Motosport Tyres

[Sully84]

I have noticed on a few websites that they say they’re not allowed to sell motorsport tyres online, Protyre for example have the following excerpt.

Please note: Race and trackday tyres may ONLY be purchased through the Motorsport team directly. We regret that we are not permitted to sell motorsport tyres online. Motorsports can be highly dangerous and we are legally obliged to make the consumer aware of any appropriate Health & Safety warnings at the time of sale.

Whereas other websites make no reference to any legislation & have an online shop etc…

Googles doesn’t shed any light on any legislation regarding the sale of motorsport tyres, does anyone know know what the laws actually are? Are Protyre et al just getting you to call them so they can sell you extra etc...?

[velocemitch]

You might find its something to do with E marking. It is illegal to sell a none E marked tyre for road use in the UK. As many motorsport tyres are not E marked I suppose the sellers don't know if you intend to use it on the road or not.
Bizarrely it is not illegal to use a none E marked tyre on the road, just illegal to sell them for road use.

[stevieturbo]

velocemitch said:

You might find its something to do with E marking. It is illegal to sell a none E marked tyre for road use in the UK. As many motorsport tyres are not E marked I suppose the sellers don't know if you intend to use it on the road or not.
Bizarrely it is not illegal to use a none E marked tyre on the road, just illegal to sell them for road use.

In the same respect it's illegal sell cigarettes etc to underage...but not actually illegal for them to smoke.

And there is absolutely no reason a tyre without an E-mark should be illegal, as there will be many tyres out there that fully comply with construction and use etc that are fully road legal....but no E-mark. So it's a very very strange rule

But the rules here are stupid...no surprise there.

But simple as this....if one seller wont sell them, buy them elsewhere, it's their loss of business.

[velocemitch]

It certainly is a strange rule. What compounds it massively is when manufacturers emboss the sides of the Tyre with 'for competition use only'. So I'm on the Public Highway but I'm not 'in' a competition (ie not on an event, say driving to one) am I breaking the construction and use act?.

OR.. in an even more bizarre turn of events, certain Police forces are now saying that using a none E marked Tyre in competition on the public highway is illegal under the construction and use act. Not that they have managed to prosecute anybody for it, as they probably would fail.

[stevieturbo]

velocemitch said:

It certainly is a strange rule. What compounds it massively is when manufacturers emboss the sides of the Tyre with 'for competition use only'. So I'm on the Public Highway but I'm not 'in' a competition (ie not on an event, say driving to one) am I breaking the construction and use act?.

OR.. in an even more bizarre turn of events, certain Police forces are now saying that using a none E marked Tyre in competition on the public highway is illegal under the construction and use act. Not that they have managed to prosecute anybody for it, as they probably would fail.

If the tyre states for competition use only...then I cant imagine how you'd ever convince a judge or court the tyre would be road legal, without huge expense to yourself.

But the rules are largely based around a certain amount of tread over a certain area of the tyre surface ( as well as the usual tread depth rules etc )
I had a copy of them years ago, although no idea where they went.

[velocemitch]

Well you had better tell that to many of the competitors on rally GB then as a large number will be driving between stages on Tyres marked competition use only.

like I said it's a massive grey area, that MSA seem to be steering very clear of if they can.

[stevieturbo]

velocemitch said:

Well you had better tell that to many of the competitors on rally GB then as a large number will be driving between stages on Tyres marked competition use only.

like I said it's a massive grey area, that MSA seem to be steering very clear of if they can.

And as you would probably be aware....those tyres have a legal minimum tread quantity which probably does make them comply with road laws. Full slicks would never comply.
And some rally type tyres are E-marked. So yes it is a bit of a grey area.

I'd imagine a lot of the rally cars could get pulled on a number of potentially illegal things on the road nevermind just tyres though. Just depends how ratty the cops wanted to be about it

It just actually requires the police to do something about it...perhaps this hasnt happened yet for PR reasons, although I'm surprised the scummy fks havent done it yet for an easy batch of tickets. They usually stoop to low levels in order to nail people everywhere else, this could potentially be an easy one for them.
After all, they only need to accuse and issue tickets...then it's up to you to pay to prove your innocence...yet it doesnt cost them a single penny.

[steve-V8s]

Does this perhaps have something to do with the recently imposed Rolling Resistance rules.

The Wise Men of Europe decided that really grippy tyres were not a good thing as they may use slightly more fuel. As a consequence the very soft compound “ track day “ tyres can no longer be sold for road use and have to be marked for competition use even though they comply with all the design requirements other than being rather too good at gripping the road. If I recall correctly they plan to continue removing the most grippy rubber from the market a grade at a time.

[NJH]

I thought it was noise, then performance in the wet. Wouldn't surprise me if it was loads of things though they never stopped thinking of ways to use legislation to "improve" our lives.

[stevieturbo]

steve-V8s said:

Does this perhaps have something to do with the recently imposed Rolling Resistance rules.

The Wise Men of Europe decided that really grippy tyres were not a good thing as they may use slightly more fuel. As a consequence the very soft compound “ track day “ tyres can no longer be sold for road use and have to be marked for competition use even though they comply with all the design requirements other than being rather too good at gripping the road. If I recall correctly they plan to continue removing the most grippy rubber from the market a grade at a time.

Hopefully once out of the EU, a lot of that nonsense can go away. They really are interfering aholes.

[Oilchange]

Regarding the 'competition use only' statement, there is a motor competition that involves some sort of trials thing navigating about the place with a stopwatch but crucially, no speed limits or other rules of the road are broken. Yet it is a competition. I'm sure a judge would agree with using a tyre marked as such during said trials would be perfectly legal. Then it would revert back to construction and use surely?

stevieturbo said:

If the tyre states for competition use only...then I cant imagine how you'd ever convince a judge or court the tyre would be road legal, without huge expense to yourself.

But the rules are largely based around a certain amount of tread over a certain area of the tyre surface ( as well as the usual tread depth rules etc )
I had a copy of them years ago, although no idea where they went.

[stevieturbo]

Oilchange said:

Such things would be up to a judge to decide and up to each person to pay for their defence if accused. Therein lies a horrible part of motoring law etc. You have to buy justice.

But then there are also rules about taking part in time trials with regards insurance and other things so various cans of worms could also be opened.

But basically if the tyre has sufficient tread and a correct fitment on the wheel rim, there is no reason I can think of for it to be illegal to use on a road.

I'd sooner like the law to tackle the idiots with stretched tyres which are dangerous ( and bloody stupid looking ) than any non E-marked or tyre that says competition on the side.

[Oilchange]

I agree with the stretched thing, I'd like to add the 'stance' thing too, wheels at such an extreme angle of camber that only a fraction of the tread is in contact with the road. Frankly dangerous...

[stevieturbo]

Oilchange said:

I agree with the stretched thing, I'd like to add the 'stance' thing too, wheels at such an extreme angle of camber that only a fraction of the tread is in contact with the road. Frankly dangerous...

Exactly...ridiculous rules about potential sale of a tyre.

Yet idiots out there can do totally dangerous things with "legal" tyres making a car unsafe.