Advans Face Varied Race Demands, Comments Watanabe

With a widely differing range of tracks already visited during the FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) and its Formula Master partner series in 2008, official tyre supplier Yokohama reports it faces a huge challenge when designing tyres for both series. Although the ADVAN tyre production for both formulae is very similar, the design and development process has to take into account an enormous amount of variants, resulting in very different tyres.

“The circumstances vary greatly between the WTCC and Formula Master tyres,” said Yokohama’s tyre engineer, Mr. S. Watanabe. “The Formula Master tyres are lightweight and more flexible in comparison to the touring car tyres; they do not have as many forces acting upon them or as much weight to support.

“With the current FIA regulations for the WTCC, we have to create a tyre that works equally well for all the teams,” Watanabe adds, “so have to take front-wheel and rear-wheel drive cars into account on top of other variables. We do our best to get the balance correct so the ADVAN tyres are suitable at all tracks under all conditions.

“Formula Master tyres have to be fairly robust to cope with the variants within Europe, but as the WTCC also travels further afield, they have to manage a wider range of circumstances.”

At the development stage, Yokohama uses its experience to test a range of constructions and compounds to ensure a tyre will be suitable under all possible conditions. With different tracks, ambient and track temperatures to take into consideration, both the WTCC and Formula Master tyres have to be extremely durable.

“We have to allow for the worst case scenario,” explained Watanabe. “This year we tested at some of the most demanding tracks on tyres. The tyres have to be tested at the extremes; if they are suitable for those conditions, they will work in less stressful circumstances. I am happy that we have achieved our aim and have produced an ADVAN tyre with consistent performance across the range.”

Activities resume next weekend for Yokohama’s WTCC and Formula Master programmes with both formulae racing at Oschersleben, Germany, on Saturday 30 and Sunday 31 August 2008.