[Vol.6] Sustainable Materials Racing Tires Development Report / Suzuka Circuit

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• [Vol.6] Sustainable Materials Racing Tires Development Report / Suzuka Circuit

Yokohama Tires conducted the racing tire development tests using specific tires made from renewable raw material on October 26th and 27that Suzuka Circuit, two days before Rounds 9 and 10.

■The two-day tests were in fact crucial tests that will support the eventual determination of the tire spec for the next season’s DRY tires.
The tests were conducted with a total of three tire specifications, one for the casing test and two for the compound test which was already narrowed down from the previous tire test results.
Blessed with good weather conditions, Yokohama Tires was able to conduct a thorough comparison with the 2022 regular tires in the long evaluation as well as received positive feedback from both test evaluation drivers, Koudai Tsukakoshi and Hiroaki Ishiura.
Tsukakoshi and Ishiura, both drivers involved in the evaluation of this project from day one, commented that these renewable material-made tires expressed sufficient performance and could easily be implemented as the regular tire for Super Formula racing.
And thus, after these tests, Yokohama Tires has concluded and determined the final specifications of the new DRY Super Formula race tires with an improved ratio of renewable raw materials.

■Test Driver Comments

Tsukakoshi: In fact, we noticed that during the long-run tire evaluations, the durability against sagging was at the same level as that of the present Super Formula dry tires. I am amazed by the stability of this tire’s performance. Even after the evaluation tests, I felt that the tires still had enough power to continue running. In conclusion, we believe it is a tire that can be run without any problems even when assuming the actual number of laps in a race.

Ishiura: Actually, I felt that the warm-up and low-speed corner grip were both better when compared to the tires used presently, and I also felt that the tires were able to produce better one-shot lap times than ever before. I think these new renewable material tires will have no problem as regular tires for next year’s Super Formula Championship.

■Next, the final specifications for the WET tires will be determined under wet conditions at the November test.