...they're gonna ad another chicane, to "solve" the tire problem. http://www.amasuperbike.com/2003-Dec/031211ama.htm
The speedway says the track is not the problem. What a crock They even say that they have not made major changes in years. That is real reassuring.
I have to agree with the track on this one. It's up to the AMA and tire manufacturers to come up with a solution. As pointed out in other threads you don't see the catastrophic tire failures from other brands. Michelin just had a test there and didn't have any problems. The tire guys can make special tires just for Daytona as the track does abuse tires much worse than any other track on the schedule. Just my $.02
If it was up to the NASCAR dudes, they'd take the chicane OUT, as well as the infield. We could just run brick hard tires w/ 300 psi. Anyone remember the time KR rode that 680cc OW two stroke monster in the 200? 1984 I think. Once, when Yamaha had rented the track, he blew past the chicane (no hay bales) and got right at 200 mph. I rode a nearly stock GPZ750 in qualifying and got passed on the banking by that weirdo Japanese rider they had that year (Tadahiko Taira I think). Frightening. Fortunately, I failed to qualify.
SO why not apporach it form the other side - since th ebikes and tires have advanced to their current state - why hasn't the track kept pace? After all, if the old tracks were really good enough they'd still be running bikes and cars on the beach. Everything has to advance, if one part falls behind it needs to be changed. So in this equation what hasn't been changed in by far the longest amount of time?
nascar used restrictor plates to slow the cars down at daytona and talledega. i see no problem with that in this case.
Isn't this the same group of people that are compaining about pit-ins and outs at tracks we race on and say the should be cahnged. The same people that say that all armco should be removed from tracks. Those tracks were fine when bikes were slower. I am not saying it is 100% the tracks fault the tires a blowing, but it is a contributing factor. If some or all the factors can be changed then the feasibility of it should be looked at.
