Bridgestone Motorsport Extra Soft tyres...

[Sparky]

...will make their 2000 racing debut at this weekend's European Grand Prix at the famous Nürburgring in Germany.
Bridgestone Motorsport's Technical Manager Yoshihiko Ichikawa said; "The Extra Soft tyres will work particularly well at the Nürburgring as it is quite a smooth circuit and the track surface is less abrasive and severe unlike Silverstone, Barcelona and Spa. The softer rubber is more beneficial due to the lower temperatures encountered at this track. We do not expect all the teams to jump at the chance to use the Extra Soft compound. The tyre provides extra grip and traction but some teams may experience increased levels of understeer when running such a soft compound".

I'm very interested to see how these tyres last. The problem with grooved tyres is that the tread blocks move under load and create heat. The compound of the grooved tyres was made harder to reduce this, and to stop the tyres going 'off' so quickly.

With the return to soft compounds, this could create some faster laps initialy, but if the track race-temps rise higher than expected (Or higher than qualifying at least), we could see some outrageous drifting or extended braking.

Or am I hoping for too much?

This was originally posted in the tech forum, but seeing as you guys won't come round my place to play, I thought I'd bring my toys here!

[Liz]

This morning I heard that the soft tires are very good in the first two sectors and not in the third, as the speed goes away quickly. Sounds to me as if they would be better qualifying tires than racing tires. Only two guys are thinking of using the harder tires tomorrow, as reported, so I guess we'll see.

[Sparky]

Yeah, I heard Martin refer to that one, Liz!
TWO sectors! We've either got to pray for intermittant rain or a higher (than expected) temperature.

If the track is hotter than the teams bargained for, expect to see early braking, poor traction and drifting! Definately some overtaking possibilities there!

Interesting that MS again chose the harder compound. Guess my advice was worth listening to!!

BTW, do teams have to use a soft compound wet tyre if they chose a soft 'slick'?

[AL Racing]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>BTW, do teams have to use a soft compound wet tyre if they chose a soft 'slick'?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

no, they can choose any wet tyre compound they want.

[Sparky]

I think Extra Soft's should be mandatory equipment!! Before the rains fell, they were allowing the cars to dice with each other. But the rain did just as good a job at equalizing!

[Sparky]

Do you think the race was the way it was because of the tyres? Yesterday, I predicted...

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>We've either got to pray for intermittant rain or a higher (than expected) temperature.
If the track is hotter than the teams bargained for, expect to see early braking, poor traction and drifting! Definately some overtaking possibilities there!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I was really pleased to see the cars struggling before the track became too wet to continue on the slicks.

Hats off to Mr Bridgestone, and his soft compound experiments!

The only danger is that if the FIA sees an improvement in racing, and they perceive this to be down to the grooves, (When it's all to do with the softer compound) they are going to push an extra groove on the FOCA drivers.

Will races be any more exciting with the introduction of the all weather tyre?
I'm beginning to think they might!

Sorry slick fans!



[This message has been edited by Sparky (edited 21 May 2000).]