Ok, I don't mean to be a buzz-kill but with less than 30 days til the race season begins here in the mid-west and great lakes regions, there needs to be somesort of decision made on tires for the season. With the issue in Japan I dont think there is any way to procure the needed ammount of tires for all of our drivers for even the first couple weekends of racing! With everything I have read it seems that it will be quite a while before production continues at TOYO, not to mention how long it will take to get those tires here to the states!

Is there any way to choose an "alternate" tire"? Whether it is for the entire season, or just a portion? As a build & support shop this is becoming a serious issue. From a 944-spec shop that rebuilds transmissions we really dont want to see a "full slick" tire be adopted as there just arent that many available ring and pinion sets available! Running full slicks WILL kill these transmissions.

the 944-spec class isn't the only class that's going to deal with the TOYO shortage, so this may become a much larger issue! Are there any other tire suppliers that can provide a similar tire? At this point, contingency may not even be an issue! Sure, you may get a $500 TOYO-buck certificate, but how much good does that do if you cant buy the tires before the cert expires??

Not trying to stir the pot, but this is an issue that is not going to resolve itself anytime soon.

-Nick Miller
Bennington Motorsports

In Arizona we have alrady completed 6 races this year. So I don't see the urgency for "this season". This will be an issue during the year, but we are spec Toyo RA-1 class. So as long as they are out there we will be using RA-1. I understand the concern should the supply dry up, but when the season begins has no bearing.


The toyo issue is not a uniqe 944-spec issue so it is best handled at NASA level for now. John Lindsey is at aware of the issues at the Toyo plant in Japan and what hear as there may have been a shippment enroute before the earthquake.

Um... ok.
You are a racer, I dont race anymore, now I am a support shop that hauls 4 cars to every race weekend. I'm glad you have 6 races under your belt already, I'm simply stating that with less than 30 days to go till OUR first race weekend, the shortage of RA-1s stands to cause an issue for us (in these regions)! we will have several racers running on last seasons tires. Sure the RA-1s do hold up well, but we also have racers that NEED tires for the second race weekend. So now the issue becomes: they don't have any "spec" tires, so why spend the money to even race? If they don't have legal tires, their points wont count... So, there is no point in racing, hence less racers running which means less money to NASA for the race weekends.

-N

JWL is aware, I'll be in contact as I know more, soon

Thanks Eric, good to know. I just dont see this getting better anytime soon!!

are you having trouble finding tire shops with ra-1s in stock now? I just got some from toyos only in AZ only to get my toyo bucks cashed in. I have a full set shaved i'm not sure when i even need. any offers?