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Originally Posted by macdaddy
I'm glad you jumped in on my query, jj. I had you in mind as I poised the question. I was always of the impression that, the more dis-similar the compound, the more problems it would cause for the ChampCars. I gather that I had this backward? I hope it's not an issue, as it's obvious that the drifters will be laying down alot of rubber.
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Alright, I'll add a little more input. Tire compounds are an extremely complex topic, that I admittedly know relatively little about. I am much more knowledgable about tire construction and suspension setup and theory. Tire compounds are by far the biggest unknown in racing. Even Bridgestone and Michelin in F1 have no way of producing identical tires that offer the same level of grip and that wear in a constant fashion. So much money goes into tire development and a majority of that money is spent researching the rubber compounds used. The level of complexity in tire compounds is absolutely mind-blowing to me and has gotten much more complex in that last few years with BS and Michelin in F1. They are so complex that they are designed to actually make a chemical bond with the surface that they are rolling over to increase the level of grip(this always happened in the past, but now they are able to control it).
Anyways back to the topic of drifting, and tire compounds and how they might play a role in Champcar. First off, the main problem caused by rubber on a track, isn't the rubber laid on the asphalt that is sticking to the asphalt, its the marbles or rubber buildup from the tires that isn't sticking to the ashpalt. In fact, having rubber that is laid down on a track actually will increase the level of grip provided to most any other tire rolling over it. The rubber on the track is sticky and provides more traction to another tire rolling over it...TO A POINT. The reason a tire grips a surface is because the rubber is pliable and is actually sinking into the little cracks and bumps of the surface as the car turns and tries to lose grip it is hard for the tire to start sliding when there are millions of tiny sized rubber particles actually sunk into the surface of the cement. This is why a track looses grip over its life because the surface is smoothed over by constant use(keep in mind the track may get cracks or bumps, but these aren't the same as the tiny(microscopic sometimes)bumps that allows a tire to have grip). So as I was saying before, rubber on a track usually increases grip, but it gets to a point where so much rubber can be laid down that it is already filling these tiny bumps and then a rolling tire will lose grip because it will just be sliding on top of rubber already laid down on the track. Especially on REALLY hot days this is noticeable, because the rubber on track becomes greasy, and your car will feel like its always sliding around corners and that the track has no grip.
Now, back to drifting. The tires used in drifting are a very very hard compound and therefore, rubber won't be coming off them in the form of marbles, like we see with Champcar or F1. So that won't be an issue. Also the harder compound will leave less rubber on the track than a softer compound and therefore I don't see there being an issue with too much rubber being on the track.
So back to your point Macdaddy, I could be wrong, but I don't think the difference in compounds is really much of an issue at all. Also keep in mind, the line that drifters use around the track will vary quite a bit from the Champcar line, they will use a lot REALLY early apexes, and REALLY late apexes as well, so that will also decrease the chance of their rubber buildup affecting the Champcars.