Michelin, Goodyear put products to test in big early-season races

The multi-year agreement replaced a supply deal IMSA had with Continental Tire the Americas L.L.C. since 2010 that ended in 2018. The deal calls for Michelin tires to be on every Prototype and GT Daytona race car competing in the WeatherTech Championship as well as on the companion Michelin Pilot Challenge and IMSA Prototype Challenge series.

"We began prep for the 2019 (races) toward the middle or third part of 2017, as soon as we learned of the award (to supply IMSA tires)," Mr. Payne said. "That's when we started to identify our staffing requirements, get involved with marketing and communications, planned tire supplies and analyzed tire logistics down to how the tires would be transported to the tracks."

Mr. Payne and his team analyze all available data from past races — from tire supplies to race results — before they begin to formulate plans. Even when prototypes of tires are supplied to IMSA race teams, they are tested and refined continuously before they are ordered into production.

What might seem like minor tweaks — increase of a rear tire dimension for one car, added robustness needed for another tire — can have major impacts on race results.

Production takes place at the company's plant in Clermont-Ferrand, France, before they are transported, usually by ship, to the Port of Charleston, S.C. From there they are trucked to climate-controlled warehouses near Michelin's North American headquarters in Greenville, S.C., before they are transported to racetracks.

Scott Clark, chairman and president of Michelin North America, elaborated on the magnitude of his company's participation in the IMSA series at the recent North American International Auto Show.

"Endurance racing is woven throughout the fabric of Michelin's history. In fact, racing has always played an active role in driving innovation and ingenuity at Michelin," he said. "More than any other motorsports pursuit, endurance racing demands reliable performance over time."

As IMSA's exclusive partner, Michelin will support 19 automotive brands this year competing in different classes of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship — compared with five brands last season in the GT LeMans category.

Michelin's deal with IMSA also is an extension of and benefits from its work as a supplier the past few decades for the FIA World Endurance Championship — including the 24 Hours of LeMans, where Michelin-equipped teams have won 21 straight times.

Teamwork at tracks

Greg Stucker, director, race tire sales for Goodyear, and his team find themselves on tracks nearly every week of the year, testing, monitoring and comparing tires for NASCAR events.

In late 2017, Goodyear and NASCAR renewed their exclusive race tire supply agreement in a multi-year deal for the sanctioning body's three top national series for an undisclosed number of years. Goodyear has had a relationship with NASCAR every year since 1954, including the last 21 years exclusively.

Goodyear engineers and other team members evaluate basic constructs and compounds with at least seven to 10 tested at each track per season. That number fluctuates depending on track repaving, reconfiguration or rules change.

"We take our own data on temperature, appearance and wear over the course of (the tests)," Mr. Stucker said. "Obviously we have input from the teams including the crew chiefs and drivers, we have input from NASCAR and we have our own analysis. We have very, very good communication, and we make sure we make the right decisions for the sport."

Goodyear meets weekly with race teams, NASCAR officials and other stakeholders to ensure the tires they manufacture, including between 3,300 and 3,500 for the March races in Las Vegas and 100,000 for races each year, are designed and produced at the Goodyear plant in Akron.

They are stored in climate-controlled warehouses until they are pre-mounted about two weeks before the races.

Intriguingly, both NASCAR and IMSA hold their premiere events — the Daytona 500 and Rolex 24 — at the same track just weeks apart.

Change of pace

Although the core elements of supplying tires to the Indianapolis 500 have not changed in the past decade, Cara Adams, chief engineer, Bridgestone Americas Motorsports, and her team constantly analyze how new technology can increase performance of the tires they supply.

Ms. Adams and her team use somewhat the same system of analysis, planning and preparation as their counterparts at Michelin, Goodyear and other manufacturers.

Planning occurs 12 to 18 months prior to each race and involves various stakeholders and teams, yet the Bridgestone team faces a somewhat unusual challenge when it prepares for the Indy 500, the crown jewel of the IndyCar circuit.

"The speeds, lateral acceleration and tire loads in IndyCar racing are higher than many other forms of motorsports," Ms. Adams said. "There is also a larger amount of versatility required in the tire performance across a season.

"The Indy Car Series is one of the few schedules to race on both permanent road and street courses in addition to superspeedways and ovals of various sizes. This requires several different families of tires for each circuit, and special expertise for each type of surface and track."

All Firestone research, development and production take place in Akron. Ms. Adams said the tire maker supplies about 5,000 tires for practice, qualifying and Indy 500 race.

While many think the race is the end of the process, Ms. Adams considers it somewhat of a beginning.

"Right after the race, we take all that feedback and vehicle performance data back to Akron, where our Race Tire Engineering Team is based, and compare it with our own analysis of the physical race tires to determine which areas we would focus on for the next year's race," she said. "At Firestone Racing, we like to say that there is no off-season."

Goodyear's Mr. Stucker and Michelin's Mr. Payne echoed the same sentiment.

"They used to say there was an 'off-season,'" Mr. Payne said of motorsports. "That is a (figment) of your imagination. We are constantly looking at how tires are performing. We are constantly asking, 'How can we do this better?'"