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Silverstone is
one of the fastest and most demanding tracks of the year on the tyres, due
to its abrasive surface and a lap length that is second only to that of
Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium on this year‟s calendar. The PZero Silver hard
tyres and PZero Yellow soft tyres have been nominated for the British Grand
Prix, but with cool temperatures, cloudy skies and an uncertain weather
forecast, there is a strong chance of the PZero Blue intermediate and PZero
Orange wet tyre seeing some action as well this weekend. Silverstone has
undergone a number of changes over the years, and the most noticeable
addition this season is a brand-new pit and paddock complex after Club
corner – which means that all the corner numbers have changed. We take a
look at a few of the most demanding ones…
THE TRACK
The first part of the circuit is very fast, with several rapid direction
changes, which puts the emphasis on the front tyres to find the best
possible grip.
Turn three is a slow corner, which relies more on mechanical rather than
aerodynamic grip. The rear tyres have to find the best possible contact with
the track surface, in order to gain maximum traction. The turn-in of the car
is particularly important here too, with the soft tyres in particular giving
the driver the most precision and feedback at this very tricky part of the
circuit.
The best grip at Luffield corner is found close to the apex. Then the
drivers gradually move to the outside of the circuit in order to put all the
power down for what used to be the short start-finish straight. Copse is
well-known for having a bump right in the middle of the corner, which is
absorbed by the shoulders of the tyre in order to keep the car settled and
still guarantee the optimal contact patch.
Becketts is an extremely demanding series of corners with an average speed
of over 200kph. The aerodynamic downforce and sideways acceleration of 4G
causes the tyre to progressively heat up, eventually reaching more than 120
degrees centigrade.
After Vale curve there is a fast left to right direction change, and then
the drivers reach Club corner again. They hug the apex closely before
getting back on the power and starting another lap…
DIDCOT
The British Grand Prix is actually Pirelli‟s second „home‟ race, as the
Italian company has a logistics and distribution facility at Didcot, 45
minutes from Silverstone by car. Around 40 people are based there, including
the 12 engineers assigned to the teams and the 19 tyre fitters whose job it
is to put the tyres on the rims. Pirelli‟s 12 distinctive carbon black
trucks live in Didcot as well: two service trucks, seven tyre transporters,
and three trucks for the hospitality unit.
As Pirelli‟s Motorsport Director Paul Hembery points out: “It was important
for us to have a base in the United Kingdom, as eight of the 12 Formula One
teams are there and this enables us to provide them with the most prompt and
efficient service. We also wanted to establish a centre of competence in
Britain, in order to benefit from the know-how in this country and attract
some of the best engineers and other personnel, who are used to working in
England.”
Nonetheless it is an international community: there are eight nationalities
represented among the people who work at Didcot, speaking a total of 10
different languages.
Pirelli looked at more than 50 potential sites within the UK at the start of
the year before settling on Didcot in Oxfordshire, which contained the right
combination of indoor and outdoor space, together with convenient transport
links by road and air.
Pirelli‟s 50,000 Formula One tyres are produced at Izmit in Turkey and then
transported by road to Didcot one to two weeks before each European race. At
Didcot, the bar codes are confirmed and the tyres are allocated to each
team, following the random assignation of the codes by the FIA, the sport‟s
governing body. Following each race, the used tyres are taken back to Didcot
as well for recycling at a specialised plant nearby.
Didcot does not just deal with the Formula One, GP2 and GP3 race tyres but
also the other non-race tyres that the teams require on a regular basis,
such as wind tunnel tyres, show tyres and test rig tyres.
For Pirelli‟s
truck drivers, Silverstone is the shortest journey of the year, consisting
of just 70 kilometres. By contrast, the longest journey for the hospitality
unit is Istanbul in Turkey, 3100 kilometres away by road. |
