couple of nice photos of a F1 car in snow action Premier

Very cool pics! First time seeing an F1 car in those conditions. Those seem like they might be studded rain tires.
Good place to test wet weather setups or stability systems.

Very cool pics! First time seeing an F1 car in those conditions. Those seem like they might be studded rain tires.
Good place to test wet weather setups or stability systems.

They are studded winter tires.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=AmR4a55wl-s

They are studded winter tires.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=AmR4a55wl-s

You mean studded rains?

You mean studded rains?
You realize manufacturers make snow specific tires right? Especially for F1 cars worth a few million each...

You realize manufacturers make snow specific tires right? Especially for F1 cars worth a few million each...

I highly doubt a snow tire would be developed for F1, considering they definitely don't race in the snow, and they don't really have any reason to drive in the snow unless it's for exhibition.
Look like regular monsoon tires to me.

You realize manufacturers make snow specific tires right? Especially for F1 cars worth a few million each...

Huh. Don't know that I've ever seen (or heard of) an F1 race held in the snow. I suppose its possible that Michelin made one set of special F1 snow tires specifically for that one time exhibition event. :rolleyes

Wow.... I want to drive that car in those conditions!

Also in the video at 1:20 you can see the studs :)

:rofl @ thread




They should've put skinnier tires on.

Also in the video at 1:20 you can see the studs :)

And the 'full wet' tread pattern. ;) :D

You sir are correct, that was fair obvious though. I used my super sleuth eye to detect the studs ;)

Talk about the use of traction control.....Heidfeld almost never came off of it until he did the donuts.

The engine sounds terrible at the start as the traction control tries to control the constant loss of traction.

Huh. Don't know that I've ever seen (or heard of) an F1 race held in the snow. I suppose its possible that Michelin made one set of special F1 snow tires specifically for that one time exhibition event. :rolleyes
given the safety implications for the fans and the drivers... and the sheer value of the cars, is it really unreasonably to think Michelin wouldn't spring for a few thousand for specially designed snows?

Keep in mind, most rain tires are still pretty soft. The conditions in snow are pretty dramatically different than just rain, notably, way colder...

You guys need to stop talking out of you know what. It almost feels like OT in this thread.

one) the tires are bridgstones not michelins and
two) the tires were made specifically for the event.

Produced by Bridgestone Motorsport’s Technical Centre in Tokyo, the special edition F1 snow tyres featured 420 studs on each of the front tyres and 588 studs on each of the rear tyres, mirroring the 4 studs and rubber plates attached to each of the racing horses shoes. It took two Bridgestone technicians over 16 hours to manually insert all 2,016 studs into the double layer of tread compound on one set of tyres alone.

The studs, made from tungsten and embedded in aluminium casings, were designed to specifically provide reliable grip on ice and hard-packed snow, making them perfect for this event where night time temperatures have been dropping to -15°C. BMW Sauber’s pit crew also had to keep a watchful eye on the BMW F1 engine, warming it up every half hour to keep it from freezing.

Heidfeld, who wowed the 15,000 spectators with his on ice manoeuvring skills, said of his F1 drive: “That was quite a unique experience – just seeing the magnificent mountain scenery surrounding the lake is really impressive. The frozen track was of course much rougher than what I’m used to in Formula One. Although it was by no means easy to apply force on such a surface, I enjoyed the drive immensely.”

When producing these special edition snow tyres Bridgestone put into practice its knowledge of road car winter tyre tread compounds. A soft, high-grip compound was used to enable the tyres to work at a much lower temperature range to those of between 90-110°C normally experienced by an F1 tyre.

The BMW Sauber F1 team ran the car at the request of team sponsor Credit Suisse, who are also the main sponsor and long-term partner to White Turf, an annual series of international winter horse racing.

Local tv said they did the exibition with TC off.

Huh. Don't know that I've ever seen (or heard of) an F1 race held in the snow. I suppose its possible that Michelin made one set of special F1 snow tires specifically for that one time exhibition event. :rolleyes

You have been owned.

You have been owned.

Read it again and look at the video. The "special snow tires custom made for the event" are rains with studs. The "custom made" part is that they put studs in the tires. They may very well have used a modified compound when they molded the tread, but it is still a rain tread. They are not high volume tires so the process is likely very manual (read; hand made) which would make it easy to substitute an even softer compound than used on rains. But there is no way Bridgestone developed a custom mould for those tires. Its a rain tread pattern, which is actaully a very poor tread pattern for use in snow. But even a rain tire will work in snow if they are studded.

No ownage. We are both right.

Read it again and look at the video. The "special snow tires custom made for the event" are rains with studs. The "custom made" part is that they put studs in the tires. They may very well have used a modified compound when they molded the tread, but it is still a rain tread. They are not high volume tires so the process is likely very manual (read; hand made) which would make it easy to substitute an even softer compound than used on rains. But there is no way Bridgestone developed a custom mould for those tires. Its a rain tread pattern, which is actaully a very poor tread pattern for use in snow. But even a rain tire will work in snow if they are studded.

No ownage. We are both right.

You are not out of the fire yet.

This is the best I could do. Wet tires are hard to find pics of.

http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/www.edmunds.com//media/il/features/motorsports/06.formula.1.grand.prix.hungary/mclaren.tires.500.jpg

Yes, they are michelin but the tread is nearly identical to bridgestone wet tires.

http://home.comcast.net/~mitchellowen/winter_tires.jpg

As you can see the tread is way different. The tread actually looks like that of the Blizzaks.

Umm, these are DRY tires:
http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/www.edmunds.com//media/il/features/motorsports/06.formula.1.grand.prix.hungary/mclaren.tires.500.jpg

The snow tire pattern looks very much like a rain tire pattern:
http://home.comcast.net/%7Emitchellowen/winter_tires.jpg

Umm, these are DRY tires:
http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/www.edmunds.com//media/il/features/motorsports/06.formula.1.grand.prix.hungary/mclaren.tires.500.jpg

The snow tire pattern looks very much like a rain tire pattern:
http://home.comcast.net/%7Emitchellowen/winter_tires.jpg

B. Watt, Do I have to point out everything. Look deeper in the photo.

I ran out of thought for this thread, it seems to be locked into a feud over the silliest of things.

I ran out of thought for this thread, it seems to be locked into a feud over the silliest of things.

It seems to be, but who's side are you on ;) :D

B. Watt, Do I have to point out everything. Look deeper in the photo.

Ok, I see them now...

On the right are some intermediate tires. On the left are some full rains that look very, very similiar to the snow tire pattern. Trust me, they didn't create a new mold for the snow tires...the extreme directional nature of the tires screams rain tire. Snow doesn't evacuate through channels like water does, so there's no need for directional channels.

I think the coolest thing about F1 rain tires is that the contact patches (i.e. all the rubber that touches the ground) have the exact same shape as the new Bridgestone rain tires for karts...
Jake

http://www.subydude.com/images/prod/products/Wheels/tires/400/400/bs_blizzak_lm25.jpg

That is Blizzak tread. Do you not see the resemblance that I see?

I think you underestimate the money involved in this. I am going out on a limb and say something that I am not sure about. I think tread is made using an extruder and not a molding.

Brian, I see your point about the irrelevancy of having the tread of a rain tire in the snow because of the lack of water to channel through them...but i also had the rarest thought thinking that the heat created by the tyre (absolutely minimal if not non-existing) could yield the need for tread . Just a slight thought that ran through my mind...but most probably incorrect.

It seems rather dumb to creat a new mold for snow-specific f1 tyres.

why

Simple:


Formula 1 does not race in the snow.

You mean studded rains?

Studded rain tires. Oh, your from Texas.

Why would you put studs on a rain tire? Are the studs going to dig into the water?

Unbelievable.

Studded rain tires. Oh, your from Texas.

Why would you put studs on a rain tire? Are the studs going to dig into the water?

Unbelievable.

:rolleyes What? Are we in W&P now? Don't be an idiot.

Studded rain tires. Oh, your from Texas.

Why would you put studs on a rain tire? Are the studs going to dig into the water?

Unbelievable.

:rofl

This thread is a joke.

Bane you were wrong, give it up. Stop trying to hang onto your possibly 0.01% correctness.

:rofl

This thread is a joke.

Bane you were wrong, give it up. Stop trying to hang onto your possibly 0.01% correctness.

Dude, I did give it up. Several posts and several days ago. I simply didn't appreciate sjpgoalie being an idiot and a jackass at my expense.

Whatever the case, it is still a cool couple of shots!

This thread is retarded, I can't believe it even exists.