Thoughts on USPKS Going To 2 Sets of Race Tires in KA?

So no evinco blues correct?

Correct. I’m not sure how hard it’s policed on practice day. I’ve seen KA guys run Yellows in practice or Bridgestones even. But obviously if someone calls you out or the grid steward notices it, you’re probably going to miss a practice session if you have to go change tires at the last minute.

I know that Stars Championship Series allows drivers to practice on the Evinco equivalent to MG, since they’re made in the same factory, they really just want to get MG rubber laid down and not mix it with Hoosier/Vega/whatever. USPKS has I believe only allowed MG tires for practice, although I will say that along with TJ I’ve seen or at least heard of people running Yellows for practice days.

I think the tires would physically last the whole weekend, I just think nobody knows how much you’re giving up by having two extra heat cycles on the tires. I know that even a couple weeks after an event if I try to use the tires for practice there will be a 4 tenths or so gap between the practice and new tires, but that could also be from the tires sitting over 2/3/4 weeks and losing some of their oils instead of running the extra heat cycles on the tires. We’d have to go out and run like 10 sessions over a day or two to really know how much time is being given up.

The experience I have between MG/Evinco and drop off in performance is also track dependent. There’s one track we’ve ran at where the difference in time from qualifying to the final (finals is the 5th track session, qualifying, 3 heats, and a final) is anywhere from 3/4 of a second to 1 second of time drop off, while there are others that have very little drop off, around 1/10 of a second. In our regional series, we run Evinco Blues, MG Red equivalent, and they last the 5 runs without issue. I typically take those tires and run club races on them until the next regional race weekend. I will admit though, that my daughter is searching for seconds, and not fractions, which is not due to the tires.

So, while it’s nice to put new tires on for a final, I don’t think they are necessary and they can last an entire weekend without issue. As TJ said above, if your tires have extra run on them from doing an LCQ, that’s the penalty for not doing better in the heats, and you’d probably have a harder time getting to the front even with new tires on.

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I should clarify that what I meant wasn’t running another brand in warm-up, just running a different set of MG’s that wasn’t the registered set(s) of race tires for the weekend. It did actually provide for good conversation though.

We do this at the club level which means only 3 heat cycles per day on the race set which gets you 2 days pretty competitively and sometimes a 3rd.

Oh, you don’t need to run your registered tires until qualifying. You can run whatever set of new, used, or combo you want until official sessions start. Including morning warm-ups. So you can save a couple heat cycles if you want to swap to a set of used scuffs each morning.

The people spoke and USPKS listened:

IMPORTANT UPDATE: For KA Jr., KA Sr., and X30 Jr. drivers…
The recent change in the tire rules to require 2 sets of race tires for the weekend seems to have caused a bit of a stir with some of our racers. This change was made by request of the racers who feel that 2 sets of tires improves racing parity from day to day, and that the LCQ format that might be needed will wear tires out faster. However, we understand that some racers would prefer to only use 1 set of tires, as that fits their budgetary needs better. So, beginning with Friday’s qualifying sessions at Orlando, you will race on whatever set of slick tires you qualify on. So everyone will do their Saturday qualifying session on new sticker tires, and race those tires on Saturday. Those that want new tires for Sunday, will do their Sunday qualifying session (follows the Sat Qual session), on another set of new sticker tires. If you want to use the same tires both days, then you can qualify for Sunday on the same set as your Saturday tires. You WILL NOT have the option to add a set of tires later, so if you want 2 sets, qualify on them, or they won’t be legal. YOU WILL RACE WHAT YOU QUALIFY ON. This rule update applies to KA100 Sr, KA100 Jr, and X30 Jr. Thank you and see you in FL!

So now if you want to run one set of tires for the whole weekend, you are allowed to. However, the guys wanting to run two sets will also be able to.

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This is the way it should have been communicated initially, though it’s not really an improvement until new tires are no longer needed in order to go faster. Really no different than saying “new tires optional” for the entire weekend. You can guess what the front runners will be doing…

Of course. The front runners will also probably put on 2-3 new sets on Friday to practice. Where there is an opportunity to spend money, the guys who have it will spend it.

Can’t please everyone. From what I understand, the initial polling was indicating that most people wanted to run 2 sets with the added LCQ racing. It’s a harsh reality that most people racing in the series have bigger budgets and an extra $200 on a set of tires is just peanuts for them. This is a national series after all, it attracts the biggest budgets and fanciest rigs and the top drivers. Anyone competing at the front or for a championship will buy however many sets of tires it takes.

Route 66 still only uses 1 tire set for Reds I believe, so if someone can’t spring for the extra set of tires, maybe Route 66 is more where they should be racing anyway. That’s kind of what regional racing is for.

KA Sr. is over 40 entries at this point, so it appears to not really have affected the pre-entries for that class.

USPKS always takes customer feedback into consideration, so I’m sure if enough people complain about the tire rules and the majority want it switched, they would be happy to hear it and adjust accordingly. To the detriment of his inbox, my dad says people should email him whenever they have a concern about the series or a rule or whatever and then he can have a better scope of what the public is wanting. :sweat_smile:

I had emailed him about an issue (pertaining to a class I actually run :laughing:) and I appreciated his quick reply and honest response.

I think making tire decisions around the LCQ is silly. I think those are the consequences of poor performance…you’re going to start in the back, and you’re going to have older tires…try again next time.

Will be curious to see how many LCQ contenders podium in the mains. If ALL of them make it then maybe the tire rule has some validity; however, if only one or two only make it into the top half of the field then that result seems inconsequential. Just seems like the desired result isn’t worth everyone buying a second set of tires. Why run the harder tire to begin with at that point?

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Curious what the rationale is/was here other than people burning up their tires earlier in the weekend?

This is so long ago I’m not even sure what we are referencing.

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The most recent deal I can remember was USPKS New Castle 2021. Arias Deukmedjian was one of, if not the fastest KA Senior kart all weekend was set to start in the front row or 2nd row on Saturday. When he fired up to leave the grid, his steering column came out. Bolt wasn’t even in place. So he missed the Saturday Final.

Sunday rolls around, he’s one of the fastest if not the fastest kart again, and he puts 8 seconds on the field in the main event. Dominates. Everyone in the paddock says it’s because he had one less heat cycle on his tires, and that he had 20 less laps, since he didn’t even get off the grid for the Sunday main.

At that point, the general consensus was – we’re spending thousands, what is an extra $200 going to hurt if it ensures a level playing field for Sunday.