[urq] Tire pressure for ice racing ?

[Louis-Alain Richard]

Thanks Vittorio,

 

So lower pressures are better on ice ? Interesting, since higher pressures are the way to go on tarmac… I’ll try that next week for sure.

 

Would you try to cure the inherent understeer by dropping the fronts more than the rears ? 

Or would you unlock the rear diff ?

 

About the different tires, the real snow tires are the Pirelli (very open tread) and since they are not ice tires, they propose to stud them. Nice, the only drawbacks are bad dry-cold tarmac traction, and noise.

But the question is : can a studless expensive tire like the Michelin be any good on ice ? Or at least, as good as the Pirelli ? I’m sure this Michelin won’t be any good in deep snow, the tread is not enough aggressive, but on ice, with its multiple sipes and its very soft rubber, I guess it could work. What do you think ?

 

Louis-Alain  

 

 

 

De : vittorio at mybares.com [mailto:vittorio at mybares.com] 
Envoyé : 12 février 2010 01:02
À : Louis-Alain Richard
Cc : urq at audifans.com; quattro at audifans.com
Objet : RE: Tire pressure for ice racing ?

 

On lake ice, I'll start at 26psi, and will typically endup in the low 20's...depends on conditions.

 

But, yeah, regardless if you're on studs or super snow, drop the pressure and you'll get better traction - but there's lots of variables:

-- how deep is the snow

-- how wide are the tires

-- what type of tread block are you running

-- temperature

-- etc...

 

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Tire pressure for ice racing ?
From: "Louis-Alain Richard" <laraa at sympatico.ca>
Date: Thu, February 11, 2010 6:25 pm
To: <urq at audifans.com>, <quattro at audifans.com>

Since I have at least 2 other outings this winter for some hot (cold ?) laps
on an ice track, I was wondering if I can improve traction by playing with
tire pressure and tire type.