New surface catches out Firestone
source:
irl.racing-live.com
After a winter of curing and settling, the new
pavement on the 2.5mile oval at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was finally
ready for an Indy car. Planned as a private two day Firestone tire test
beginning on Tuesday, drivers including Buddy Rice and Sam Hornish, Jr., would
evaluate tires for this years Indianapolis 500. Unfortunately, undisclosed
issues arose almost immediately forcing the test to be called off on Tuesday
afternoon.
"We don't have anything that's jumping out at us. I think everybody was being a
little extra cautious. I think they experienced something they (Firestone Tire)
had never seen before and unexpected. At that point in time it's better to go
evaluate it than it is to try to run through something that you don't know
what's going on," said Brian Barnhart, Indy Racing League President.
Menards Infiniti Pro Series drivers had tested the Indy road course on March
24th, and found the new pavement on the oval portion of the track to be a little
slicker than the older surface in the infield sections. But, as the road course
uses the only one high speed turn (oval turn one), and that is run the opposite
direction the Pro Series test would reveal little to the Firestone tire
engineers.
When the time came for the IndyCars to run this week speeds were expected to
be in the range of 230mph at the approach to turn one and even a minor issue
with the track or the tires would create a serious safety problem.
IMS owner, Tony George, indicated this was an issue that the track and Firestone
were working to identify. George said it may not be an issue specific to the
Firestone tires or the track but a combination of the two. Tire compound and
track surface compatibility can be difficult to create, especially with new
pavements which are known to be highly abrasive.
Neither George, nor Barnhart expressed major concerns over the cancelled test.
"They took some of the tires back and they're going to re-evaluate them," said
Barnhart. "Our obligation from the Speedway and from the IRL standpoint is we're
going to provide a safe and competitive racetrack for them, and we've got the
feedback and data from the drivers that were on track yesterday. Firestone will
evaluate what their tires are doing, and I'm sure we'll be having a continued
dialogue with them. And if anything needs to be addressed after we get more
feedback from them, we'll do so."
Barnhart expects Firestone to return for another test at the Speedway in the
next two weeks, though nothing has been scheduled yet. The next IndyCar race is
at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan on April 30th. However, the equipment will be
packed for transport a week earlier, creating a bit of a time crunch for
Firestone to produce new tires and get them tested at Indy.
There are some teams planning Indy only efforts, including Sam Schmidt
Motorsports who could be used by Firestone for testing while the regular teams
are in Japan, though that has not been determined at this time.