"Also i don't think you'll find many people in TKM who are rich or well off, so its quite discriminatory to assume people who put new tyres on are rich or have lots of money. "
I think it's pretty logical to conclude that those who put on new tyres every race most likey have a larger budget than those who don't since tyres are probably the biggest single cost for most at this level of karting.
I'm with Chris here - I don't understand this desire for softer tyres on karts. I remember racing in TKM on chen shin tyres back in the 90s .. and when the maxxis (yellow) were introduced they were far far softer than the chen shin. Although TKM is now 115cc - the engine doesn't put out significantly more power than it used to - so the power to grip ratio has definitely swung way to the grip side since the classes inception.
Back in the 90s the class was thriving - helped no doubt due to the genuine low cost formula - uk built chassis and tyres that you could run for many many races without being too far off the pace. The karts weren't any less enjoyable to drive and required at least as much skill to hussle around quickly. Where is the benefit to softer rubber that most likely will add to the cost, particularly for those wanting to get into karting on a sensible budget? Thesse are surely the people TKM should be trying to attract?
More grip doesn't automatically make racing better. How many of us look back at F1 from the 60s 70s and 80s and wish that F1 cars still had hugely more power than grip and were a real handful to drive?!
I don't currently race TKM having instead decided to take the easykart route ... but had TKM reinvented itself a few years ago as a budget class where you had competetive racing with controlled costs I would have no doubt been racing it now. I suspect there are many others out there who would have done the same and would have ignored what the stop watch said and enjoyed the quality racing!
Incidentally, perhaps by some miracle the red maxxis will have better longevity than the greens, in which case it could be a positive thing, but it seems unlikely.
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