F1 Performance Feeds into HP Tyres from Bridgestone

Having supplied the tyres exclusively to Formula One for the past two seasons, Bridgestone could be said to know a thing or two about racing performance. The technical leap to produce slicks this year shows that the company is no slouch in terms of making changes too. But does the company’s knowledge of track-based technology aid its development of UHP products for road users? Bridgestone certainly believes so, underlining the point by using the same Potenza branding on its road-going products as it does on its F1 rubber: “The technological advances that Bridgestone makes on the racetrack feed directly into its high performance road tyres,” it states.

In its unique role in F1, Bridgestone works with many of the world’s major motor manufacturers in a high performance environment. Technical developments made on the track with such manufacturers as Toyota and Ferrari, Bridgestone explains, are applied to Bridgestone’s high performance passenger car tyres. Andy Dingley, advertising and promotions manager at Bridgestone, comments: “As we supply all of the teams in F1 we have generated large amounts of technical data, as well as learning new methods of working, which is certainly beneficial for our passenger tyre development strategy.”

The apogee of this technical data gathering bears its not inconsiderable fruit in Bridgestone’s ultra-high performance road tyres, the Potenza RE050A. The RE050A is an asymmetrical tyre, designed to achieve greater balance in both dry and wet conditions. Its outer tread is designed to maximise handling in the dry: in order to counteract the strong side forces generated by cornering at high speed and maintain the control and responsiveness of the tyre, Bridgestone took the construction techniques and compound characteristics of a grooved F1 tyre and adapted them for the RE050A.

The inner part of the tyre addresses wet weather performance, to maintain grip and increase water rejection. This represents another direct application of what Bridgestone has learnt on the racetrack: the state-of-the-art developments in F1 wet tyre technology once again feed into the construction of its road-going cousin. Andy Dingley explains: “We use hydro-simulation for our development of wet tyre tread designs in motorsport and knowledge we have gained here is very useful for our passenger vehicle tyre tread developments as the concepts are very similar.

“In motorsport we try to get a wet tyre that can work over a relatively wide range of conditions, ranging from damp to very wet. For a road vehicle, drivers do not have the luxury of making a pit stop when it rains, so a passenger vehicle tyre has to be able to face all possible weather conditions.”

According to Bridgestone, this technological transfer means that the Potenza RE050A delivers 60 per cent of the grip of a F1 tyre, whereas it states that most road tyres offer about 35 per cent.

The Potenza RE050 has a significant original equipment share in the high performance market and is supplied as factory fitment for, amongst others, Alfa Romeo 156, 159 and Brera, Aston Martin DB9, Porsche 911 and the Maserati Gran Turismo. BWW 1, 3, 5 and 6 series, Z4 and Mini, Ferrari 612 Scaglietti and 599 GTB Fiorano and Audi A4, A5 and TT models are all available with the run-flat version, the RE050A RFT. The Potenza RE050A has also witnessed growing interest with drivers who want a genuine sporty drive – a market segment that continues to see an upward trend, according to the company. Whether or not this growth continues, Bridgestone appears to be making good use of its motorsport contracts in developing its UHP products.