Burn Tunes - SDC Super Drift Competition Official Ruling

7/28/2025

I need to revisIt the Melted Tires subject. It may seem as though we can’t make up our minds on this, but actually I have been fighting with what I believe vs. some outside influences. So my apologies. I personally take full responsibility for this mess. I always to try to be certain before making any type of statement, but this is one time I have not held true to my beliefs. There were some very strong opinions on this topic, and none trying to sway in favor of the Burn Tune. After making the announcement against Burn Tunes, it has been weighing heavily on me. Yes, I take this extremely serious.

R.C.D.C. Has a provision in their rules basically stating warming tires by rotating tires at excessively high speeds is prohibited. This was taken into account originally, along with another organizing group going another route and limiting FDR and Motor Selection. Both are directly aimed to stop Burn Tunes. This had added to the pressure to curb this. Rather than trying to impose regulations and telling competitors how they need to tune, we had settled on melted tires being the deciding factor.  This made sense since melted tires is what everything else was designed to prevent.

Someone making the call that a competitor is adding traction because of “high” rpm vs. another seemed to be an invitation for trouble and accusations of being singled out. Limiting FDR didn’t seem fair since someone can run a really low FDR and still not be burning, that just might be how they like their car set up. Same with limiting motor selection. 

Well, after making the limitation official, I kept revisiting this in my head because I just don’t agree with it. Not yet anyway. Until it’s a problem, it’s not a problem.

For SDC (Super Drift Competition) HERE AT SUPER-G, we will NOT be enforcing the melted tire rule. My underlying mindset on the subject is, I don’t want to limit the competitors performance. SDC is about showcasing the highest level of RC Drift Competition Driving, and I believe limiting the tune or driving style takes away from this. Regardless of what it may have seemed leading up to this, my true competitive feeling is this. This is why I am going out on a limb and am willing to take the heat for walking back our original stance. This may not be the best decision, but I am willing to take that risk.

I don’t believe running a Burn Tune will make champions out of beginners, and I also believe used incorrectly can be detrimental to the competitors performance. I know for a fact people who don’t tune this way can defeat people who do. So it’s not an automatic win. It can be an advantage for some, similar to active toe, 3-gear vs. 4-gear, etc. but not necessary to win. SDC rules minimize the impact of “gapping” the chase, and the judges will make sure to keep this in mind.

For any regions who wish to enforce this at the SDC Regionals, that is completely up to your discretion. I am only speaking on how this will be addressed here at Super-G.

The way we had planned to enforce this on our end would be to have someone perform a quick inspection the winner’s tires after the winner has been announced. This would confirm the win. Melted tires at this time would result in a DQ. Not a big deal in our opinion, just a few seconds to check.

Again I apologize for any confusion and stress this may have caused. At this point I believe this call will preserve the quality and level of competition in the SDC Competitions.

ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE IS OUTDATED AND LEFT HERE FOR REFERENCE

June 25, 2025

For the past few years, we have been hearing about a trend overseas where competitors are tuning their chassis to produce a high enough wheel RPM to heat up / melt their tires to gain extra traction. This is sometimes referred to as a Burn Tune. It hasn’t really been an issue for us here in the U.S., but appears it has finally made it’s way here. (I've said this before. This is just a carry-over to the final decision we have arrived at)

Burn Tunes In General
Before I address how this will affect SDC Super Drift Competition, I want to touch on Burn Tunes themselves. I have done some testing here at Super-G since there has been some speculation on some aspects of this type of tuning and I have some answers.

Damage to the track surface (P-Tile)
When I first started seeing the marks left by people “Trying” to run this type of setup, my first reaction was, it is tearing up the track. Seeing the new marks we hadn’t seen before looked bad. I know many of us track owners felt this. In fact, this is how we first learned of this trend. We were sent pics of some overseas tracks with all these marks, and were told to be aware. At that time, they were trying to figure out how to counter this.

After testing and further investigation, the marks left on the track are superficial. Rather than being in the track surface, the marks are actually on top of the surface. They can be removed by simply rubbing them or scratching it with a fingernail.

However, with the wheel speed being as high as it needs to be to start melting the tires, if the car remains stationary and the wheels are spun at a high RPM, it will start to wear a pit into the surface rather quickly. So if you have the same starting line for a period of time, you will start to develop areas where the surface wears away. We are fine with this and have no issue with replacing tiles. We see this as normal wear and tear.

This being said, Super-G DOES ALLOW Burn Tunes at our facility. Keep in mind, if you are caught intentionally causing damage to our track, not limited to what is being discussed here, you will be banned. So don’t abuse this. Also, be aware these findings are only for Super-G, so your results may vary.

SDC Super Drift Competition - Unusual Tire Wear Rule (Rule 8.a.i)
Now that we got that out of the way, how does this affect the SDC Competitions. The following rules apply:

Rule 8.a.i - Modifying, grinding down, scuffing tires on non-track surface is NOT ALLOWED. If tires show signs of unusual wear, scuffing, and/or foreign substance is present, the competitor must PURCHASE a replacement set of the Designated Spec Tire. No Refund of Entry Fee will be given if the competitor declines to purchase the replacement set.

ABSOLUTELY NO EXCEPTIONS WILL BE MADE.

Rule 8.a.ii -  Signs of tires melting will be considered unusual wear. (2025 Clarifiction)

These rules have been in place since the start of SDC if my memory serves correct. Rule 8.a.ii was added to clarify that melting tires does indeed fall into the Unusual Wear definition.

Interesting Findings
For my testing, I used my Rhino Racing Shark. I maxed out the allowable rear weight at 1100g. Rear camber was set to give maximum tire contact to the surface. Motor was a 10.5T Overdose. V.3, powered by a Acuvance XarvisXX. To check rear wheel speed, I placed the chassis on Toli Matico tiles, and used a Mitutoyo Laser Tachometer to check rear wheel speed. Tires of course are DS Racing Comp 3 LF-3.

Using what I would say is a normal setup, a FDR around 10.6 (21 / 86) I was not able to get close to what I needed to start melting tires. (If you run in this range, there is no need to worry. This doesn’t even affect you) Baseline test was 2590 RPM. (Stock Can Timing, 15 Boost, 15 Turbo)

Side Note:
If the wheel RPM value seems low, it is. This is what was achieved with the setup being maxed on weight on the rear wheels. With less weight, the wheel RPM was conderibly higher, but it really doesn't change the outcome of the testing. This holds true for both the baseline and subsequent test runs.

I then changed my gearing to a FDR of 6.50 (32 / 80) to get the wheel speed up.

My findings:
Going through the RPM range, there was no unusual wear appearing. We all know what normal wear looks like. The traction exhibited while testing was what was to be expected. No surprises.

At 6500 RPM, there was a noticeable increase in traction after the first fraction of a second. When I examined the tires, unusual wear WAS PRESENT.

I feel it is important to note, the testing at 5500 RPM and 6000 RPM did not exhibit much, if any difference in traction or speed between each other, but 6500 RPM had noticeably more forward take-off. Since I was testing straight line, I cannot speak on any changes related to going sideways, but I feel a safe assumption would be increased speed. No different than running a stickier tire.

What does this mean?
Simply, it means if you want to run high Rear Wheel RPM, 5500 RPM and 6000 RPM do not make enough difference to warrant 6500+ RPM UNLESS you are trying to gain traction by melting tire. At this point, anything over 6500 RPM does feel different than anything below.

This being said, I feel comfortable knowing melting tires is not an accident, it is something that needs to be tuned for. Wheel speed more than double what most are running, is trying to acheive something specific and out of scope of normal.

How Melted Tires (Unusual Wear) will be dealt with in SDC
NOT Melting tires is solely the responsibility of the competitor. SDC will not set FRD Limits or any type of regulation. Tune as you like. Drive as you like.

However, SDC will enforce the No Unusual Wear Rule. Evidence of melting tires will be a violation of the rules. Tires showing signs of melting will NOT be allowed to pass Tech. (See Rule 8.a.i) Make sure you do not have signs of melting at this point. Anytime after a competitor passes Tech, evidence of Unusual Wear on their tires will result in a Disqualifiction as this means the unusual wear was produced during the competition.