Wet-weather Driving

Sir,

With regard to the recent F5000 race at Brands and again the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton, do we have a definite ruling on racing during showery weather? If the race Is stopped due to rain, what happens to the driver who has pitted to change tyres while the chequered flag comes out, or the driver who has run on wets/intermediates? Neither one gets the chance to bring his gamble to fruition and is thus very effectively penalised.

Definitely not an incentive to use intermediate rubber, which must surely be a wiser (and safer) proposition in obviously showery weather. It looks as though the days of racing on wet tarmac are limited.

W. Kirby D. N. Jones

[The farce of modem racing cars having to be brought in as soon as it rains, if on dry-weather tyres, is a farce to those who saw racing at largely undiminished speeds in the rain before the war and remember Caracciola in the Mercedes-Benz winning a very damp Ulster TT. It hardly suggests improvement of the breed through racing. And our correspondent has a valid point affecting wet-weather rules.—ED.]