Another tyre question ?

[marcus]

Hi all,
there I was sitting down to enjoy the latest round of the IRL from kansas speedway and during a yellow flag they did a little piece on tyres..comparing the racing tyre to a road going tyre...when out of the blue my wife asked a question that stumped me...trying not to look like a dill I stumbled through a very sceptical answer and ended with ..."I DUNNO !!!!!"

so off to ten tenths i come to ask the experts their opinions.

They showed a road tyre and said it was "X" thick..and then showed the racing tyre and said it was "Y" thick..now my wife asked .."why are racing tyres built so thin compared to a road tyre ??? (racing tyre was only about 2 pennies thick while a road one was much thicker}

I tried to think of a solution and this is what i came up with ???

if a tyre is built with a very thin layer of tread is it then a softer compound than a thicker one ???

therefore producing more grip ???

probably not true but it got me out of that question ...

and then came question 2 "well then why dont they build racing tyres thicker if they are always worried about tyres wearing out ???"

my answer was ..because more grip is always better than not having grip and with a battle between 2 tyre manufacturers the compounds usually go softer because they want more grip to go faster than their rival tyre manufacturer...


she seemed to be satisfied with this answer allthough i was positive it wasnt right but it has given me some time to come here for clarification.

so am i right or am i as usual 400 miles off the pace ???

why do they build racing tyres so thin compared to road cars ..is it because of grip or is it to do with heat build up as well (just thought of that one actually)
easier to heat a racing tyre up to operating temp compared to a road tyre ???

aaarrrrggghhhh..someone help me before my head does a Nigel Mansell tyre at adelaide in 86

[ma]

The heat buildup answer is the closest. A thick tire will build up more heat (but not necessarily faster) than a thin tire. If it is too thick, it will overheat and blister.

Rain tires are generally thicker than slicks for just that reason.

[marcus]

sounds right doesnt it ????

thanks ma i will pass the info along to the misses

[Arneal]

You might want to tell her that a race tire only needs to last 50 miles. What a pain it would be if a road car tire became bald so quickly. In fact, the thought of going to the tire store three times a week would cause me to by a bicycle!

Oh wait, they have tires too.