Pull to side when braking???

I've heard otherwise. I don't happen to have a citation at the moment.

[...]

That's correct. Somehow I think you just explain the glass is half-empty rather than half-full (if you can't heat a slick up, used a tire with tread). I actually sounds like you're agreeing my belief that a tread pattern may partly serve to establish the operating temperature of a tire under 'normal' operating conditions.

See above.

Dana

Heh. I spent a couple of years in club racing, mostly at Willow Springs (on the big track, of course) and at Riverside. I also attended events at Firebird and at Seattle International (now called Pacific Motorsports or something like that).

I started out with a VF500F, on Michelin Hi-Sports, and my initial suspension set-up turned out to be excellent (beginner's luck). After

5 months or so, I upgraded to the GSX-R750, and promptly scared myself silly while riding nearly identical lap times to the VF500. I hadn't adjusted my cornering speeds and braking points. So after a few months, I was going decently fast on the GSX-R, and I got back on the VF500, and found myself riding about as fast as the GSX-R but wondering why my engine felt like it was stalled all the time :-).

Eventually I used some slicks, usually because I got a good deal on them from the tire truck. Besides having excellent grip and better longevity, they weren't a major change for me, but that's probably because I'd already become accustomed to track riding.

Cheers - Dana

So I would still like a citation. I have a couple of references that cover tires, but none mentions anything near what you do.

Siping sellers do not count as reference.

It still sounds extremely unlikely to me. If the manufacturers wanted heat, why not use a higher hysteresis/abrasion compound on a slick? Why use a thread where the wear affects the structural integrity of the tire and is much less predictable? And the thread would have a greater area to radiate heat away too. Sounds like a lose-lose-lose proposition to me.

Leon

You're looking too deeply.

My original comment was:

Of course a tread pattern provides influence over the operating temperature of a tire, I do not believe we're debating that fact.

My comment was intended to suggest that a directional pattern may be designed to manage the amount of heat contributed by the (otherwise required) tread pattern.

In other words, I meant to suggest that running a tire with a directional tread pattern backwards may result in a different operating temperature than running it forward.

I don't have a citation for this. It's just speculation on my part. I'm not suggesting that tire designers would otherwise add a tread to a slick in order to raise the operating temperature of the tire.

Dana

Actually, I just have a lot of difficulty imagining a designer sitting there designing a thread pattern for heat. I would think that the thread pattern is designed for water flow, and any resultant changes in heat generated would be compensated for by small adjustments in the rubber compound.

That will definitely be true, anyway. I do not know how big an effect it is in the grand scheme of things, but an nontrivial effect should be there.

Leon

I know for a fact that rain tires are designed to generate a fair bit of heat to offset the cooling effect of running in cold water. But we're off on a tangent now...

:-)