3 replies to this topic

[RichardSmoke]

The latest F1 tire talk seems to be about the potential change to a single spec tire in 2008. A lot of folks seem to think this will take something away from the sport; that it will remove the aspect of leading-edge tire development.

I've got a different take. I think it will bring something back: it will reintroduce the importance of chassis and suspension tuning. The way it is now, the mandated rim sizes and tire diameters create a situation where the tire effectively is the car's suspension. The tire spring rate is a huge proportion of the car's overall spring rate. If a lower profile tire was used, this effect would be greatly reduced and the cars would be much more sensitive to spring, damper and geometry changes. Isn't that kind of car setup a skill worth promoting?

Has competition between tire manufacturers brought anything to F1? For the tire manufacturers, maybe; for the rest of us, I say no. The multi-year dominance by Ferrari was at least partially due to their tight integration with Bridgestone, but they pushed their monopoly too far and now it's come back to bite them because they're the only ones doing development mileage for Bridgestone. The point is, Ferrari's dominant period was magnified by their tire situation and their current lackluster state is even more so. Does this make for interesting racing? Not for me.

Face it, racing tire development has nothing to do with street tire development. If we wanted that, then we'd set up regulations that required an all-weather tire to be selected at least a week before the race and no tire changes allowed except for damage -- meaning no changes on account of weather. Is that where F1 should go? I think not.

So I say this: Forget about which huge tire conglomerate is doing what in their chemical laboratories -- bring bring mechanical grip with big, fat slicks; bring bring chassis tuners with real suspensions; bring back tire changes during pit stops and we'll see some real racing again.

[Bill Sherwood]

Originally posted by RichardSmoke
Face it, racing tire development has nothing to do with street tire development.

Actually, it does - not much but it does.
I talked with the manager of the competition tyre department of Silverstone in Malaysia, asking him that specific question, and he said yes.
Though it's mainly in the area of compounds.


And to answer the question I'm in favour of a single tyre maker for the year. Make them bid for it and the winner gets to sell their own tyres to the entire field for the year.

[Calorus]

I think it is very much dependent upon racing championships, more than most (by virtue of running temperature) the F1 tyres are very much chemical grip orientated, whereas for touring car, and GT esp wet-weather tyres, they are much more friction based, as with road tyres.

[Ben]

Originally posted by Calorus
I think it is very much dependent upon racing championships, more than most (by virtue of running temperature) the F1 tyres are very much chemical grip orientated, whereas for touring car, and GT esp wet-weather tyres, they are much more friction based, as with road tyres.

Last time I checked all tyres generated grip through friction :-p

What I assume you mean is the difference between hysteresis and adhesion. Both mechanisms are considered a part of "friction" in generic terms though.

Ben