"Quick Tips About Tyre Pressure"
"Continental Tyres Manchester, Tyres Manchester (750 words)"
[ "                                       Quick Tips About Tyre PressureThe first fully-electric racing series, Formula E, starts in September/October. While the new car attracts a lot of attention, it's also worth looking at the players behind it. One of those companies is Michelin, supplying bespoke 18" rims for all teams to use on their cars. We spoke with Tony Sergi from Michelin Motorsport about what that means and why tyre pressure plays an essential part in that equation.Michelin Motorsport has been supplying competition Continental tyres Manchester since the late 1960s. Still, since 2007 they've supplied FIA Formula 1 teams and teams competing in World Rally Championship (WRC), World Touring Car Championship (WTCC), and Moto GP. So why Formula E and why now?When we were asked to join Formula E, we saw a great opportunity. We have been involved in various levels of racing for a while, but this is an innovative series with a clear set of goals; being environmentally friendly is our concern too. So it's a very good fit for us.Since Formula E uses completely custom tyres does that mean you're producing new rubber compounds for the cars?In principle, yes, but at Michelin, we continually develop products from scratch, so it doesn't matter whether it's small or large volume production. In principle, there are two types of Tyres Manchester development: one where you take an existing compound and modify its properties - e.g., adding silica to make it better for wet conditions - and the other where you start completely from scratch.Formula E uses bespoke tyres that are 18" instead of the standard 13" size because this is better suited to achieving faster lap times (smaller wheels mean less rotating weight). So Formula E needs special tyres, but why do they need 18 inches?To put it simply:;With a faster car, you need bigger brakes with larger discs and steel brake cooling ducts - that also means the wheels have to be bigger. Now we can't make them 13" as we would need special hubs, and it wouldn't give us the speed/grip ratio we want; we could go back to 15's, but then there is no weight reduction, and with all the standardized parts (like gearbox, battery) already specified 18" is the best solution.How about tyre wear? Is it bad if your tyres wear out quickly?No, tyre wear is something we always control and make sure doesn't happen, but if for some reason like standing starts (when Formula E cars will start from zero miles per hour) then there's a chance of that happening. We want to make sure drivers can also push their cars; at the end of the day, they're driving high-performance racing cars and should be able to get them up to top speed. So tyre wear isn't something we want to happen, but on the other side if it does happen then it gives us another variable to play with and potentially add more excitement for fans.And what about air tyres? How do they work?If you reduce weight even more than just using smaller wheels, say, for example, if you use carbon-fibre rims as they used in Formula 1 in the '80s or '90s, you can increase performance even more. In that case, you would have a rim - the tyre and inner tube would be one unit - filled with air, they are also called 'Air tyres'. You could compare it to a normal car tyre where the rubber is thicker to cope with running at high speeds. They work by having an air pressure inside higher than outside (in the atmosphere), so because this difference in pressure between the inside and outside air determines how much grip it provides.So if you had lower air pressure, say 0.7 bar instead of 1.5 bar like we use on-road cars, then it wouldn't provide as much grip but reduce weight further?Yes, that's right, there are certain tricks we can apply. For example, you could add a steel belt underneath the rubber compound so that when the air pressure is low it would keep its shape and reduce deformation which would improve grip because it's not deforming as much." ]