A needle through my tire?

A couple of weeks ago I wrote on this blog about tires and I asked a basic question and that was if all tires are created equal. If you missed it just click on the highlighted area and read it. 

This week tires are in the spotlight again with the news that NASCAR have collected all of the race tires from a few teams.

After the race in Phoenix, NASCAR confiscated tires from Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano after the race at Phoenix and they were send for audit but both drivers tires were declared legal a few days later. Last week at Fontana NASCAR took tires from Harvick, Kurt Busch, Paul Menard and Ryan Newman. Again these tires have been send to be inspected. No word as yet on their legality.

So what is needling a tire? 

 
Goodyear gives recommended tire pressure for each race to teams. What ever pressure you decide to run, within the Goodyear recommendations, one thing you cannot do is change those pressures during the race.  Most teams will choose a lower pressure because as the tire gets hot the air pressure inside them will rise. This will negatively affect the handling of the car. Needling a tire, is when very small holes are made in a tire, normally in the tire surface. Acting almost like a slow puncture as the tire pressure rises when the tire gets hot, the pressure is relieved in the tire through the tiny holes. This technique makes the car easier to drive because the handling of the car remains the same through out the race.  Obviously this is not an exact science and would be pretty difficult to perfect this so that you could gain a benefit from it. 

The other problem for NASCAR would be how do you prove it? Once the tire has been run for the number of laps its designed to in the race, those "Needling marks" would not be visible and it would be difficult to say with absolute certainty that the tire has in fact been tampered with. There are tire valves "bleeder valves" available that can do the exact same thing, but they are currently not allowed by NASCAR. 

How ever the teams are doing this, it is obviously a closely guarded secret on exactly how its being done. One thing is for sure is that NASCAR knows that it is in fact happening. As far back as the race in Phoenix last year, NASCAR addressed the issue with all the teams flat out telling them to stop doing this. 

Jeff Gordon's crew chief  believes that this is currently happening in NASCAR if you listen to talk in the paddock and that it is probably out of hand. NASCAR would want to stop this, not only because they would be wanting to keep the playing field level but also on grounds of safety. The reality is that an under inflated tire becomes very dangerous if there had to be a sudden track temperature drop or a track where it takes a while to get tires to their optimum performance temperature. 

One thing is for sure, teams will find ways to get their cars to go faster and you have to ask the question, if all the teams are doing this or lets say 80% of them, then probably 30 drivers would effectively be on a status quo anyway. Perhaps its time for those bleeder valves at least then NASCAR can properly police the effect.