas region seemed to know they were legal at the time, or how they could be legal when the bare wheels by themselves in a 17"x9.5" size weighed 16.25 or 16.75 lbs. for the 38mm or the 18mm offset wheels respectively.  We never thought welding a spacer to a wheel was a good idea since it could ultimately sacrifice the structural integrity of the wheel, or the spacer, or both.  Welding a spacer to the wheel also devalues the wheel and makes it harder or even impossible to sell used wheels to anyone who might use them for anything other than the specific CMC application for which they were intended.  Welding a spacer on to the wheel also hides the back side of the wheel that should be left available for inspection.  Inspecting the mounting face of the wheel itself is needed to ensure there are no cracks developing in the wheel, and to ensure there is no other cheating going on.  Knowing how McCheaty some folks can get, what's to stop someone from getting super light wheels in combination with a spacer that is still underweight, and then drilling out portions of the mounting surface of the wheel to add in some Mallory metal weights near the center of the hub to reach that minimum weight, but also to concentrate that weight near the center of the rotating mass in order to minimize rotational inertia as compared to another wheel of similar minimum weight, but with more of its mass distributed out further from the center.  If you weld a spacer on to the wheel, you've effectively legalized a cover for potential cheating and the wheel can no longer be fully inspected in potential problem areas.

We never had any problem allowing these wheels, or any others like them that might come up short on weight by themselves, as long as the spacers used with them to make the minimum wheel weight didn't need to be welded, or otherwise permanently attached to the wheel.  We were denied that in the past.  I hope that can change now. 

I think the wording "Only spacers that are attached to the car at the time of protest will be considered for inclusion in wheel weight."  implies a protest has to be made to ensure a specific wheel and spacer combination is legal. I don't think that should be the case.  If due diligence is done at the regional level, especially prior to showing up at a national event, racers who knowingly use a wheel that by itself is lighter than the minimum should be required to weigh the wheel and spacers separately and provide documentation to their regional director that shows the wheel + spacer combinations used are legal prior to running them in a race, rather than needing the combination to be protested by someone after the fact in order to prove them legal.  Put the burden of proof on the racer prior to any event rather than putting the burden of proof on all of the other racers after an event.  There's no need to waste the time and money of a protest if this can all be proven before hand. 

If protests are filed by other racers at subsequent events when they come across a wheel they may not be familiar with, the racer using a particular combination has already done the homework ahead of time to ensure there is nothing to worry about.

One more point of clarification.  Are the valve stems included in the wheel weight, or are they to be removed like the wheel weights when determining if the wheel meets the minimum weight requirement?

[Den341548534727]

Thanks for your input, It is not clear in the rules about the valve stems and I will bring it up with the other directors and see what other series do to account for valve stems, My gut feel is the valve stem should be counted as weight and wheel weights should not be counted. You cannot run with out a valve stem but you can run without wheel weights.

Bob