New tyres and tarmac

What does Petter really mean when he speaks about choosing too hard tyres? What is the difference between gravel-rally and tarmac-rally? And why is it so difficult to make the correct tyre choice? A lot of questions to be answered after the Monte Carlo Rally, we will try to explain.

If you are an average driver, you choose wintertyres in the winterseason and regular tyres for the summerseason. Some of us take five minutes to find out if we need studs for the wintertyres, but that’s it. So what is it about rally and tyres?

 

For a rally driver, there are several tyres to choose between. For tarmac they have slicks, wet-weather tyres and intermediate (something between slicks and wet-weather) and snowtyres. During Rally Monte Carlo they mostly used slicks. When Petter and the team makes their tyre choice for a rally, there are a lot of things to consider. For Rally Monte Carlo they could sign on 80 tyres, and they had to do it 12 days prior to the rally. A lot of conditions influents on the choice such as temperature and surface. How much of the stages are covered with snow or ice, how much are with tarmac. And the tarmacs abrasiveness is important.

The tyres normally picked for a tarmac rally is called slicks. For Rally Monte Carlo Petter could choose between 7 different compounds for the slicks. This is what he refers to when he says the tyres are too hard or too soft. The tyres look the same, but they all handle the stages differently. In addition to slicks, Petter had to bring 8 snowtyres for tarmac. The FIA decided that all cars had to use studless Snowtyres during the SSS in Monte Carlo. Petter could choose between three different compounds for the snow tyres. These Snowtyres are not the same kind as they use for Swedish Rally or Rally Norway. And all these choices have to be made 12 days prior to the rally.

But – what is the difference between a rally on gravel and a rally on tarmac? The surface, of course, but also the speed. You can drive to the corners much faster on tarmac than on gravel, but you have to attack the corners differently. If you drive on gravel, you can see the car slide through the corner. Petter uses the slide to get the car through the corner. On tarmac the tyres has so much grip that they don’t slide, and you have to have another rhythm to chase the car around the corners. This was Hennings big challenge for Rally Monte Carlo, and it proves that you have to practice a lot to be a good driver on tarmac. And the drivers know that if you loose the grip on tarmac, you will end up out in the woods. There is not much room for getting the car back on track, like you can do on gravel.

All this shows that you can not just choose a tyre, there are a lot of things to consider before making the final choice. You have to know the car and the tyres, and also the area for the rally. You also need a good weather prognose, and you need to know the technique for driving on tarmac.

All of the above are also important for the Swedish Rally and Rally Norway, but then they have to make the choice for snow and ice. And how will it be for the tarmac-specialists to drive with studs on ice? Will they be able to choose the right compound and the correct size of the studs?

Just some info at the end; the teams has allready chosen the tyres for Rally Mexico and shipped them off, and this rally does not take place until March. Who knows what the weather will be 6 weeks from now?