Long winded speech begins...
I agree that as a fraction of overall costs the tyre spikes are a small ammount - but so was the new clutch, and the cameras, and the clutch logging system, and the compulsory new type clutch, and the extra round, and the TV fronting costs...
My point is that these compulsory costs have gone up a lot in recent seasons - as a percentage of a high spending team's spending, it probably does seem silly to complain, but for those on a tight budget the percentage increase is much greater - same reason that a fixed rise in fuel duty is received much more poorly amongst those with low incomes than those with buckets of cash (as an analogy)
Consider also the problems experienced by the TKM series when TV coverage and on-board cameras was first mooted in 2010 - as I understood it from reading online, only an intervention by TKM itself prevented a potential failure in the series and concessions in entry costs and camera rules were made - now the TKM and MSA series have been combined, another point badly received by some last year when TKM series entrants suddenly had to fund a 7th round on a different calendar.
I agree that there are enough people to keep the series viable - especially given that the financial input from each entered driver has gone up so much - and those who win will give little thought to the "poor kids" who couldn't afford to take them on - but it's a shame that it wasn't always the case that those people were unable to afford it
There is always the potential to bring it back: - With rear mounted cameras, if a driver can't afford it, don't make them (they just surrender the option to use camera footage as evidence in a protest) - With the clutch logging, if you can't afford the kit, just be prepared to submit to a spot check from the scruitineers at any point immediately preceeding or just after a race with a clutch strip down - TV coverage, why do the costs at all rounds go up when only 5 of 7 are covered (surely a guest driver at a non-televised round should only pay the old rate?) - Add 2 drop rounds, so drivers need only compete in 5 events to reach a full points total, it's in their own interest to compete in more to avoid a dodgy drop score in their final total
If, as we are led to believe, so many of these added extras are supplied to drivers at cost price or at a loss to official suppliers, where is the harm in making them optional?
Long winded speech ends...
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