WRC Most liked posts in thread: WRC: Tires (or Tyres)

Steve · Feb 3, 2013

It must be time for Sweden, DMACK is showing off its ice tires.

Crashton · Aug 20, 2014

Oh boy nice & knobby.....

RallyMini370 · Aug 27, 2014

looks like a snow tyre!

Steve · Jan 23, 2015

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWNziI-0TcU"]Rallye Monte Carlo 2015 - YouTube[/ame]

Justa Jim · Jan 18, 2012

Steve said: ↑

That winter tire certainly is impressive! Looks like something you'd see in a Mad Max movie.
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No kidding. If that ran over your foot, you would certainly know it. :eek6:

Jim

Steve · Jan 19, 2012

Five types of tyres for the 'Monte-Carlo' (best-of-rallylive.com)

The regulations for the 2012 World Rally Championship have seen the introduction of a number of changes that cover tyres. The total number of tyres which Priority 1 and 2 WRC drivers may use on each event has come down by nearly 20 percent, while crews will now have two options for gravel rounds, as was previously the case for asphalt rallies. Exceptionally, five different types of Michelin tyre are available for the Rallye Monte-Carlo.

The â€˜Monte Carloâ€™ is indeed a unique event in many ways, if only because of the traditional threat of changing weather conditions. â€œTo ensure crew safety, the regulations permit five different types of tyre for this event, all of which must be fitted to 18-inch wheels,â€ says Nicolas GOUBERT, the Michelin Groupâ€™s Motorsport Technical Director. â€œFor dry and wet asphalt, Michelin runners can choose from three versions of the new Michelin Pilot Sport: a hard (H1) and a soft (S1) compound, plus a â€˜super softâ€™ variant, which is specific to the Rallye Monte-Carlo, for very cold or icy stages.â€

For predominantly wintry conditions, crews can choose between a studded and a non-studded version of the new MICHELIN Pilot Alpin WRC. They may also fit two studded tyres and two â€˜asphaltâ€™ tyres, which is a scenario we saw from the outset on Day 1.

As is the case for the 2012 WRC calendarâ€™s other rounds, competitors on the Rallye Monte-Carlos may use five tyres per tyre-change opportunity (compared to six previously), plus a further five for Tuesdayâ€™s shakedown. Meanwhile, drivers have a maximum quantity of each type of tyre at their disposal which they must manage carefully as a function of their respective strategies:

- Michelin Pilot Sport S1: 36 tyres
- Michelin Pilot Sport H1: 8 tyres
- Michelin Pilot Sport SS1: 12 tyres
- Michelin Pilot Alpin (non-studded): 8 tyres
- Michelin Pilot Alpin (studded): 20 tyres
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Nathan · Jan 19, 2012

84 Tyres for a weekend jaunt through the hills....

Justa Jim · Jan 19, 2012

It is 18 degrees out side, with a few icy spots, but most of the road surface is clear. So, should I put studded tires on the right and soft on the left when I head out to the store, since it is mostly left hand turns to get there? :lol:

Jim

ScottinBend · Jan 19, 2012

....but what about the drive home?

:biggrin5:

Justa Jim · Jan 19, 2012

ScottinBend said: ↑

....but what about the drive home?

:biggrin5:
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Hummmm, guess I'll have to carry to extra's in the boot and the floor jack. :biggrin5:

Jim

ScottinBend · Jan 19, 2012

I was just thinking that reverse would be easier.........

Justa Jim · Jan 19, 2012

ScottinBend said: ↑

I was just thinking that reverse would be easier.........
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You da man Scott. Never thought of that and I could have bought more stuff without those extra tyres back there.

Jim

Steve · Jan 20, 2012

A little race-related tire trivia.

Two anniversary events for Michelin (best-of-rallylive.com)

The Rallye Monte-Carlo and the Le Mans 24 Hours are two of the worldâ€™s best known motorsport events. This year, they are celebrating their 80th edition, and Michelin is targeting victories to mark both occasionsâ€¦

After notching up the centenary of its creation in 2011, the Rallye Monte-Carlo is this year being organised for the 80th time. In 1911, the inaugural â€˜Monteâ€™ was won by Henri Rougier driving a Turcat-Mery 25HP, the â€˜car of connoisseursâ€™ which was manufactured in a factory where the Olympique de Marseille football clubâ€™s stadium now stands. The event was not organised between 1912 and 1924, or between 1939 and 1949.

â€œThe 80th Rallye Monte-Carlo will no doubt be remembered for its return to the World Rally Championship,â€ observes a spokesman for the organisers, the Automobile Club de Monaco (ACM). â€œAfter last yearâ€™s â€˜centenaryâ€™ event, we didnâ€™t want to make a big fuss about this yearâ€™s â€˜round numberâ€™. This yearâ€™s only real new feature is the fact that the Press Office in the Principality will be in the Auditorium Rainier III which is situated under the F1 Grand Prixâ€™s famous tunnel. Actually, this year will also be the 70th edition of the Monaco F1 Grand Prixâ€¦â€

The two ACM-organised classics share a common history. In 1928, the clubâ€™s then President Alexandre NoghÃ¨s wanted to register the Automobile Club de Monaco with the AIACR (forerunner of the FIA). To do this, however, he was requested to first stage an event in the Principality itself, since the Rallye Monte-Carlo was deemed to take place on â€˜Europeanâ€™ roads. Soon afterwards, on April 14, 1929, historyâ€™s first Monaco Grand Prix took place.

Meanwhile, next Juneâ€™s Le Mans 24 Hours will also be run for the 80th time. The inaugural event in 1923 was won by Frenchmen Lagache and Leonard in a Chenard&Walcker.
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Steve · Jan 21, 2012

Tyre choice remains key in Monte battle (wrc.com)

21 Jan 12

Day four of Rallye Monte-Carlo is due to get underway with the first of four stages shortly with tyre choice once again a hot topic of conversation in the packed service park on Monaco's glamorous harbour front.

With the ground temperature on the famous Col de Turini on the first Moulinet-La Bollene Vesubie stage hovering at minus two degrees centigrade and the ground temperature on the following Lantosque-Luceram run reaching a maximum of 16 degrees centigrade, the tyres selected will have to cope with a wide range of temperatures.

Ford World Rally Teamâ€™s tyre technician George Black confirmed his leading driver Petter Solberg, currently third overall, would run on the hardest compound of Michelin tyre available.

â€œWe expect reasonably warm and dry conditions,â€ said Black. â€œThere are some damp patches but with the nature of the roads being quite abrasive and fast we expect we will be able to keep the tyre at a good temp and working well.â€

The crews are currently making their way up to the start of stage 14, which goes live at 15:11hrs local time. Sebastien Loeb leads the FIA World Rally Championship powered by Nokia in his Citroen DS3 WRC. He heads MINIâ€™s Dani Sordo by 2m12.4s. Petter Solberg is 1m06.8s further back in his factory Fiesta.
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Steve · Feb 3, 2012

New studding for the Michelin X-Ice North winter winter tyre (best-of-rallylive.com)

by Herve | 3/02/2012 13:38

The Michelin X-Ice North, which was developed especially for the 2011 Rally Sweden, features a number of evolutions for this yearâ€™s event. Michelin is targeting its 22nd win in Karlstad since the creation of the world championship in 1973.

Much of the tyreâ€™s specification hasnâ€™t changed. Its size (17/65-15) is the same, for example, and the number of studs fitted to each tyre is still 380, while the maximum authorised length for individual studs continues to be 20mm. Meanwhile, Michelinâ€™s partner Swedish DÃ¤ckproffsen has used the same gluing process to insert these metal tips into the tread blocks.

The changes introduced for the 2012 Rally Sweden, however, are the material from which the studs are made, as well as their shape and the way the pattern they form.

The WRC regulations specify that the tyres used for Sweden must be fitted to 7Ã—15â€ wheels. For its return to the series last year, Michelin consequently developed a brand new product: the X-Ice North, which provided satisfactory grip, performance and stud life.

â€œThe cars change from year to year, so we obviously need to match this evolution,â€ says Jacques Morelli, manager of Michelinâ€™s rally programmes. â€œOn last yearâ€™s event, our developers and technicians noted several things they wanted to improve for this season, notably the distance by which the studs protrude from the tyre. They now protrude by 7mm instead of 6.8mm for better grip in deep snow. Only the WRC cars will run this new verson.â€
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Steve · Feb 9, 2012

Fifty Words for Snow (best-of-rallylive.com)

Just before Christmas, the British pop icon Kate Bush released an album entitled â€™50 Words for Snowâ€™. She could have recruited a Michelin WRC technician to help her with the lyricsâ€¦

Rally Sweden provides WRC regulars with one of the championshipâ€™s biggest variety of stage surfaces. Despite the photographersâ€™ best efforts to locate a pristine wintry backdrop for their pictures, the frozen lanes of the VÃ¤rmland and southeast Norway are rarely covered in a uniform coating of snow.

â€œDeep, fresh snow is just one of the surface types that our tyres need to contend with here,â€ notes one of the technicians delegated to work with Michelinâ€™s partner teams. â€œThere can also be packed snow after a snowplough has been through, for example, or churned-up fresh snow which tends to be a feature of stages that are repeated, after all the cars have been through once. Thatâ€™s always a big challenge for the cars and tyres.â€

Sometimes, the roads donâ€™t have a snow covering but are only icy. â€Here again, there are different types of ice: there is naturally-formed ice â€“ which has different characteristics depending on the temperature â€“ and occasionally sheet ice, if the organisers decide to spray the stage with water. That has happened. Last but by no means least, you get frozen dirt, which is never far away and which can become more and more exposed with each passing car. I think we will see a lot of that this weekendâ€¦â€

Despite this spectrum of surfaces, competitors are only authorised to use a single type of tyre â€“ the Michelin X Ice North â€“ so it needs to be particularly versatile, especially since just one type of studding is permitted by the current WRC regulations. â€œUntil recently, we brought two types of tyre to Sweden,â€ says the technician, â€œone for snow and the other specifically for ice. Drivers also had a choice of distances by which the studs protruded from the tread blocks â€“ between 6.5mm and 8mm. There were even different specifications of stud.â€

Today, there is just one tread (similar to the former â€˜iceâ€™ pattern), while studs (approximately 380 per tyre) may protrude by a maximum of 7mm. â€œThe important thing is to monitor how the studs stand up to the punishment, notably on the Day 2 and Day 3 stages where I think we will see a lot of exposed frozen dirt. We will also analyse the performance of our tyres in order to dial in fine-tuning improvements for next season. In testing last week, we established optimum tyre pressures for each category of conditions, so we will need to check there is just the right amunt of air in the covers before the cars head out for the stagesâ€¦â€
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Steve · Feb 22, 2012

Choosing the right tyre. (MINImotorsport.com)

22 February 2012

From Sweden to Mexico, snow to gravel: a dramatic change of surface awaits the teams at the next round of the WRC. The "Tyres" Rally Check sheds some light on the importance of the right tyres.

Whether in Formula One, motorbike races or rallying, barely a motorsport goes by without tyres taking centre stage. The choice of tyres is often crucial in the fight for valuable seconds, and can often play a major role in deciding the final result.

Often described as a "tyre lottery", the differing conditions mean choosing the ideal tyre is not always an obvious decision. At the 2011 Rally Germany, for example, most teams initially opted for a hard compound for use in dry weather, as rain was not forecast until the afternoon.

Some teams took a chance, however, and headed out onto the route with soft tyres for wet conditions, as they had seen different forecasts, which predicted the rain would arrive in the morning. The heavens promptly opened ahead of schedule, giving the drivers on soft tyres an advantage of almost half a minute over their rivals. Tyre lottery won, perfect start to the rally, long faces among the opposition.

Hard, soft or with spikes?

In principle, three types of tyre are available: for asphalt and gravel in harder and softer versions each, and with approximately 240 spikes per tyre for use on ice and snow. The rule of thumb, that hard compounds are used on dry surfaces because they offer optimal grip here, applies. In case of rain and damp surfaces, on the other hand, the soft tyres are employed. The disadvantage here, however, is that they wear faster if used for too long on dry ground or on short gravel sections. In the worst case, this can result in a puncture and the tyres having to be changed, which means a significant loss of time.

To avoid this, almost all rally teams have special crews, who collect detailed weather information and analyse the condition of the surface on the individual special stages. This information ultimately forms the basis for any decisions regarding the choice of tyres. Hard, soft, with spikes, or a mixture of the different tyres? Almost anything is possible. The stage times at the end of almost every stage offer immediate feedback on just how accurate the specialists were.

Since the start of the 2012 season WRC rules have been made even stricter with a 20 per cent reduction in the number of tyres each crew may use in the course of an event. This is to save natural resources and to reduce emission associated with the production of the tyres. Michelin, the tyre partner of the WRC Team MINI Portugal, has therefore responded to this change by developing tyres that are even more durable. According to WRC regulations, for the Priority 1 drivers there are five tyres per scheduled tyre-change opportunity, plus five additional tyres for the Shakedown or the new Qualifying Stage. Crews are allowed to carry up to two spares.

Another durability test.

The teams face the third dramatic change of surface, and therefore tyres, at the next round of the WRC in Mexico. While the curtain-raiser to the 2012 season in Monte Carlo was predominantly held on asphalt, snow and ice were the order of the day more recently in Sweden. The event in Mexico is the first gravel rally of the season â€“ another real test of durability for the tyres, as the sometimes extremely stony surface poses a constant threat of punctures.

WRC fans will discover who made the best choice of tyre and had the best information on the condition of the special stages when the Rally Mexico gets underway from 8th to 11th March.

If you have any questions, please use the MINI Motorsport Facebook channel: MINI Motorsport | Facebook.
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Steve · Mar 9, 2012

Tough Mexican test for the Latitude Cross H1 (best-of-rallylive.com)

by HervÃ©
Rally Mexico is the first gravel round of the 2012 World Rally Championship. It is also the first test of the year for the Michelin Latitude Cross H1 tyre which is being used by the majority of the WRC runners.

Priority 1 and 2 drivers will have a total allocation of 35 tyres each for the weekend, including shakedown and the so-called Qualifying Stage. That works out at one less tyre per tyre-change opportunity compared to last year (five instead of six). However, the total competitive distance of the Mexican round has been extended by 43km and features three particularly long stages: Otates 1 and 2 (41.88km) and Guanajuatito (54.30km).

As a consequence, each tyre will need to cover an average 17 percent more compared to 2011. â€œThis one of the toughest rallies of the year,â€ observes a Michelin technician. â€œThe stages are covered by a layer of loose gravel and dust, but the ground underneath is very hard. Happily, the high altitudes mean that the engines will have less power, so the cars will be relatively kind on their tyres. Wear isnâ€™t really a problem. The wear rate was no more than 50 percent in 2011, but the hard compound is still necessary for this rally.â€

This is the first year that the Michelin Latitude Cross H1 is being used in Mexico. In 2011, a previous evolution of the same tyre â€“ the Latitude Cross H â€“ was the nominated tyre and the â€˜H1â€™ version only made its debut in Jordan. Later in the year, it was also seen Greece and on Day 1 in Spain, as well as in Australia, although it was ill-suited to the muddy conditions encountered in New South Wales.

In 2012, the hard-compound version of the Michelin Latitude Cross has been nominated for every gravel round except Finland. However, crews will also benefit from an additional allocation of 10 soft-compound Latitude Cross S1 tyres to cover the possibility of wet weather.
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Steve · Aug 27, 2012

Article from prior to Germany rally:

Crews braced for tough tyre calls (WRC.com)

24 Aug 12

Tyre compound choice is set to be a factor on the opening day of ADAC Rallye Deutschland following overnight thunderstorms around the event base in Trier.

Germanyâ€™s FIA World Rally Championship round is always susceptible to changing weather conditions and the teams will be under pressure to select the right tyre compound for each loop of stages through the slippery vineyard tracks based on detailed meteorological data and reports fed through from weather crews located within the special stages.

All World Rally Cars competing in Germany this year will be using Michelinâ€™s new stronger Pilot Sport tyres available in hard compound (H1) and soft compound (S1). Teams will have an allocation of 32 hard and 22 soft tyres and can use a maximum of 40 during the rally. They will have made their selection prior to the cars leaving the service park in Trier this morning and as Citroen Racing head Yves Matton explains, it can be a stressful period.

â€œYou can never be sure you have the correct information because it can always be changing and you have to anticipate what will be happening in the stages after but we are in a good situation,â€ says Matton, who points to his teamâ€™s partnership with Meteo France.

â€œThey are putting at our disposal a guy who has been doing the job for a long time and knows very well the job,â€ Matton explains. â€œFor sure the weather forecast is his job but he needs to know how we are working, how is the rally working, the regulation about changing tyres and things like that. But there is also a lot of work and a lot of anticipation. For sure the base is the provision of information from Meteo France but we have a lot of information coming from the stages and there are people co-ordinating this. Like always in Citroen itâ€™s not a decision from one person but a decision coming from everybody putting their opinion.â€

The factory Ford team also employs the services of a meteorologist and boss Malcolm Wilson is confident they will be able to make the right call on tyre compound choices having been outfoxed on the opening day of this event last season.

â€œItâ€™s a different company we are using this year and hopefully we can be a little bit better prepared than last year,â€ Wilson admits. â€œCertainly the forecast at the minute is looking as though it will be typical Germany, tricky, so itâ€™s going to be crucial we get the decisions right and thatâ€™s what weâ€™re paying the services for. We also have a lot of people out there on the stages monitring whatâ€™s happening.â€
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Steve · Oct 18, 2012

WRC Sardinia: more difficult tyre choices! (best-of-rallylive.com)

18/10/2012 4:09 pm

Tyre strategies are poised to play a pivotal role at the penultimate round of the 2012 Word Rally Championship. Heavy rain swept over Sardinia at the beginning of the week and the predominantly sandy stages promise to provide a mixture of conditions.

It has rained on every round of the World Rally Championship so far this year. However, according to some forecasts (but not all!), this weekendâ€™s Rally Italia Sardegna will be entirely dry.

Yet even if that is the case, the storms which caused extensive flooding on the Italian mainland on Sunday and Monday, and which also produced heavy rain over the Mediterranean island, promise to make tyre choices particularly tough this weekend.

The nominated Michelin tyre for Italyâ€™s round of the WRC is the hard-compound Michelin Latitude Cross H1 and the priority FIA drivers will have a total allocation of 35 such tyres for the weekend. Meanwhile, the â€˜alternativeâ€™ for this rally is the softer variant of Michelinâ€™s WRC â€˜gravelâ€™ tyre, namely the Latitude Cross S1. The official quota for this product is 10 tyres per driverâ€¦

Michelinâ€™s technical staff, who completed their recce of the Sardinian stages on Wednesday, believe tyre choices could be complex during the four-day event, especially for Thursdayâ€™s two stages and Friday morningâ€™s first loop of three tests.

â€œDespite the warm temperatures [up to 24Â°C on Wednesday] and persistent wind, the recent rain means that the conditions are still quite soft and damp,â€ they report. â€œAt the same time, Friday morningâ€™s last stage (SS5) is quite abrasive, so perhaps we will see the drivers leave the service park in Olbia with four soft tyres on their car and two hard alternatives in the boot...â€

One thing is certain: the crews will need to use their allocations of 10 â€˜softâ€™ tyres wisely during the early part of the rally, since some experts are predicting more wet weather for the end of the weekâ€¦

In addition to tyre strategies, start orders could therefore prove decisive as the weekend progresses.
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