Marbles Racing Tires

There s an example of where rubber on the racetrack does not improve grip.

Marbles racing tires.

The best kind of racing tire because they ve had a few laps of wear to normalize the surface. If a driver enters the marbles at an excessive speed his car will lose grip and drive perilously into awaiting hazards as if a person walked across a bed of marbles. Goodyear racing eagles like all racing tires are made from a rubber compound containing elastomers elastic polymers that can stretch and return to their original shape source. Grooveless tires in auto racing melt and pieces become known as marbles.

Racing surfaces vary not only from track to track but during a night s racing at the same track. This is not always true. It s impossible for tire companies or race teams to run controlled tests and definitively say that grinding siping or grooving tires in a specific pattern or to a specific depth gives specific amounts of additional traction heating cooling. Racing tires are designed to wear.

If you want to try running a different line on the track it will take a little bit of work to clean the marbles from that line. Some tracks act like a grinder or cheese grader on the contact patch of the tire causing the tire to wear faster. The original idea behind tire management related to how the driver cared for the tires and manipulated the tires for maximum traction. To understand how marbles are formed let s look at the science behind racing tires.

Marbles pieces of rubber from tires that accumulate on the racing surface outside of the racing line that are slippery like toy marbles. A well used tire that is wearing evenly will show uniform abrasion across the entire contact patch. In order to provide maximum grip between the tires and the track manufacturers create wide grooveless racing tires called slicks. The cars push the marbles out of the racing line but heaven forbid you get a little out of sorts and get off the clean track.

But the type of tires f1 requires just produce a whole lot more deposition and take up of rubber. Britannica other components that go into a tire include fillers and rubber attaching agents. The excess rubber comes off in the form of rubber dust and molten pieces referred to as marbles. And you are going to notice your car is losing traction when you do.

Marshal a person responsible for signaling track conditions to drivers through use of flags extinguishing fires removing damaged cars from the track and sometimes providing emergency first aid. The marbles on the track will also affect the grip your tires have with the road surface. And while the off track care and use of tires leading up to this is really important what the driver does in the cockpit with the controls on the track is still the most important element. Since drag racing tires have a softer compound than typical street tires you would think that softer is better.

Softer compound tires are better for a lighter weight vehicle while a harder compound tire is better on heavier vehicles.