14 replies to this topic

[anbeck]

Hi there,

I just wondered why the FIA never thought about introducing a single tyre for dry and wet conditions (as it was the case anyway before slicks became en vogue).
[before you flame me: I know this will never happen, but I'm just interested in the argument]

This would
* reduce costs (less different sorts of tyres hauled to the races)
* reduce speed massively, increasing safety
* be relevant for road cars (where hardly any of us uses slicks...)
* improve overtaking (by increasing braking distances, usually acknowledged to be one major reason for lack of overtaking)

Okay, Bridgestone, Goodyear, and Michelin would probably say: "Can't be done". They'd say that the working temperatures would be too different to put it into one race tyre. That both types of tyres demand a different architecture, etc. But I wouldn't be surprised if it could be done, only that cars would be ridiculously slow! Formula 2 would be able to be faster, maybe.

The only real downside I could think of (besides losing the 'look' of slicks, and, of course, the sheer impression of speed with F1 not being the fastest thing out there anymore, - some might see the 'racing on the edge' spoiled, because cars would be 10-15 seconds slower): Maybe Bridgestone would compromise 'wet safety' for 'dry performance', they'd say that 90% of the time the track is dry anyway, so why compromise the whole design by the few splashes of water we might encounter?

How could that be monitored?

a.

[P1McLarenMercedes]

its an interesting thought, but remember when they bought in the one wet tyre rule in 03 and it hammered down at interlagos, and the teams were stranded with and inter tyre on a track that probably needed full wets? The same probably goes for here, itd just be a dodgy half and half at best and in one way or another would be unsafe.

[Turn 1]

They often cant stay on the track on the e.wet, never mind a 'dry/wet' trye. It would just mean watching wet races behind the safety car.

[johnap]

We may have come close to that at Le Mans a couple of years ago where Michelin had a hard compound wet tyre for when half of the track was wet and half was dry (due to the scale of Le Sarthe).

I can't see it happening in any form of single seater / sports prototype racing due to the loads involved.

In touring cars however the idea could have some merit.

[Georg_Kuyumji]

There would be alot more marbles on the track from woren out tyres that have lose there profile. You could see this with Hamilton car in China as he was driving around with wet tyres in the dry, the tyres wore out there groves quickly. Tyres with profile also doesnt look as racey or sexy as slicks.

[4MEN]

It's been a long time since slicks went away. Please, don't give MAXXX & Co. any ideas.

[wingwalker]

Realistically thinking a tire like that would have to be, dunno, 15 seconds off the current pace? Otherwise it would be underivable in the wet and shredding itself to pieces after 8 laps in the dry. And that would mean entire F1 grid slower than GP2. Teams are struggling to keep it going as it is, it is totally unrealistic to expect anyone to spend 200 millions of dollars on a team that produces a car slower than a GP2 team with budget of like 1% of the F1 team? And who would want to watch it? World fastest car on tires so crappy you can't really tell they're any fast. Hmm, sounds great. F1 is a showcase of new technology, not even (road) car technology. It needs to be the fastest thing out there to be what it is.

[GerardF1]

OK go to the next extreme -

First - lose the high profile tyres. Apart from looking archaic they put a lot of the "suspension" in the sidewalls. Go to a low profile tyre similar to what is available on the street now.

Second - Run a high performance street tyre. In theory they are good for the wet and dry.

Not going to happen I know - but I still think they should get rid of the tall sidewalls.

[Der Pate]

As far as I understand it (keep it simple)...the problem with overtaking these days is, that you have to come close to your opponent, to have a chance to overtake him...these days the cars depend on downforce, which is achieved with wings...when you follow a car too closely, the downforce decreases...therefore the drivers don´t get close to their oponents...result: no overtaking...

In my view the solution is the increase of mechanical grip, which can be achieved through tyres...the more surface on a tyre you have, the more grip you have...therefore it was an error, when the slicks were banned in 1998, because that reduced surface and therefore grip...with all-weather-tyres, which would have to have grooves, there would be again reduced surface...

After 11 stupid years we finally have slicks again, which hopefully will lead to overtaking and real racing again...please...no tyres with grooves, however they look like...

[Dolph]

Originally posted by wingwalker
Realistically thinking a tire like that would have to be, dunno, 15 seconds off the current pace? Otherwise it would be underivable in the wet and shredding itself to pieces after 8 laps in the dry. And that would mean entire F1 grid slower than GP2. Teams are struggling to keep it going as it is, it is totally unrealistic to expect anyone to spend 200 millions of dollars on a team that produces a car slower than a GP2 team with budget of like 1% of the F1 team? And who would want to watch it? World fastest car on tires so crappy you can't really tell they're any fast. Hmm, sounds great. F1 is a showcase of new technology, not even (road) car technology. It needs to be the fastest thing out there to be what it is.

just change the wings to bigger and you are fine with overall lap time

[Mika Mika]

They tried it before in 2003

[tweiss]

Originally posted by 4MEN
It's been a long time since slicks went away. Please, don't give MAXXX & Co. any ideas.

[Pingguest]

Originally posted by wingwalker
It needs to be the fastest thing out there to be what it is.

I don't see why Formula 1 should necessarily be the fastest series. As long as Formula 1 have a reasonable speed, are technically advanced and demanding for the drivers, I'm happy. But currently though, this is not the case.

[Ross Stonefeld]

I think we should go back to bias ply while we're at it. I don't know that slicks have much relevance to road tire development, so maybe we should go to some really quirky tire that will make the cars really hard to drive.

[snx843]

Crossplies from a 1960 Triumph Spitfire!! 145/80/13.