Identifying Michelin 'B' compound - TTC

[Bazanaius]

Hey everyone,

looking for tyres for this coming year, and would like to try and make sure that the tyres I'm looking at will be covered in the TTC data.
The TTC describes the michelin tested as radial B compound, but I can't find this description in any of the michelin documents I've found.
I have been in contact with someone who can deliver the michelin tyres, and he describes them as FBMW compounds.
After reading the size he offers, and checking with Michelin, the compounds they list are:

- FR-2.0
- S210
- P220

I think the P220 is a wet tyre, and the FR-2.0 is described as 'new'.

NB I've read the TTC 3rd round thread - but this question got asked, and never truly answered from what I can see.

Can anyone confirm whether any of these three compounds are the 'B' compound identified by the TTC? I'm going to contact the supplier and check that the tyres he's supplying are one of the three compounds above. If it matches with the TTC tested tyre, we're onto a winner!

thanks in advance,

Baz

[exFSAE]

I'm not entirely sure how Michelin's tire code system works. But from what I do know...

The FR2.0 in S6B compound is their FSAE tire. Formula Renault 2.0L construction.. S6B cap.

What "B" compound was tested in TTC.. who knows. Could be anything. S6B, S8B, S9B.. but from talking with one of the Michelin teams at MIS I believe the compound tested at TTC was an older, harder sportscar compound and isn't very indicative of the final product.

That said I wouldn't necessarily use F&M data to compare grip levels.

Edit - And where is there a Michelin race tire distributor in the US? Hard to find contact information it seems!

[Bazanaius]

hmm, so are you saying that the data from the TTC would or wouldn't be useful if we went with this compound?

To put a bit of context to it..

We're not yet members of the TTC, but are seriously considering it. We were looking at running Avons, as tested in the TTC, and we could get them for about £75 a tyre.
We stumbled upon a supplier who has ex FBMW tyres (the compound as above) and can supply for a much smaller cost than the Avons.

If the TTC tested the smae tyre, or the data is such that we can use it for this compound, then we are sorted. If not, would people reccomend wesee what data we can find for the michelins, or go with the more expensive avons, but safe in the knowledge that we can get good data for them?

If the compound is different to that tested in the TTC, how might it be okay to use for a different compound? Apologies - I'm not 100% on what data the TTC supplies. What adjustments might need to be made to ensure the data we used would correlate to the actual compound used?


Can anyone from the TTC confirm the compound used at Calspan?

[exFSAE]

Less than 75GBP for a FSAE tire is dirt cheap. Hoosiers and Goodyears are in the realm of 85-100 GBP per tire here in the US (converted from USD).

TTC data provides force and moment sweeps for a variety of tires. IMO, F&M data is best to describe the construction of the tire, and maybe how limit grip varies with load, inflation, camber, etc. It will give you insight on how to design your suspension and initial alignment.

F&M tests are run on a sandpaper belt in a lab environment, in quasi-steady state conditions. As such it might not be the best for ranking tire-to-tire grip level, and will give no indication of initial low temperature traction (essential on these cars). If the construction is the same from TTC test to now, then you'll be ok. But if the grip level is radically different than competitor tires, you'd have to take that with a grain of salt.

If you're getting your hands on FBMW tires that aren't S6B compound.. I'd have to imagine they would have very uncompetitive levels of grip vs Avon, Hoosier, or Goodyear.

[PSUAlum06]

The other thing to consider though is getting a set of the FBMW tires just for testing and training purposes. The overall grip might be substantially lower, but they'd still be good for training drivers, and working a lot of bugs out of your car, particularly in the drivetrain.

[Damon Pipenberg]

The "B" compound from the TTC tests is a compound specifically developed for FSAE on the FBMW carcass. It is not the latest compound developed for FSAE, it is a couple of years old, and you probably will not be able to purchase it, unless you are getting it from one of the teams that is sponsored by Michelin. The newest FSAE compound is a huge improvement over the "B" compound.

Michelin is supposed to start selling FSAE tires with the latest and greatest compound sometime soon. Last spring, I heard that it was going to be shortly after the Detroit comp, but obviously that has not happened. I'm not sure what the status is now.