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Should have watched the last F1 race. Although it's been done before, Bottas came in to the pits in 3rd spot, put a set of stickers on and blistered the race record taking points away from Verstappen.
When I say that you can't beat sticker tires, this is what I'm talking about. The F1 guys have an advantage that they are allowed tire warmers, where we have to set them in the sun, (just to store them, not to warm them, you understand) Several years ago a team was penalized because they took their tires and set them inside the garage at Daytona in front of the propane heater, when it was in the thirties outside.
But again, the premise is simple, you can have fast tires for a short period, or OK tires for a long period, name your poison.
I do wonder how they warm them though, do they have some metric of track/ambient temp that they use, and then just turn the thermostat to reflect that in the "oven". or is it simpler than that? I know they take the old wheels, stuff them into a water blaster cabinet, and it removes EVERYTHING, weights, glue, anything that gets in the way. I get to scrape them with Brake clean... lol
When I say that you can't beat sticker tires, this is what I'm talking about. The F1 guys have an advantage that they are allowed tire warmers, where we have to set them in the sun, (just to store them, not to warm them, you understand) Several years ago a team was penalized because they took their tires and set them inside the garage at Daytona in front of the propane heater, when it was in the thirties outside.
But again, the premise is simple, you can have fast tires for a short period, or OK tires for a long period, name your poison.
I do wonder how they warm them though, do they have some metric of track/ambient temp that they use, and then just turn the thermostat to reflect that in the "oven". or is it simpler than that? I know they take the old wheels, stuff them into a water blaster cabinet, and it removes EVERYTHING, weights, glue, anything that gets in the way. I get to scrape them with Brake clean... lol
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