It is interesting indeed to read about the interest in tire pressures. In
days of old that was about the only adjustable device we had. I well
remember having four different pressures in the four tires. Jump out of the
car durin a practice session and change the pressure a pound of so in a
particualr tire and then back and run it hard. The part I havn't heard
mentioned is the side wall deflection and stiffness. That is spring rate
but to a lesser degree. This is one reason you are in love with a single
brand of tire and then when asked or forced to change you can' t make the
car go fast for a couple times out. Another variable....damn.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Babcock" <BillB@bnj.com>
To: "'rgk'" <rgk@flash.net>; <fot@autox.team.net>
Sent: Monday, April 07, 2003 5:07 PM
Subject: RE: First report on Dunlop 205-60-15 race tires, race at TWS
> Yeah, I ran Yokahamas fairly hard too, but as I recall after I got the
> camber closer to being right for radials (about 3 to 4 degrees) I went way
> softer. I think what was going on was that at low camber (1 to 2 degrees)
> the higher pressure pushes the contact patch outwards and that's
> helpful--it's kind of like rubber camber, the center of the tire bulges
> and creates a wedge-shaped contact patch from center to outside edge. But
> when you get the camber right you start riding on just the outer edge of
> the tire and need to run the tire softer to spread it back across the
> tire. My first yokohamas corded out in the center. After I tweaked the
> TR3's suspension and ran them softer they wore out from the outside edge
> to past the center and lasted longer.
>
> Got to get a set of those Dunlops. They sound good. Too bad they won't let
> us run them at the Monterey Historics--then again, they do a nice job of
> equalizing the field with tire choices: Nobody gets any traction.
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