ADVAN tyres: WTCC (above) vs Formula Master (below)
VARIED DEMANDS FOR YOKOHAMA ADVANS
Media information: 22 August 2008
With a widely differing range of tracks already visited in 2008, official
tyre-supplier Yokohama faces a huge challenge when designing tyres for
both the FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) and its partner series
Formula Master. Although the ADVAN tyre production for both formulae is
very similar, the design and development process has to take into account
an enormous amount of variants, resulting in very different tyres.
“The circumstances vary greatly between the WTCC and Formula Master tyres,”
said Yokohama’s Tyre Engineer, Mr S. Watanabe. “The Formula Master tyres
are light-weight and more flexible in comparison to the touring car tyres;
they do not have as many forces acting upon them or as much weight to support.
“With the current FIA regulations for the WTCC, we have to create a tyre
that works equally well for all the teams, so have to take front-wheel
and rear-wheel drive cars into account on top of other variables. We do
our best to get the balance correct so the ADVAN tyres are suitable at
all tracks under all conditions.
“Formula Master tyres have to be fairly robust to cope with the variants
within Europe, but as the WTCC also travels further afield, they have to
manage a wider range of circumstances.”
At the development stage, Yokohama uses its vast experience to test a range
of constructions and compounds to ensure that the tyre would be suitable
under all possible conditions. With different tracks, ambient and track
temperatures to take into consideration, both the WTCC and Formula Master
tyres have to be extremely durable.
“We have to allow for the worst case scenario,” explained Watanabe. “This
year we tested at some of the most demanding tracks on tyres. The tyres
have to be tested at the extremes; if they are suitable for those conditions,
they will work in less stressful circumstances. I am happy that we have
achieved our aim and have produced an ADVAN tyre with consistent performance
across the range.”
Activities resume next weekend for Yokohama’s WTCC and Formula Master
programmes with both formulae racing at Oschersleben, Germany, on Saturday
30 and Sunday 31 August 2008.
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