Grand Am tires. Should Crawford teams sue?

[davehenrie]

What was it about the new tire that so cripled the Crawford teams at the recent Rolex event? Heck, even the old old Doran/Ford beat all the Crawfords.

And, if it IS the tires...what can be done to rebalance the competition?

dave henrie

[The359]

What do you mean? All tires are equal Hoosiers. Why would the tires be at fault if Crawford had problems?

And last I checked the Crawford chassis is as old as the Doran chassis in its basics, but both have been aerodynamically upgraded over the years.

[davehenrie]

Actually I think it was in the Rolex 24hr thread. Some comments were made by the users there about a new size tire. My reading of that caused me to suspect the new tire was a problem for Crawford teams. Looking at the standings...with the top ten filled with Riley chassis, I began to wonder why the Crawford teams were so far off the pace. In the past, Crawfords have done well there.
At first, I thought it was just the Porsche teams due to the 100 extra lbs that Grand AM added to those teams with that use the Porsche engine last year. But then I saw many other non Porsche Crawfords also go poorly. Not just incidents and off-track delays, but being off pace and getting lapped with alarming frequency.

I thought, in a time-line of chassis, that the Crawford was the last 'new' tub. First was Fabcar, and then the rest of the first season manufacturers like Riley and Multimatic and Picchio and I also 'thought' the Doran was a first season car. I always had it in my head that the Crawford was at least 1 or 2 seasons newer than the rest. (not counting updates that is) Could easily be muddled about that...anything past yesterday is a risk for my mushy brain.

Anyhow...back to my question...if Hoosier or Grand Am changed the tire dimensions or performance and that was directly at odds with how the Crawford handled, could that not be considered unfair manipulation?

thanks
dave henrie

[The359]

So you assume that because the Crawfords did not perform well over 24 hours, that it's the fault of tires?

Again, isn't it more the fault of the chassis?

[davehenrie]

Originally Posted by The359

So you assume that because the Crawfords did not perform well over 24 hours, that it's the fault of tires?

Again, isn't it more the fault of the chassis?

A chassis that has been on par with the Riley and well beyond the usual pace of the Doran. Granted the #23 last year had some weight and rpm advantages over this year's car, but the Crawford was clearly the fastest chassis last year.
Crawford nearly won several years back with Tony Stewart. They have done well at Daytona in the past . So, while I don't think they would have expectations of winning, they 'should' have had some representation in the top 10. Coupling the poor results at the Rolex and the comments made by others in threads here at 10/10 just got me wondering.

[The359]

Wouldn't the fact that the Riley is the most numerous chassis have something to do with the fact that they dominated the Top 10?

Also the fact that most of the already few Crawfords suffered mechanical problems (Alex Job) or failed to finish (Vision, Howard, Dyson) would skew the results of Crawfords vs Riley.

I hardly see evidence that this has anything to do with tires.

[davehenrie]

yeah it looks that way, I guess I was feeding off other posts. Looks like Riley stepped up to the plate and the C car did not. thanks.

dh

[Graham Goodwin]

Realistically with any spec tyre there is going to be the possibility / probability that it favours the dominant car (and there are more Riley's than the rest put together now)

Why?

Well the tyre guys wil be receiving more feedback from testing from the Riley guys (because they will be doing more of it) and that has to have some sway. - This isn't just the case in GA of course it happen all over.

[Adam43]

That is a good point. There is more testing data from Riley chassis and it effects more teams. If they took a vote on which tyre whould be standard it would have been that one.

Should they sue? Hell no, they should try to do better. Fortunately I beleive that this is what they will do and they will take responsibility to turn it around.

In addition couldn't you argue that the old tyre hindered the Riley?

Should they sue? What is the world coming too. It's not fair, something didn't go how I wanted it to, I must sue!

[Speed-King]

Have you looked on the Mexico-Entry list? The Crawfords are a very endangered species now with only three cars running the whole season as Vision was an on/off-thing, Dyson does only 6 races and Howard Motorsports has (thank you very much, Honda!) no sponsorship for the rest of the year! So I guess it doesn't really matter anyway, because the percentage of non-rileys competing this season will be even lower than in the Rolex...
The tire thing might just add to this and marginalise them like the Doran and the Fabcar