NoCones

You actually fail to see the absurdity in that passage, don't you. You own a freaking horse and complain ad infinitum about $1000 sets of tires.

What if I complained about the cost of tires because my electric bills are so high in my 4500 sq.ft. house?

rotor-te-rex

It's called "other commitment" because it is an expense I have no control over...provided I desire to remain married to my wonderful wife of 24 years. FYI, a grand worth of tires would stable and feed our horse for 4 months....much cheaper than a divorce.

FYI, I live in a measley 1574 ft2 house that I designed and had built in 1986....my electric bill is not high.....nor are my property taxes cuz I live in Alabama.

I assume you are kidding about a 4500 ft2 house....otherwise I understand why my daughter's $23 grand a year college bill (before scholarships applied) is so high professor. Keep those college expenses in mind folks as you burn up those R-tires each weekend. The bill comes sooner than you think.

rotor-te-rex

Never said I was as good as Sipe. In my e-mail to him, I guesstimated he would drive his car 1 to 1.5 seconds faster than me per course. The 4.5 second difference behind a guy who finished 3rd in SS at Topeka when I am in a much slower car indicates that finishing 5.5-6 seconds behind fellow RX-8s on R-tires with stock mods while I'm on OEM tires with zero mods is largely a function of tires and stock mods rather than driving. I've let Ian Steward drive my car and he was 1.1 seconds faster than me in the Rex with similar margins in my old Altima....and trust me NoCones....you're no Ian Stewart. You would beat me in my own car too....but not by a full second.

rotor-te-rex

The wife nixed the idea of me making that trip....gets back to that divorce avoidance thing again. Know what I mean??

rotor-te-rex

Whoa, I said 33%+ of all Solo drivers run Open Stock at major events. But at regional events where long-time Stock Street Tire classes exist, the shift from one tire to the other is pretty obvious. West coast street tire classes are in their infancy. At some point you guys gotta be able to read between the lines and figure out that the success of ST classes and east coast stock street tire classes is a trend about TIRES. All those STi guys could have run ESP last year or BSP this year....but are in STU instead. And don't take lack of letters as an indication of anything but normal SCCA members having better things to do than read/write on forums.

And despite all the rules-making efforts to fix Prepared, it continues to languish, while a potential goldmine sits unexplored while you guys do good work on the small stuff.....but lack vision and an inclusive plan on bigger means to expand Solo participation.

I'll hang this thread up now as it is obvious I'm getting nowhere. Was hoping some of you guys might band together to cut your tire costs in half. Guess you boys like being taken to the cleaners on tire expenses?????

rotor-te-rex

What are you talking about kC. I'm no empty nester nor are many of the others who try to save money by running street tires. But I know a lot of single young guys and young couples are childless.....or won't admit to having offspring.

A lot of older retired guys are empty nesters cuz the kids are grown and gone.

A lot of divorced guys are quasi-empty nesters.

If I was making all the money decisions in the house and had no "other commitments" I assure you my spending priorities would change dramatically!! That being said, I wouldn't change my situation for the world.

So shouldn't the SCCA cater to a larger client base beyond those who are more commitment-free??? We do go out of our way to include families by having Ladies classes and FJ classes. But what happens when junior is grown. It's a lot easier to pick up the tab for 2 drivers on Azenis than on 710s/Hoosiers!!!

And for those of you WITH kids...save your breath unless they are teenagers. The bills go way up when they start driving (cars and car insurance) and have cell phones, etc. My wife and I have no cell phones but our kids sure do!

ULLLOSE

iTrader: (1)

Posting on a internet forum will not do it. Until the day comes that members put in the effort to write letters nothing will happen.

Imp

Cole, what everyone is saying to you is this... since you have so many priorities in your life, somethigs gotta give. I think you'll find out that your racing can wait. It'll still be around in a couple years when you have saved up the $$ to do it with no issues. You're in over your head, trying to do too much with too little. Its amazing you have any time to even try to auto-x.

Your horses, your tennis playing daughter, all have to consume just sooo much time. How can you stand it? Is it because you MAKE the time to be able to do it? That's pretty much the same thing you have to do to save money... you make yourself save. Put a little here, a little there... and it all adds up! It's amazing!

So I would just find something else to do that's cheaper instead of trying to get rules changed so they fit you.

Just a little note...One of my wifes horses died last Friday (~27 years old). We picked up his ashes today and scattered him through the paddock. We put away $X.XX a month for this... it wasn't cheap to have him picked up and brought someplace to have him cremated.. .but we made do. We had it all saved over the past few years. Its amazing how much sudden costs for things are! If I had my way, we would have just had a backhoe come in and bury him out back... but I don;t think the neighbors would have liked that.

My point is... don't think I (and others) don't know about horses (or any other commitments we have in life to work, family, etc....) Should I tell you about taking care of my aging parents? Wanna go down that road? Woe is me?

So drop the "woe is me" life costs so much act. EVERYONE has priorities and expenses in life. EVERYONE. Priorititize what's important, and everything else just falls into place if you let it be.

I'm beginning to think you are agrguing just to argue because your daughter is away at school and you can't pick a fight with her, and your wife will have nothing to do with it... so she runs out to the barn to play with the horses when you're in a 'mood'.

Good luck with that.

--kC

NoCones

You think I have control over my electic bill? I desire to remain married to my wonderful wife too...we sell this house, I don't think she'll be very happy. FYI, a grand worth of tires would pay my electric bill for 4 months.

I'm so jealous of your low property taxes from living in a measly house in bassackwards state...damn, you got me so good again.

Assume whatever you like...you always do...I've never seen you let the truth get in the way of what you believe.

NoCones

Correct...I have a pretty good grasp of how I stack up against the best drivers...I attend a fair number of events with them. And, *again*, I don't whine about him being faster than me and try to get the rules changed so that he won't beat me by so much. He drives better than me...I don't like it, but it's up to me to change that, not the entire solo community.

NoCones

Divorce has worked fine for me.

I don't even let my child support payments cause me to whine about the cost of R tires.

NoCones

Correct. They also have better things to do than to travel to national events. They don't care what the national rules are because they wouldn't travel regardless. If rules are what are keeping these anxious masses away, I would assume they'd be keeping a keen eye on the rules and any proposed changes and jumping on any opportunity to build a case for changes that would benefit them. Yet no one knocks down the SEB door demanding street classes...even when someone champions the cause as loudly as is internet-ly possible.

B1mmer

I love how Cole can comment on Bryan's driving in an STS car. Let's see, Bryan and I ran that car in about 5 National level events in 2004. Every event the car was different:

Ft Myers Tour: Coilovers, 15x7 wheels, shaved MX's, intake, exhaust

DC Tour: 17x7.5 wheels, coilovers and shaved MX's, intake, exhaust

DC Pro: Same as above, but race seat... a week after the Tour

Oscoda Pro: 17x7.5 wheels, softer front springs, much stiffer rear springs

Nationals: 16 inch wheels, dual race seats, more spring changes

I think he ran the car also 3 local events... so obviously, it's very easy to adjust to a car, that changes week to week, and we were doing all the development on.
Yes, there were two other people running Celica's nationally in ST, but only one GT-S, and we wanted to create our own setup.

After the motor grenaded on the car at a VIR lapping day in Feb '05 and spending way too much time and money on the car, I built a new engine, ran the '05 Oscoda Pro and then bagged it for the RX-8.

What did I prove? Nothing other than I wasn't patient enough to stick with it.

Prior to the ST Celica and after the ST Celica, Bryan (and I) have shown we are more than competent drivers. If you want to comment on someone's driving, put up or shut up.

You don't have the nuts to actually take Bryan up on his offer for tires and go to Nationals. - AB

altiain

iTrader: (3)

Funny. My local Region has had an indexed Street Tire class open to ANY Stock, SP, Prepared or Mod car running street tires for at least the last five years. While attendance hovers around 5-10 entrants per event, that isn't even a quarter of what we get in regular Stock classes... and most of our Stock class drivers - even the Regional only guys who have kids in college and horses to feed - run R compounds.

Again Cole, I exhort you to get out of your little fishbowl once in a while. Maybe the guys in Hayseed Alabama like street tires, but I can assure you that what happens in your little backwater isn't universal.