Tires will be a topic of great interest as the Sprint Cup Series heads to Darlington Raceway this weekend. Colleague Bob Pockrass provides an insightful, behind-the-scenes look at Goodyear’s production of race tires in this week’s Scene that will help readers understand just how much work goes into the process.
For all the guff Goodyear takes on occasion, and especially most recently at Atlanta, you have to give the company credit for getting it right most of the time. Goodyear is like the umpire in baseball: You never notice either until they miss something. Fortunately, on both counts, that’s the exception rather than the rule.
With all the variables in play – weather, camber, repaved surfaces and, of course, the new car having no history of real competition on some of the Cup tracks – Goodyear’s task becomes that much harder. Sometimes, so do the tires themselves. Other times, competitors complain about them being too soft.
Walking that fine line between durability and grip, company officials have said they will err on the side of the former in the name of safety to prevent tire failures that can lead to some nasty licks.
Having Greg Biffle, Jeff Gordon and Ryan Newman test at Darlington in search of additional data will hopefully help ensure the performance of the tires this weekend at NASCAR’s trickiest track.
For all the guff Goodyear takes on occasion, and especially most recently at Atlanta, you have to give the company credit for getting it right most of the time. Goodyear is like the umpire in baseball: You never notice either until they miss something. Fortunately, on both counts, that’s the exception rather than the rule.
With all the variables in play – weather, camber, repaved surfaces and, of course, the new car having no history of real competition on some of the Cup tracks – Goodyear’s task becomes that much harder. Sometimes, so do the tires themselves. Other times, competitors complain about them being too soft.
Walking that fine line between durability and grip, company officials have said they will err on the side of the former in the name of safety to prevent tire failures that can lead to some nasty licks.
Having Greg Biffle, Jeff Gordon and Ryan Newman test at Darlington in search of additional data will hopefully help ensure the performance of the tires this weekend at NASCAR’s trickiest track.
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