Breaking news
NASCAR Cup Charlotte road course tire test
Goodyear pleased with Charlotte Roval tire test
Let’s get ready to Roval!
Lee Spencer
Edited: Oct 24, 2017, 6:27 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
In preparation for next October’s Bank of America 500, Goodyear tested several different tire compounds last Tuesday and Wednesday around the proposed 2.42-mile, 18-turn course. Kurt Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Jamie McMurray and Daniel Hemric participated in the test.
Goodyear’s general manager of worldwide racing, Stu Grant, was pleased with the overall results.
“We’ve landed in a pretty darn good place after the first test we had there,” Grant told Motorsport.com. “We started off with the Watkins Glen configuration, just like we ran with AJ Allmendinger about a year ago. That was a good starting place because from a speed standpoint, we thought that would be close.
“It was a little bit hard for getting through some of these slow corners in the infield, so we built a series of test tires that had softer compounds on them as we went from Watkins Glen towards a Sonoma-type of compound range. We ended up with a very good setup that provided enough grip and enough durability to get us through the fast corners on the oval, but it also gave us enough traction to get through some of the slow corners in the infield.”
Finding the perfect tire
For Goodyear, that was the main challenge of the exercise — finding a tire that could handle the speed and load of the oval with offering enough grip on the road course.
“We knew we wanted to have a road course construction because of all the twists and turns in the infield,” Grant said. “But the trick was getting the compound right to be able to balance the durability you need on the fast corner with enough grip to get through the infield,” Grant added.
Grant said the feedback from the drivers was unanimous in the selection of the tire.
“We were happy that we came out of there with a good tire,” Grant added. “We don’t plan on going back unless they make a major change to the configuration, which I don't anticipate.”
Goodyear happy with 2017 season
Goodyear is in the final season of a five-year contract. Although nothing has been signed Grant remains optimistic a new deal will be solidified soon. In addition to the Charlotte test, Goodyear tested at Bristol Motor Speedway to prepare for 2018. He expects to develop a final 2018 test schedule in the next 30 days.
“We’re looking at fine-tuning our 2018 test schedule with NASCAR,” Grant said. “To be honest, we were pretty happy with the 2017 season. The racing has been good. The tire performance has been good, moving forward we always want to keep improving.
“We’ve been steadily tuning the tires with the lower downforce configuration and we’ve been able to accomplish that. It’s been two years in the making, after trying to take the downforce off, changing tires, taking more downforce off, then changing tires. But I think the end product on the race track has been pretty good.”
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Mission accomplished for Kyle Busch despite missing out on Kansas win
Next article After 22 years, Andy Petree is returning to Richard Childress Racing
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Lee Spencer
Harvick reflects on career after Atlanta win, honors Dale Earnhardt
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Atlanta
Feb 26, 2018
Harvick reflects on career after Atlanta win, honors Dale Earnhardt
Chase Elliott: "We have a lot of work to do" after Atlanta showing
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Atlanta
Feb 26, 2018
Chase Elliott: "We have a lot of work to do" after Atlanta showing
Harvick leads veteran charge at Atlanta Motor Speedway
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Atlanta
Feb 26, 2018
Harvick leads veteran charge at Atlanta Motor Speedway
Latest news
You Ask The Questions: Jack Miller
MotoGP
Qatar GP
You Ask The Questions: Jack Miller
Why the anticlimactic WEC title showdown was the worst-case scenario
WEC
WEC WEC
Monza
2 h
Why the anticlimactic WEC title showdown was the worst-case scenario
How Istanbul is revamping its F1 circuit to clinch long-term future
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Turkish GP
4 h
How Istanbul is revamping its F1 circuit to clinch long-term future
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe