12 replies to this topic

[LolaB0860]

So in 2022, what series still have allowed tire war, ie open tire competition? And I mean actually between cars within same class, so no pretend-war like there is in say WEC where you have mandated spec supplier A in class 1 and mandated spec supplier B in class 2.

 

I can't think of one single seater series anywhere, everything seems spec tires, but I am glad if someone can correct me?

 

Same with touring cars and stock cars. And even with sports cars, there are very few left that I can think of as most have plundered to the sweet cash offerings of exclusive spec deals.

 

So you still have Super GT, with Bridgestone, Michelin, Yokohama and Dunlop all competing together and pushing themselves forward.

 

 

 

And NLS / Nurburgring 24 Hours. There were nine marques in N24 this year (Michelin, Goodyear, Falken, Pirelli, Yokohama, Hankook, Giti, Nexen and Toyo) of which five supplied for GT3 I think.

 

Edited by LolaB0860, 28 June 2022 - 18:56.

[Cornholio]

Yeah it does sadly seem like an outlier these days and the exception rather than the norm.

 

Even just looking at F1 on it's own, looking at how for instance 1997 was made more interesting by that extra variable, plus to be honest it was the only thing peppering the Ferrari domination era of the early 2000s with any sort of variation (contrast that with the recently-ended Mercedes domination era where they had one less variable to contend with and therefore cleaned up even more). That's before getting into how it added an extra interest to mid-90s IndyCar and I'm sure there's other examples that I've missed.

 

I mean I, kind of, get the argument that the tyres - representing the contact with the road - are or have the potential to be such a huge differentiator much bigger than the engine, tyres, aero etc. and also being the one component teams or constructors or even full blown manufacturers can't reasonably make themselves, but still, I can't find myself in favour of a spec tyre formula no matter how much I try and force myself to. Maybe one for that unpopular opinions thread doing the rounds, I guess. 

[ARTGP]

It's a bit of a moot point in the Super GT is it not?   They have a success ballast system in place so it all comes out in the wash. If Michelin makes the best tire, all of their cars will get weight nerfs. 

Edited by ARTGP, 29 June 2022 - 02:19.

[RedRabbit]

As a Ferrari fan since the 90s, I felt a lot of pain in 2005, knowing that the car was actually an improvement over the all conquering F2004, but held back to a ridiculous level by the tires.

So I was quite ok with control tires from 2007. It's just something that shouldn't make such a difference in performance between teams, as it can basically undo or undermine some good engineering.

[Peat]

The British Hillclimb Championship has Avon vs Pirelli in the top class. 

[Peat]

As a Ferrari fan since the 90s, I felt a lot of pain in 2005, knowing that the car was actually an improvement over the all conquering F2004, but held back to a ridiculous level by the tires.
 

 

As a general fan of the sport, the years preceding that were a bit of a joke. Bridgestone were making bespoke tyres for Ferrari and essentially retreads to all the other customers, so they all left!

[BRG]

Yeah it does sadly thankfully seem like an outlier these days and the exception rather than the norm.

No tyre wars?  Good.

 

I want to see car racing, not tyre racing.  Tyres are black, round and very boring.  Stick 'em all on the same hard compound tyre and let' s go RACING! 

[FirstnameLastname]

F1 should bring back a tyre war… but also say tyres can’t be changed during the race.

See what the boffins can come up with. Would cut down the amount of tyres used, but also mean performance couldn’t just be turned down

[MikeTekRacing]

Tyre war? So some teams luck into an advantage/disadvantage and can do nothing about it while lapping significantly different?

How exciting…

[Bartonz20let]

Please god no.

[LolaB0860]

I am honestly shocked by some of the comments here, but maybe I am looking at the sport from another perspective.

Oh well. I always remember things like this fondly
https://au.motorspor...re-war/1810475/
https://www.thecheck...alms-rain-tyre/
https://sportscar365...legit-tire-war/

http://www.dailyspor...ona-1000km.html
“JMW had the deal with Dunlop and I was the driver they chose for testing. I miss tyre wars. We were on the right end of it too, we had a great team and Dunlop was so committed, we’d go away testing and push the boundaries. We had failures in the early days, but we were up against Pirelli at first, then Michelin and had a proper ding-dong. We went as fast we could and there wasn’t a BoP structure like there is now. It brought the best out of us."

Edited by LolaB0860, 29 June 2022 - 11:07.

[ANF]

As a general fan of the sport, the years preceding that were a bit of a joke. Bridgestone were making bespoke tyres for Ferrari and essentially retreads to all the other customers, so they all left!

Yeah, I'm not sure Ferrari would have been as dominant as they were if every team had been running the same tyre.

[LolaB0860]

Back to the original question: FIM Motorcycle Endurance World Championship apparently still permits open tires in it's headliner class. Most of the grid has spec Dunlops in the secondary class but EWC still has tire war between Bridgestone, Dunlop, Michelin and Pirelli. So yes even Pirelli still competes somewhere against others.

Edited by LolaB0860, 29 June 2022 - 11:40.