JSR 
I will also comment on the tires:
In my opinion spec tires are not a good idea. We have seen that different tire size can work well in different conditions. Let the teams figure out what is best for them. I think this diversity is important to FS.
I agree however that there is a trend to play a lot with the tires to get more performance out of them. This will lead to (even) more money being spent on tires, which is debatable if it is sustainable for the educational aspect (a lot of this knowledge is probably only useful for hill climbing). I don't see a problem with teams using tire softeners per se, it was allowed in my understanding in previous years. But know the extent of what teams are trying to do with tire softeners is getting out of bounds in my opinion.
To come back to the example, at FSA, there were 3 teams that for sure used a lot of the stuff. As Julian said, some of the tires were wet after the tire protectors were taken away (definitely not water). Also after doing some suspension checks before endurance (and thus touching the tires) my hands were full of rubber.
The problem is more, as Julian pointed out, that teams have started to have different sets for Acc., Skidpad, AutoX and Endurance. This is, again in my understanding, not allowed. While it originally was the same compound, they are not anymore due to the treatment. A similar / same issue is possible with a team that has self made tires. How do you know if they have the same compound on all dry tires for example?
I think the suggestion by Julian makes a lot of sense. Like this learning about tires and tire modification is not prohibited but there are some bounds given.
Another way of handling this is how it is already done at FSG (for custom tires only), where you have to present all tires you have with you. Then the officials selects random sets of four which are marked accordingly.
Cheers
Yannick
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