8 May 2013
ERJ staff report (BC)
Burton Upon Trent – Ahead of the Formula One race in Spain from 10-12 May, Pirelli has produced a video explaining how it measures wear on a racing tire.
Starting from Spain, Pirelli will issue free videos focussing on specific topics, and not only on the circuit. There will be a new video before each Grand Prix.
Pirelli’s Racing Tyre System (RTS) is a software “passport” for each tire.
Before assessing wear, Pirelli’s engineers scrape clean the tread of every used tire with a spatula and a hot air blower.
The amount of rubber left on the tire is checked by inserting a depth measurement probe into any one of the six cavities built into it for this purpose. The probe is linked to the RTS. As soon as the engineer measures the tire, its wear profile is displayed graphically on a computer tablet.
Having collated the data from every tire used on the track, the RTS supplies every team with an accurate forecast of the useful lifespan of each tire, compared to the average value for other teams. A profile is provided to represent typical usage conditions.
According to Pirelli, the teams base their race strategies on the information supplied by the company, according to the numbers of laps and pit stops expected for each compound.
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