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Yokohama Delivers Under Pressure |
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Saturday, 19 May 2007 |
As the FIA World Touring Car Championship arrives in Spain, official tyre supplier Yokohama ADVAN, is preparing for a particularly tough challenge for its custom-built tyres this weekend.
One thing that could make the difference, as the WTCC manufacturers’ fierce battle continues at Valencia, is the teams’ choice of tyre pressure in the hot conditions.
There is a fine line between having the pressure too high, to create
sharp response, or too low, for grip, as Yokohama Europe Marketing
Manager, Kazuyoshi Sekiguchi explains:
“The pressure affects the size of the contact patch,” he said. “If the
pressure is low there is a larger contact patch and the tyre surface
touches the road more so it’s better for grip. When there is more tyre
pressure it’s good for the response of the tyres. It’s good for the
twisty circuits and in fast corners or long corners but ultimate grip
is less.”
Valencia has 14 corners in total but also includes one of the longest
straights on the calendar, at 876m, making the decision on tyre
pressure particularly tricky.
As always, Yokohama’s experts will be on hand to advise the teams of
the ideal tyre pressure, which varies between driver, car and circuit.
The company recommend teams go no lower than 1.3 bar when cold, but all
the teams in WTCC use the tyre warmers, so the working pressure is
around the 2.0bar mark, almost twice that recommended for
single-seaters.
“If it gets too low the tyre lacks support, which overloads a
particular part of the tyre,” said Yokohama Technical Consultant, Ian
Beveridge. “There has to be a balance between the stability of the tyre
on the wheel and the amount of response you want. The less pressure the
more grip but the more the tyre moves around on the wheel.”
N.Technology Alfa Romeo’s James Thompson is very aware of the vital
part tyres will play this weekend. “There’s quite a lot of slow corners
so it will really work the tyres exceptionally hard,” said the
two-times British Touring Car Champion. “With the high ambient
temperatures as well, tyre life is really going to be a real priority
for all the teams.”
This weekend’s live WTCC coverage begins Saturday 19 May with
qualifying on Eurosport 2 at 15.30 (CET) followed by Sunday’s races at
10.00 (CET) and 15.30 (CET) on Eurosport International.
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