When the decision to go to foam tires was brought up last year, I appeared to be in the minority in opposing this change. My criticism was two-fold: first that the change was unnecessary. We had a problem with Revo Slot tires last year but a different rubber tire could have been chosen. We ran the ScaleAuto cars with rubber tires and they ran fine. They were slower than other series cars but were controllable and we had no issue with tire wear.
My other criticism with foam tires is one of principal. I did not participate in the Thingie/wing car racing of the 70’s and 80’s so I have no nostalgia for foam. My love of scale slot racing is centered on scale. Regular rubber (and urethane) slot tires correspond quite well to 1:1 tires, even to different tire compounds and grip/wear compromises mirroring their real-life counterparts. I have never seen foam rubber tires on a real car. The foam tires are dependent upon tire treatment. While the “tire cleaner” may not be as messy as other tire goop/glue, it nonetheless leaves dark streaks on the track. These streaks detract from the scale look of the track (this would be mitigated if the track surface was black). There is nothing wrong with wing cars, black streaks on the track and super-fast lap speeds but to me this results in a more toy-like sport rather than one based on scale racing.
Now, my above philosophical comments do not address the issue at hand, and I am not recommending a return to real rubber for this series. The different ScaleAuto wheel/tire may prove to work well enough. The BRM and RevoSlot foam tire series to be run later this year may well prove to be provide worthy variety for ASCC racing series, as the rally track (and the unlimited Christmas race) already does. I am merely stating my personal preference for real rubber and true-scale racing.