Seems every tire company has its own approach to motorsports.
Some go all in, with big-time ventures into NASCAR, IRL, F1.
Others go middle-of-the-road with the GP/GT series or rallying.
In the handful of series that still allow competition between tire brands, tire companies are pretty secretive with their on-track products. Certainly, as the level of racing goes down, so does the level of secrecy.
At the top end, though, the story can be different – and confusing.
For example, getting your hands on a NASCAR race-used Goodyear Eagle isn’t that hard. In fact, Goodyear recently sponsored an auction of some of its take-offs to benefit U.S. military folk.
Meanwhile, Bridgestone – active in both major open wheel series – keeps tight reins on its rubber.
In a recent story from the Edmonton Journal (the IRL raced there last weekend), it was revealed that each and every Firestone Firehawk race tire at each IRL race is counted, recounted and recounted again.
For the Edmonton event, Bridgestone Americas hauled 1,500 race tires to the track, mounted and balanced each and every one of them, monitored their performance through each practice and qualifying session and the race itself, and then collected up the whole lot and shipped them away.
To a cement kiln in Indianapolis.
The only way to get your hands on one of those race tires, said Bridgestone Americas motorsport chief Al Speyer, “is if you own an Indy car, and then we take them all back.”
So much for that coffee table idea I had.
Anyway, only a small sample of the track used tires go back to Akron for analysis. The rest are burned to produce cement.
“The average race tire has the equivalent energy to 30 pounds of coal,” Speyer told the newspaper. “Because tires are highly vulcanized they burn more efficiently and emissions are reduced. The additional benefit is none of our competitors can get their hands on the tires. All of our trade secrets are in each tire. We go to a lot of lengths to follow them with the bar code.”
Oh, and those display race cars you see from time to time. Seems they roll on so-called “neutered” tires, race tire in name only.
So if you can get your hands on an actual race-used bit of rubber, consider yourself lucky.
