matespace
10-10-2011, 10:55 AM
When you shake hands with Bill you get the feeling he could crush your bones without knowing it. He also has Popeye's forearms. After wielding tyre leavers for 2 decades his hands are strong. They’re probably twice as thick as they’d be if he was a pen pusher.
http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n609/Advanaustralia/ADVAN%20interview%20with%20Bill%20Pearson/BillPearsonthoughtfullook.jpg
Yokohama spoke with Bill Pearson at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000. Selecting the right race tyre and getting it set up correctly is an art. Almost every application and driver is different.
We sat down with Bill to get his thoughts.
Bill is the motorsport tyre technician with Gordon Leven Motorsport tyres in Emu Plains, Sydney NSW. He is the man who fits the Yokohama ADVAN race tyres for NSW events in racing categories including V8 Utes, Aussie Racing Cars and the Improved Production Racing Association. Over the years he’s also done Formula Holden, Formula 3, 2 Litre Tourers and V8 Supercars.
Yokohama: If I was buying my first set of track tyres from you what advice would you give.
Bill: First I’d ask what you what you wanted to do. If you had a heavy car like a V8 Commodore and you wanted to supersprints I’d give you 2 options for dedicated track tyres. The ADVAN A050 will give you instant results. By that I mean the A050 gives you tyre temperature very quickly for fast lap time straight off the bat. For long distance race, high ambient temperature, a heavy car, very high horsepower car or all of the above I’d recommend the ADVAN A048 because it’s much tougher. It’s a harder compound, it’s more durable less likely to overheat.
http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n609/Advanaustralia/ADVAN%20interview%20with%20Bill%20Pearson/V8utecar2.jpg
The Australian V8 Ute series uses a 235/40R18 ADVAM A048 in MH compound. At about 1800 kilos they’re a very heavy race car. They’re driven hard in 8 lap races. 2 tyres will do 1 round as fronts and a second round as rears.
If you’ve got a light car with not much horsepower then you can go for a very soft compound and a small tyre so the rolling resistance doesn’t impeded your horsepower. You can over-tyre a car. Sometimes you can pick a tyre that’s too grippy. It’ll actually slow you down in a corner if you don’t have enough horsepower or don’t drive the car properly. In that case your exit speed will be lower than your corner entry speed. Go to a smaller tyre or a harder compound that will keep your engine wound up and in the horsepower. Some people induce oversteer to get the wheels spinning and let the engine keep up.
Yokohama: What advice to you give specifically to drivers?
Bill: Drivers need to be clever. There’s only so much a tyre can put up with. You have to keep the tyre in its prime temperature range and air pressure range. To make it do what it can for the whole race, rather than start fast and finish with an over-pressured over heated-tyre that will have the rest of the field passing you.
http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n609/Advanaustralia/ADVAN%20interview%20with%20Bill%20Pearson/DarylandBillfittinganA0482.jpg
Teams in the V8 ute series will have their tyres flipped on the rim between races. That means taking the directional tyre suited for the left side of the car and fitting it for the right side of the car. Tyres are rotated to different positions on the cars to even out wear and maintain peak performance.
Yokohama: How do I get the tyre to operate in its prime?
Well there 3 areas to consider:
1. Get advice on the right hot pressures from the tyre’s manufacturer. It may just be a ballpark figure which you’ll have to refine for your application. The ballpark tyre pressures we recommend for starting to set up the ADVAN A048 and ADVAN A050 is 30 to 35 psi. These are not plug and play figures. A car’s optimum pressure may be anywhere between 20psi and 42psi.
2. Visually inspect your tyres when you come off the track. A tyre cannot lie. Check for a high wear rate in centre which indicates over-pressure. A high wear rate on both edges is under-pressure. High wear on one edge is generally to do with the wheel alignment. High wear all over is probably due to the use of a spring rate that’s too stiff. High tyre temperatures can also result from a spring that’s too stiff.
3. Use a pyrometer to check the temperature across the tread surface. Aim for no more than a variance of 10 degrees. This means you’re using all the contact patch for maximum grip. The probe type pyro is better because it measures the temperatures a couple of millimetres below the tread surface and is not influenced by temperatures from other sources such as hot brakes and reflected heat from ambient temperature . You can also use infrared pyros. You should measure the heat in the middle of a tread block or rib. Measure across the tyre dividing the tyre into 3 equal sections outside, middle and inside. Do it as soon as you can after a corner at race speed. If you let the car rest or do a cool down lap the tyre temperature differences in the 3 zones will equalize which is not an accurate measure of how the car contact patch is performing. They’ll work between 40 and 100 degrees.
http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n609/Advanaustralia/ADVAN%20interview%20with%20Bill%20Pearson/Tyreonrollingute.jpg
Yokohama: Can you give us some more information on finding out the optimal tyre pressure?
Bill: To find the right pressure over-air on your hot pressures. For a 500 kilo car start at 30psi. For a 1800 kilo car start at 40 hot. We’re talking hot here. So that’s the pressure the tyre is at when you come off the track. Then test them 5 psi lower each time to quickly determine what feels best. When you’re in the ballpark you can start analysing the springs and tyre pressures. Don’t start under-pressured because you could break the casing of the tyre or push the tyre off the rim on a curb or ripple strip. If you feel a pressure is wrong straight away; come into the pits and change it.
http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n609/Advanaustralia/ADVAN%20interview%20with%20Bill%20Pearson/DarylandBillfittinganA0481.jpg
Fitting tyres is normally a one man job. But Bill and Daryl team up to use 2 tyre leavers. Yokohama race tyres have very strong beads with a strong clamping pressure on the rim. They can be hard work to fit. Using 2 leavers helps protect the bead from damage. In ute racing each tyre is refitted about 3 times in it’s life.
Bill’s parting advice is to educate yourself with plenty of advice. Ask the Yokohama motorsport dealer at the track because they may have experience with setting up the tyre of car you want to run. They may even be able to help you with pyro readings.
Click Here (http://clixtrac.com/goto/?53549) to check out the ADVAN Racing A048/AO50 tyres used by the V8 Utes
Click Here (http://clixtrac.com/goto/?53277) to check out the rest of the Yokohama tyre range, including the C. Drive 2, Neova AD08 and Geolanders A/T-S
http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n609/Advanaustralia/ADVAN%20interview%20with%20Bill%20Pearson/BillPearsonthoughtfullook.jpg
Yokohama spoke with Bill Pearson at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000. Selecting the right race tyre and getting it set up correctly is an art. Almost every application and driver is different.
We sat down with Bill to get his thoughts.
Bill is the motorsport tyre technician with Gordon Leven Motorsport tyres in Emu Plains, Sydney NSW. He is the man who fits the Yokohama ADVAN race tyres for NSW events in racing categories including V8 Utes, Aussie Racing Cars and the Improved Production Racing Association. Over the years he’s also done Formula Holden, Formula 3, 2 Litre Tourers and V8 Supercars.
Yokohama: If I was buying my first set of track tyres from you what advice would you give.
Bill: First I’d ask what you what you wanted to do. If you had a heavy car like a V8 Commodore and you wanted to supersprints I’d give you 2 options for dedicated track tyres. The ADVAN A050 will give you instant results. By that I mean the A050 gives you tyre temperature very quickly for fast lap time straight off the bat. For long distance race, high ambient temperature, a heavy car, very high horsepower car or all of the above I’d recommend the ADVAN A048 because it’s much tougher. It’s a harder compound, it’s more durable less likely to overheat.
http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n609/Advanaustralia/ADVAN%20interview%20with%20Bill%20Pearson/V8utecar2.jpg
The Australian V8 Ute series uses a 235/40R18 ADVAM A048 in MH compound. At about 1800 kilos they’re a very heavy race car. They’re driven hard in 8 lap races. 2 tyres will do 1 round as fronts and a second round as rears.
If you’ve got a light car with not much horsepower then you can go for a very soft compound and a small tyre so the rolling resistance doesn’t impeded your horsepower. You can over-tyre a car. Sometimes you can pick a tyre that’s too grippy. It’ll actually slow you down in a corner if you don’t have enough horsepower or don’t drive the car properly. In that case your exit speed will be lower than your corner entry speed. Go to a smaller tyre or a harder compound that will keep your engine wound up and in the horsepower. Some people induce oversteer to get the wheels spinning and let the engine keep up.
Yokohama: What advice to you give specifically to drivers?
Bill: Drivers need to be clever. There’s only so much a tyre can put up with. You have to keep the tyre in its prime temperature range and air pressure range. To make it do what it can for the whole race, rather than start fast and finish with an over-pressured over heated-tyre that will have the rest of the field passing you.
http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n609/Advanaustralia/ADVAN%20interview%20with%20Bill%20Pearson/DarylandBillfittinganA0482.jpg
Teams in the V8 ute series will have their tyres flipped on the rim between races. That means taking the directional tyre suited for the left side of the car and fitting it for the right side of the car. Tyres are rotated to different positions on the cars to even out wear and maintain peak performance.
Yokohama: How do I get the tyre to operate in its prime?
Well there 3 areas to consider:
1. Get advice on the right hot pressures from the tyre’s manufacturer. It may just be a ballpark figure which you’ll have to refine for your application. The ballpark tyre pressures we recommend for starting to set up the ADVAN A048 and ADVAN A050 is 30 to 35 psi. These are not plug and play figures. A car’s optimum pressure may be anywhere between 20psi and 42psi.
2. Visually inspect your tyres when you come off the track. A tyre cannot lie. Check for a high wear rate in centre which indicates over-pressure. A high wear rate on both edges is under-pressure. High wear on one edge is generally to do with the wheel alignment. High wear all over is probably due to the use of a spring rate that’s too stiff. High tyre temperatures can also result from a spring that’s too stiff.
3. Use a pyrometer to check the temperature across the tread surface. Aim for no more than a variance of 10 degrees. This means you’re using all the contact patch for maximum grip. The probe type pyro is better because it measures the temperatures a couple of millimetres below the tread surface and is not influenced by temperatures from other sources such as hot brakes and reflected heat from ambient temperature . You can also use infrared pyros. You should measure the heat in the middle of a tread block or rib. Measure across the tyre dividing the tyre into 3 equal sections outside, middle and inside. Do it as soon as you can after a corner at race speed. If you let the car rest or do a cool down lap the tyre temperature differences in the 3 zones will equalize which is not an accurate measure of how the car contact patch is performing. They’ll work between 40 and 100 degrees.
http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n609/Advanaustralia/ADVAN%20interview%20with%20Bill%20Pearson/Tyreonrollingute.jpg
Yokohama: Can you give us some more information on finding out the optimal tyre pressure?
Bill: To find the right pressure over-air on your hot pressures. For a 500 kilo car start at 30psi. For a 1800 kilo car start at 40 hot. We’re talking hot here. So that’s the pressure the tyre is at when you come off the track. Then test them 5 psi lower each time to quickly determine what feels best. When you’re in the ballpark you can start analysing the springs and tyre pressures. Don’t start under-pressured because you could break the casing of the tyre or push the tyre off the rim on a curb or ripple strip. If you feel a pressure is wrong straight away; come into the pits and change it.
http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n609/Advanaustralia/ADVAN%20interview%20with%20Bill%20Pearson/DarylandBillfittinganA0481.jpg
Fitting tyres is normally a one man job. But Bill and Daryl team up to use 2 tyre leavers. Yokohama race tyres have very strong beads with a strong clamping pressure on the rim. They can be hard work to fit. Using 2 leavers helps protect the bead from damage. In ute racing each tyre is refitted about 3 times in it’s life.
Bill’s parting advice is to educate yourself with plenty of advice. Ask the Yokohama motorsport dealer at the track because they may have experience with setting up the tyre of car you want to run. They may even be able to help you with pyro readings.
Click Here (http://clixtrac.com/goto/?53549) to check out the ADVAN Racing A048/AO50 tyres used by the V8 Utes
Click Here (http://clixtrac.com/goto/?53277) to check out the rest of the Yokohama tyre range, including the C. Drive 2, Neova AD08 and Geolanders A/T-S