One Litre Formula Three Tyres

[mike faloon]

As a long time follower of F3, both in period and now, I'm interested in the development and evolution of the tyres used in period. It would appear that in the early years of the 1000cc Formula, Dunlop ruled until Firestone's YB11 compound appeared around 1968; is this correct? or were other manufactures interested? What happened when it rained? or didn't that happen in the sixties? Would be interested in any feedback.

[Alan Morgan]

I wasn't involved in period, but I'm pretty sure that Dunlop were also involved, and possibly Goodyear, in the later years of the formula. The YB11 was popular from 1968 until 69/70, when the YB24 came out (this is all from hazy memory, by the way). I think there was a wet variant of the YB24 called the ZB24.

Incidentally, current 1 Litre F3 cars are nearly all running tyres that are too small. By the end of the formula, front wheels were 10" wide, and rears 12". More importantly, the front tyres were 22" diameter, and the rears 23" (ie the fronts were about the same size as the tyres they run on the rear now).

At the Brands Superprix this year, there was an ex Francois Cevert Tecno with the correct type of tyres, and it looked fantastic, with that authentic "chunky look".

[Gerry Taylor]

I remember my first set of Dunlops were 184-D22 R. They were Intermediate compound. We used them for all races! This was of course well prior to having a set of slicks AND a set of wets.