First off, thank-you for your efforts on the issue John & Eric.
Being a support/ build shop we unfortunately end up spending more time under cars and under hoods than on the boards, but the "+7" carry-over certainly sounds like the best option to keep the door open for Toyo once their unfortunate issues are resolved. There is no reason to abandon a comapny that has offered such an appealing contingeny program for the class.
When it comes down to racers that dont have tires in our region, I currently have 20 tires on back order with our supplier. Yes, there are some racers that have a set that may last 1-2 weekends, but what do they do after that? This becomes a very large issue for us as a shop that now transports and supports 3 year long arrive and drive cars PLUS a rental car that has proved itself very well in drawing new drivers into the class.
As someone that is constantly sourcing parts for our drivers, I have to agree that the 16" rim should not be an option for a "budget" race class. Sure having one set for enduro racing in E2 is one thing, but trying to source enough for a primary race set, backups, & rain tires becomes costly.
We have already commited to a rental for the comp school at the first Midwest Autobahn weekend. If anyone in the region would like to mount a set of the victoracers for some tire testing on Friday (if allowed) we will have an additional trackmate unit on hand as well as Longacre treadware & pressure gauges as well as pyrometers (and Nitrogen service) available to compare these tires to the Toyo RA1s if some baseline data is desired.
All I ask for is a heads up a couple days before so we don't have to scramble at the track!
-Nick Miller
Bennington Motorsports