NASCAR to pro-touring?

[scogin918]

Larger tire to be tested at Richmond: The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company will hold a two-day tire test at Richmond International Raceway next Tuesday and Wednesday (October 6-7). The purpose of the test is two-fold  (1) do some fundamental work on its short track/flat track tire set-up for the 2010 NASCAR season, and (2) take the first on-track look at a larger NASCAR tire. "First and foremost, this is a 'normal' tire test for us," said Greg Stucker, Goodyear's director of race tire sales. "We're going to Richmond to work on our short track set-up, looking for some things we might want to evaluate further before next season." While Goodyear has made great gains on its current tire lineup with an aggressive testing schedule, the larger tire is a future project that the company has chosen to keep on its radar screen. "The second part of the Richmond test is very preliminary and is our first opportunity to get the larger size tire on the track," said Stucker. "We've been very happy with the lab work on the larger tire and the modeling results that we've seen, so the next logical step is to get this tire on the ground."
Roush-Fenway Racing drivers Matt Kenseth and Travis Kvapil will handle the driving duties for the test, with the team bringing a specific car to accommodate the larger tire which is one-and-a-half inches taller and one-and-a-half inches wider than the current NASCAR tire, and will be run on 17-inch wheels as compared to the current 15-inch configuration. "Both Goodyear and NASCAR work on research and development programs all the time and that's what we have here," said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice president for competition. "In fact, one of the goals of this test is to further enhance the reliability and performance of the current 15-inch tire that we use today. There is absolutely no timetable whatsoever in regards to the possibility of having a new tire."(Goodyear)(10-3-2009)

Source www.jayski.com

[The Stickman]

A lot of this has to do with the curent car not liking the current tire as evidenced by the fiasco that happened at Indy what 2 years ago. It also has alot to do with Cup cars simply being so damn heavy. Do they have to be 3500lbs? They are racecars and should be a lean mean racing machine. Not overweight and ugly. Now this also makes me wonder what they will use for wheels? Will they go to aluminum wheels? I would think 17 inch steel wheels would be pretty heavy by racing standards. I also wonder how different the car might look as they say the car will be specific for this test because it is slightly bigger.

[scogin918]

I think it still may be a steel wheel merely as a way for NASCAR to control the dimensions of the wheel as they currently do. If they can get the same consistency from a manufacturer out of aluminum then maybe. I'm sure that they pit crews would love an aluminum wheel.

[jaybee]

The car will have to be bigger through the wheel arches and possibly need to have the crush panels moved in order to allow room for the bigger tire. Might also need some other mods underneath for tire clearance.

The existing tire/wheel package with inner liner is about 80lbs which is ridiculously heavy. I do hope that the outcome of this is to get rid of the "bump stop" setups they use currently, in which the cars run totally on the bump stops through the corners with suspension coming almost entirely from the tire sidewall. Combine that with a car that's heavily biased toward turning left and it strikes me as the perfect way to build a car that's scary fast turning left and just scary if you need to make an avoidance maneuver or do anything else unexpected.

[scogin918]

Goodyear happy with test of larger tire: UPDATE: Goodyear's Stu Grant, the veteran racing boss, says this week's first on-track test of the proposed new 17-inch NASCAR racing tire-and-wheel, at Richmond International Raceway, was a success, and he is planning a second test in later this fall, probably at Phoenix International Raceway (where the Sprint Cup tour races Nov. 15, providing a good baseline). "We got it on the ground for the first time, and we plan to put it on a short track, like Phoenix, sometime later this year, before January 1st," Grant said. "And then we will sit down with NASCAR and say 'Okay, here we are looking at 2010&.and how aggressive do we want to be with this thing?'" Grant said "We don't have a firm timetable for implementation" of the new tire in NASCAR racing. "And obviously NASCAR is in step with us in this whole process." But Grant made very clear the 17-inch tire concept was a decided plus for Goodyear. Paul Menard and Travis Kvapil tested the new, larger tires in Jack Roush Fords, against baseline runs on Goodyear's current 15-inch NASCAR tires. "Travis said the 17-inch was very similar to the 15-inch from a handling standpoint," Grant said. "Paul thought it was more forgiving and easier to drive; that you could get back in the throttle quicker. "The nice thing is it ran cooler. So with a bigger footprint on the ground, more rubber, that's nice, because that gives us some room to play with, from a compound standpoint." Another issue here is the larger tire requires some chassis changes to make the tire fit under the fenders -- and keeping those changes to a minimum  economically as well as technically  may be the biggest challenge. Still, the key so far is that the test confirmed the theory that a larger tire would run cooler and offer more grip.(MikeMulhern.net)(10-9-2009)
UPDATE: Listen to Roush's own reaction to the prospect of racing a new, larger tire: "There is no 17-inch tire coming&.and you can quote me on that. It would be too expensive&.it's unnecessary& There is maybe only one tire company in the world that could do that, as seen by me. And based on my conversations with NASCAR, I don't think there is any 17-inch tire coming. The things that Goodyear is learning through the 17-inch-tire excusion, or experiment, is intended to benefit the tires we have today." Yes, Roush confirms he is Goodyear's lead in this program. "But there is no 17-inch tire in our future," Roush insists.(Mike Mulhern.net)(10-10-2009)

[JWilson]

"But there is no 17-inch tire in our future," Roush insists.(Mike Mulhern.net)(10-10-2009)[/QUOTE]

And NASCAR will now bend over backwards to rush this as much as possible as it seems that they take great joy in tweaking Roush as much as possible. Or...Jack really likes the 17" tire and is using the old reverse psychology.

[NOT A TA]

This might be of interest so I'm posting it in this thread. I figured I'd post up about new tires when I get some mounted on my car but since you're on a Goodyear conversation I figured I'd chime in. I've been talking with Brent at Goodyear Racing Tires southern distributor because I'm considering their new Eagle RS DOT R tire for track use based on my over 3,500 lb car.

Finding the tires without this link is a needle in a haystack kind of thing the way Goodyear has their websites set up so here's a link to the info on the tires I'm considering. And as an added bonus Americans will be making them in an American factory. http://www.racegoodyear.com/tires/sports.html

Here's the last mail I recieved a couple days ago from Brent.



Part Number Size Your Cost
D4295 P275/40R17
D4296 P315/35R17

We should have the tires sometime next week. Please let me know if & when you would like to purchase a set.

Also, in all fairness to Goodyear, this is their re-entry into the dot race tire market. Production capacity has always been an issue in Akron, Ohio. They have moved some of the lines around and now are ready to fill the schedules with new product.
Thanks,
Brent



Brent Fisher
Competition Tire South, Inc.
Goodyear Race Tires
771-28 Fentress Blvd.
Daytona Beach, FL 32114
phone 386-274-5332