Tyre Management

[neallewis]

I was after some tips on what people do for tyre management. Basically to manage multiple tyre sets to get consistent grip levels and wear rates, etc.
For example, I've generally been buying a set of Schumacher yellows mini spikes, using them for a meeting, or swapping to a new set part meeting, then replacing as they are worn. So the grip degrades through the day or part day, until its rubbish, before I use a new set.

Now i've just cleaned up a job lot of used wheels, I wondered about buying a job lot of Schumacher yellow minispikes, mounting them all, then using each for one run per meeting. so 5 or 6 sets (practice, 4 rounds and final) should each get used one per meeting, and mark up number of runs on inside of wheel. sure the initial outlay is greater, but should offer advantages of consistent grip throughout any given day, and by rights each set should wear at a decent rate and last a few meetings before hey all need replacing again?

does anyone else follow this type of strategy? or something similar or have any input in to what works for them.

Also, what sort of time period is there before a set of Schumacher yellows rubber "goes off"? can storing them in any particular way help this? air tight bags, keep in dark, etc?

[Origineelreclamebord]

A fellow racer told me he used new tires for the Dutch-Belgian championship, and then old tires for club races (where there is a little less 'at stake')

I've taken over this method, it works for me. Old tires on club races and fun days, new tires on more important races.

This also means you don't have to wear down your tires until they are absolutely rubbish, only until they are half rubbish

[reg]

sounds good,trouble is,lets say you have used all your tires a few times but they look good,you go to a meeting,go out in practice to find 3 mins in they run out of grip,you then have X amont of tires for the day that will not last,i think the only way to manage grip is to use once then replace

[Origineelreclamebord]

Originally Posted by reg

sounds good,trouble is,lets say you have used all your tires a few times but they look good,you go to a meeting,go out in practice to find 3 mins in they run out of grip,you then have X amont of tires for the day that will not last,i think the only way to manage grip is to use once then replace

Mark the wheels on the inside how many times you've run them, and... always have a new set with you just in case everything you brought with you is too bad to use?

[sosidge]

I find that keeping the same tyres on the car for the whole race meeting - and from one race meeting to the next - is the best way of maintaining consistency.

That way, I know that the car's tyre performance is going to feel pretty similar at the start of a race as it did at the end of the previous race, and that makes it easier to judge how much track conditions, or other setup changes, have had an effect on the car. You'll know when they are worn out, and that is the time to take them out of use entirely!

Changing tyres through several different sets during the course of the meeting makes it a lot harder to be consistent.

If you are going to a big meeting, where you know you want to use new tyres, and perhaps where you plan to use your whole tyre allocation, then you should have a strategy for when to change to the new tyres - again, I would keep the new tyres on the car after the change, rather than swapping back to the old ones again. It's probably worth running the new tyres for a couple of laps in practice anyway, just to get a feel for them and make sure there are no faults.

To help me keep track of my tyres, I mark them with their position on the car, and date them from their first use. That means that if I am looking through the box-o-tyres and I have got several minispike rears, I know which ones have been used as a pair, and I have got a fairly good idea of which ones have had more use. Mark the compound too, as the paint wears away from the rubber. Eyeballing tyre wear and fingering tyre compound is almost impossible.

It's true that on-road foam tyre racers like to run a different set for each run, but that is because the tyre diameter changes with wear, which affects ride-height and gearing, and also because repeated additive applications over-soften the tyres. This is not an issue with rubber tyres.