f1 tire profile

The suspension is so stiff on modern F1 cars to keep the Aero devices under the car producing down force and to prevent the plank from being ground down. they use the tall side walls to act as a shock absorber. If you watch some of the races where they have a slow motion camera in a corner watch the car bouncing off of the kerbs and you can see how much the sidewall flexes over those bumps.

 

F1 rules limit the size of the wheels to 13" bead rims in order to limit the brake technology (size == beter ability to deal with heat). In effect, the rules simply caused the F1 teams to invent carbon-carbon brakes that can deal with 4Gs-5Gs of braking force and 2000 dF of heat inside the 13" envelope of the regulated wheels.

 

The 13 inch wheels are a requirement that teams have agreed to live with.

The resulting tires are essentially an underdamped spring, and the challenge is controlling that motion with devices not directly built into the tire. Rubber is viscoelastic, therefore self damping to a certain degree, and impact-velocity sensitive, among many other fascinating qualities/ characteristics.

In other motorsport catagories, certainly in GT and Prototype classes, the tire designs have moved in their specifications like road car tires. Lower aspect ratios, larger diameter wheels.

The tire is the single most important performance factor, and the least understood part.

Best regards,

Rob Schermerhorn

 

Similarly speaking, it was either IndyCar or CART, some years ago contemplating moving up to a 17" wheel, from a 15" that they both currently utilize. The teams said that this would be far too expensive, which basically means they'd have to redesign the entire car from the chassis up. The chassis would have different suspension pickup points, which would need to be set in stone when the molding of the shell is created. The geometry would change, brake sizes would change, etc. This would put everyone's R&D back at ground zero, with the exception of the motor itself.