At our Judge/Owner meeting, I reviewed the FDICC scoring allocation system discussed in my last article. I gave photocopy handouts to the judges for reference. Throughout the day I answered several questions on use and interpretation of the FDICC system and noted team leaders doing the same, one on one, with both judges and owners. While no system is perfect, this does introduce consistency to NCRS Flight judging where on-the-spot point allocation occurs.

Chairman Kazmierzak and Vice-Chairman Lennartz pitched in the week before to help me turn out judging volunteers. The Chapter responded well to the call for help! Twenty-three RMC members received credit for judging and four earned tabulation credit. Many faces were new to the NCRS judging/tabulation recognition programs and a few RMC members who haven’t been active recently, showed up — great!

Based on the current RMC chapter roster, we achieved +34% participation. I consider this an excellent show of force especially considering summertime schedule conflicts. THANKS RMC!

Three Corvettes and their owners (Bluestein, Button, and Kever) were new to both NCRS and the Rocky Mountain Chapter. Welcome, and thanks for sharing your fine Corvettes with us! I saw some of our recent judging school training at work….

After we hosted the Steamboat ’97 Regional, it became clear to our board we needed training in the NCRS Bowtie recognition program. This award category addresses unrestored Corvettes and is exclusively conducted at Regional and National conventions. We worked last fall and winter to understand the Bowtie evaluation process so Chapter members could at least "spot" candidate cars and counsel owners.

Two of the new RMC Corvettes registered for Flight judging were recognized by more than one RMC member as potential Bowtie candidates! The owners were appraised of the alternative recognition path within NCRS to traditional vehicle restoration.

Last, we had visitors. The Chairman and Judging Chair for the Rocky Mountain Jaguar club stopped by on my invitation to observe an NCRS meet. They have been conducting concourse de elegance meets for a number of years and now recognize the importance and growing scarcity of factory original cars. They wanted to see and understand what NCRS does, how our multiple recognition categories (Flight, Mark of Excellence, Performance Verification, Bowtie and Founders awards) work.

They were also interested in seeing our judging support materials and learning of our judging and tabulation recognition support programs. I spent about an hour with our Jaguar friends in a personal show and tell session. The interchange of information was fascinating. There’s a big difference between factory concourse and concourse de elegance evaluation!

Our Regional Representative, Howard Loomis, was on-hand and he took time with our Jaguar guests. Howard gave them an overview of the NCRS Chapter, Regional, National structure and donated his time graciously. Next month several of us are off to JOE (Jolly Olde England), so the Jaguar connection was timely….

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1981 South Wadsworth
Corner of Wadsworth & Jewell
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To obtain this discount, present your NCRS name badge, membership card, or hat.

By Fred Koenig

1732 26^th St. S.W.
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CLASSIFIED ADS

Rick Landeira (303) 530-2455, Boulder e-mail landeira@colorado.edu

For Sale: 1968 Corvette L-88. Restoration rare parts included. Soft documentation. Sell as is $31,000.00

D.J. Kazmierzak (303) 697-8428 e-mail DJKazmierzak@worldnet.att.net

For Sale: For Sale: Engine parts, 439 block date E148, 842 aluminum BB heads dated 10/14/68, Forged 427 crankshaft ground 10/10 cross drilled L88 or L89 specs. 427 7/16 pink rods. 7/16 BB push rods. 069 L88 intake dated 9/18/68.

D.J. Kazmierzak (303) 697-8428 e-mail DJKazmierzak@worldnet.att.net

For Sale or Trade: ’69 SB fan clutch & fan engine chrome shielding, original equipment. Best offer or trade for BB emission stuff.

For Sale: 396 CID. Std. bore 3855962, 4 bolt mains, K2465 code $650.00. 3872702 Heads I85 & J85, Bare $225.00.

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Wanted: ’84 or ’85 Corvette, in good working condition.

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ROCKY MOUNTAIN CHAPTER OFFICERS

ADVERTISING IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN CHAPTER NEWSLETTER IS FREE TO ALL ACTIVE MEMBERS, FOR ALL CORVETTE RELATED ITEMS OR CORVETTES FOR SALE. COMMERCIAL ADVERTISING RATES FOR THE NEWSLETTER ARE $15.00 FOR A BUSINESS CARD, $25.OO FOR A ¼ PAGE, $40.00 FOR A ½ PAGE AND $60.00 FOR A FULL PAGE. ALL RATES ARE QUOTED FOR 6 ISSUES OR ONE YEARS PRINTING. CONTACT THE EDITOR FOR FURTHER INFORMATION.

 ARTICLES

by Jon Whiteley

Overall gear reduction - Muncie wide vs. close ratio transmissions

by Rolf Krueger © Copyright,1998, Texas Chapter

The design and nomenclature of tires and wheels, and how it has changed over the years, creates lots of confusion to Corvette enthusiasts. This paper summarizes some of the key details in tire design and nomenclature. A future article will summarize details of wheel design and nomenclature.

The Matter of Plies in Tire Design

In the 1970’s, the use of radial tires became commonplace and these tires are used exclusively in new cars and trucks today. In a radial tire, the sidewall cords run directly from bead to bead at an angle of 90 degrees to the tire centerline, resulting in the shortest cord length possible. Over this sidewall, two or more layers of belt cord under the tread are run at angles of 20 to 30 degrees to the tire centerline. The belt material and number of plies for the tread can be selected independently from the material and number of plies in the sidewall; resulting in a tire with a stiff tread and a flexible sidewall. This type of tire provides the best combination of life, ride quality and cornering performance. The illustration below provides a comparison of these three types of tire designs.

COMPARISON OF BIAS, BIAS-BELTED AND RADIAL PLY TIRE DESIGNS

Tire Materials

The basic material used in tires is rubber, which has good adhesion characteristics, is flexible and can be used over a wide temperature range. However, rubber has little strength, and it is the cord and belts that give a tire strength and impact resistance. The basic casing of the tire is made with cords that are molded into the rubber and these cords carry most of the tire load. Cord materials include polyester, rayon and nylon. The belt of the tire restricts the shape of the casing, resists punctures and assists in keeping the tread flat on the road surface. Belt materials include polyester, rayon, fiberglass, aramid and steel. Most passenger car tires today use polyester cords and a combination of polyester and steel belts. Most performance tires today use polyester cords and a combination of polyester, steel and nylon belts. Nylon has the unusual characteristic of shrinking when heated and it is used in performance tires to control tire stability at high speeds and operating temperatures. The rubber composition; the number, size and material of cords and belts; and the orientation of cords and belts are varied by manufacturers to achieve the characteristics they want in a particular tire design.

Tire Size Conventions

Since its introduction in 1953, Corvettes have been equipped with tires in all three conventions, depending on the Model Year. The generally accepted Metric substitution tire sizes are:

By auto and tire industry standards, all P coded (passenger car) tires are "4 Ply" rated load range tires and the load range does not usually appear in the tire size. However, LT and ST coded tires are made in different numbers of plies to achieve different load ratings, and a letter code appears on the tire sidewall to denote the load range. LT or ST tires are load range coded B (4 ply) or C (6 ply) or D (8 ply) or E (10 ply).

Tire Identification Number

Since 1971, Federal Regulations require every tire to have a Tire Identification Number (TIN) which allows source traceability in case of a Safety recall. This TIN is an 11 position alpha-numeric number which must be on one sidewall of the tire, (usually the inside one) and is composed of:

Speed Rating System

All P coded tires sold today are rated for a sustained speed of at least 85 miles per hour. Some applications require the use of tires rated for higher speeds. The rating system used for high-speed tires consists of a single letter, below:

A designation called Service Description is also used with speed ratings; this is a two or three digit number followed by a single letter. The number is an index for load capability and the letter is the speed-rating symbol defined above; an example of a service description is 93V. Speed ratings must be shown on the sidewall of the tire. All Z rated tires must have the speed rating as part of the tire size designation; for example P275/40ZR-17. V rated tires that have the V in the tire size AND have a service description on the sidewall (example: P225/50VR-16 91V) are rated as "149 mph maximum". On the other hand, V rated tires that do not have the V in the tire size but have the service description (example: P225/60R-16 and 97V) are rated as "above 130 mph". For ratings Q, S, T, U and H, the rating can be either in the tire size (P215/60HR-16) or a separate sidewall service description (P205/60R-15 90H).

Tire Quality Ratings

The Treadwear rating is a three digit number, for example, 300. This value has no absolute meaning; it just means that a 300 rated tire will provide three times as much wear as a 100-rated tire. The Traction rating is a single letter (A, B or C) to describe the tire’s relative straight line braking traction on hard pavement. Note that this rating does not deal with cornering traction. In this case, an A rated tire has higher braking traction than a B or C rated tire. The Temperature rating is also a single letter (A, B, or C) to describe the tire’s resistance to heat generated at high speed. In this case, an A rated tire has more heat resistance than a B or C rated tire. Note that in both the Traction and Temperature ratings, a C rating is the minimum required to meet Federal Safety Regulations for approval for public sale. It is inevitable the Tour tires will have a higher Treadwear but lower Traction and Temperature rating than a Performance tire. For example, a top of the line Touring tire could be 420-A-B, whereas a Z rated Performance tire could be 220-A-A.

© Copyright, 1998 Texas Chapter, NCRS. All rights reserved Texas Chapter. Reproduction is prohibited without permission.