Michelin Italian Grand Prix Preview

By Michelin Press Release
August 27 2005

 

 

  
Michelin: Italian Grand Prix Preview
 
This weekend Formula One moves from its newest venue - Istanbul Park in Turkey - to its most ancient: Monza. First used in 1922, Europe's oldest active racetrack is steeped in history and has staged more F1 world championship events than any other venue. This year's race will be the circuit's 55th and it has failed to feature on the calendar only once since the world championship was established in 1950. That was in 1980, when the race switched to Imola (before the latter was granted a race of its own - the San Marino GP).

Monza, which lies in a royal park within the Milanese suburbs, is not only the most venerated track, it is also the fastest. In 2002, Juan Pablo Montoya qualified his Michelin- shod Williams-BMW on pole position at 259.827km./h (161.449mph) - the quickest recorded lap in F1 history.

Dupasquier and Michelin EngineerMichelin has a proud record at Monza. In 1979, Ferrari driver Jody Scheckter scored the company's first F1 victory here - a result that secured him that season's world title. There have been another five such successes since, with Alain Prost (Renault, 1981), Reni Arnoux (Renault, 1982), Nelson Piquet (Brabham-BMW, 1983), Niki Lauda (McLaren-TAG turbo, 1984) and Montoya (Williams-BMW, 2001). In last season's corresponding fixture, Jenson Button (BAR-Honda) was the leading Michelin runner, in third place.

Michelin's F1 victory tally continues to edge towards three figures: this weekend the company will be aiming for its 14th victory of the season and the 89th in its proud world championship grand prix history.

Pierre Dupasquier, Michelin Motorsport Director:

"Monza is characterised by its high-speed straights - with cars touching almost 360km/h (224mph) - and quick, testing corners. Together, these two factors put a significant load on rubber, particularly at the rear. As with most circuits, tyre manufacturers are obliged to seek a compromise. Despite the loads imposed by Monza's many high-speed sweeps, such as the Parabolica or Biassono, wear rates are not as significant as you might imagine during cornering. That said, the track's relative lack of abrasiveness and the extreme speeds attained on the long straights combine to generate high tyre temperatures. This unusual blend of low-wear corners and gruelling straights obliges us to run very specific
compounds.

"What's more, drivers brake earlier here than they do at other tracks, because they run with relatively little aerodynamic downforce. Consequently, it is imperative to offer them consistent levels of grip."

Driver perspective: Jarno Trulli, Panasonic Toyota Racing:

"The main characteristic at Monza is the circuit's high speed. You run with very little wing, there is a lot of hard braking and you need good traction coming out of slow corners. When it comes to tyres, as usual it is essential to find the right blend of consistency and performance, but the main potential problem is blistering. That's what you have to avoid and you particularly need to control the situation at the exit of slow-speed corners.

"I always enjoy the atmosphere at Monza and have usually gone well there, so I'll be looking for another good result this weekend."

Technical Focus:

Technology Center mission:

Michelin's Research & Development arm is the Technology Center, with operations in three continents: Europe (France, Spain), North America (United States) and Asia (Japan, China and Thailand).

This organization makes both for direct contacts with OEMs who also have a global organization, and for the best response to specific needs as they relate to different markets. Each year, the Group spends around 4% of its turnover on R&D (4.6% in 2003).

The main mission of the research centre is to maintain Michelin Group's leadership in its field of competence, prepare for, and promote change in, the Group's chosen markets: tires, systems and services (tests, data acquisition, etc.).

More than 4000 engineers work at Michelin's Technology Centre innternational and pluridisciplinary teams. They conduct advanced research on:

Materials: tires are made up of upwards of 200 materials.
Tire performance: grip, noise, road holding, comfort, fuel consumption, endurance, wear.
Tire design: architecture, tread pattern.

Tire modelling and computer performance simulations.
The manufacturing process: product innovation hinges on industrial process
development.
Systems: antivibration, pressure monitoring, ground linkage.

The Technology Centre musters sophisticated technical resources:

* Analysis of compounds and metal and fabric reinforcements using nuclear magnetic resonance, spectroscopy, chromatography, microscopy, X Rays, dynamometrics.
* Automatic tire tests and measures (static and dynamic) and mounted (track and road) tests.
* A vehicle analysis laboratory assessment (static and dynamic test benches).

Michelin anti-splash in F1!

One of Michelin's latest innovations is the Anti-Splash deflector, which is incorporated as standard on tyres destined for heavy goods vehicles.

Tyres of this type are fitted to the trucks of Michelin's F1 partners and can be found in the grand prix paddock every race weekend.

Michelin has always strived to improve safety on the roads, and to this end is launching an anti-splash deflector as standard on a new truck tyre starting from April 2003.

Spray effect and splash effect;

Trucks throw up water on wet or flooded roads. This leads to a worrying loss of visibility for motorists who pass them.

Two types of water projection are caused by a truck driving in the rain : spray and splash. Spray is water vaporised by the rotation of the tyres, particularly caused by trailers.

Splash is a sudden projection of water caused by the evacuation of water by the
front tyres. It is linked to the way in which the front tyres come into contact with the road (snow-plough effect).

The anti-splash deflector

The anti-splash deflector is a patented system developed by Michelin's research teams. The anti-splash deflector is based on solutions invented by the Michelin Group and developed for the aircraft industry (a similar system exists for aircraft tyres to prevent water spray from flooding the engines). The Michelin anti-splash deflector is located between the tread and the sidewall and is a circular rib located on the outer sidewall. Its specially-designed profile and its position efficiently cut down water projections. Measures carried
out on analytical tracks show that the water projection height can be reduced by 4.
 
 
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