Goodyear: Dropping the ball?

[Hazza]

We've had to put up with alot of rubbish with tyres recently. From that race last year or the year before where it seemed one out of 3 cars had a tyre go down, to last weekend, and even this weekend we've been having issues with tyres.

So tell me, are Goodyear dropping the ball? Should we be running hard tyres at all tracks and put up with Tony Stewart, or should we run soft tyres and put up with competition cautions.

Or something else? Smaller fuel cells?

And finally, is there any word on the tyre use of the COT? Do they even run the same tyres?

[Jacko44]

Originally Posted by Hazza

Should we be running hard tyres at all tracks and put up with Tony Stewart, or should we run soft tyres and put up with competition cautions.

Don't worry, you're not the only one sick of Tony.. Seems like he complains every week, whether it be drivers or tracks or tyres or whatever. Like said by the people on Fox last week, with all the technology available you'd think goodyear would be able to make a soft tyre which won't wear apart?
But it seems like there were less troubles with tyres in Nextel Cup compared to Busch.. They did go with a slightly harder tyre than the Busch Series but not as bad as Vegas.

[StuiE]

I have to wonder, did they have problems 5 or 10 years ago? if not, why are they now? I don't get it..

[rustyfan]

Originally Posted by StuiE

I have to wonder, did they have problems 5 or 10 years ago? if not, why are they now? I don't get it..

Hard to say, but to some extent I believe the problem is that the speeds, thanks to more efficient aerodynamics and engines, have evolved a bit faster than the tires have done over the past 5-10 years.

That the teams sometimes push the limits quite aggressively, when it comes to air pressure, camber settings and so on, obviously doesn't help either, and Goodyear have criticized the teams a number of times (especially after races where there have been plenty of tire problems - hm, wonder why? ) for going outside the recommendations released by Goodyear before each race.

That said, the CoT should at least for starters be noticably slower at most tracks (during the recent testing at Bristol they were around 6 mph slower than the track record), which should allow Goodyear to catch up a bit (and perhaps bring a slightly softer tire again). Time will tell.