But Nathan, there is no such thing as a "VR" rated tire since 1991 as has been pointed out. It is an obsolete usage. Those tires became "V" rated. If we strictly stick to what is in the rule book (here is a spot where a change is in order) the only tires allowed are up to "H" rating at 150 MPH. And SCTA with all the other, lower rated tires, allows some speed over the MFG recommendations. ie; the Above H tires is allowed to 150 but is 130 rated.
Jack, I don't see anything anywhere that says a V tire is a VR tire. Yes, VR, which was 200 mph rating, went away but a V tire has a very clear published rating of 149mph that anyone with access to the internet can find. There is no specific speed allowance in the rule book for a V tire (and nothing that states a V rating and VR rating are the same). Therefore, I'd put limit at published speed rating. Does not matter that there is leeway in other tire ratings. V is not specifically listed therefore all an inspector can do is reference manufacture ratings - unless specific testing has been done to validate that a certain tire can be run beyond it's speed rating. That hasn't been done for a V tire.
Rule book says ZR is allowed up to 200. AFAIK, ZR is still a current rating.
Show me something that says that VR rating is now V. I don't think your assumption is correct. Higher speed ratings are Z, W and Y. No V's that I see. The other thing you're not getting is that I can't sit on the witness stand and testify that I "allowed" Racer Joe Blow's car to run with V rated tires to 200 mph which resulted in a tire failure, crash and death or dismemberment because Jack Illiff says VR is the same as V. If there isn't a specifically stated speed limit printed in the rule book for a certain tire, I'm always going to refer to the lowest published speed rating that I can find. Case closed, end of discussion. A V tires is NOT a 200 mph tire. V rating is 149 mph. Competitor presents something that says otherwise from the manufacturer and it'll be a different story. Make sense?
First off, let me make sure everybody understands where I am coming from:
I Love Landracing.com and Jon & Nancy are awesome for providing this venue for all of us to ask questions and discus issues.
But when it comes down to the definite and final answer and call, I have to agree with the statement DW made many times:
Contact the appropriate person listed on the SCTA website or rule book.
In this case I would send an e-mail to the "Car Technical Chair" Lee Kennedy at Lee.Kennedy@avmetrics.net
and CC the "Chief Automobile Inspector" Steve Davies at cartechscta@gmail.com
Something to that effect:
Lee & Steve,
Can you please answer following question for me.
I am trying to run a Federal Formozas tire, marked as 165/50R15, 73V. Manufacturers Speed rating is 149 Mph.
Is this tire considered to be a VR tire as specified in the 2015 SCTA Rule Book on page 26, Section 2.F Tires ?
Will I be allowed to compete with this tire during SCTA Sanctioned events (El Mirage / Bonneville) to a stated
Top Speed of 200 Mph ?
My vehicle is a Rampage Pickup and runs in H/DT. Current Records are in the 130 Mph area, but I am hoping to
get within 160 to 170 Mph.
Thanks in advance,
.............................
That's what I would do. But I am just a bystander in this discussion.
AND, if you get the desired answer, make sure to print out the e-mail and include it with your log book.
There may be a chance, that an Inspector will want to see documentation of this conversation with Lee & Steve.
More than likely, they will not remember what they told you. They are getting requests like this daily.
Hope to see you out in Bonneville in 2016. Good luck with your quest.
Mike Spacek
