Yahoo Autos Goodyear puts WEC LMGT3 tire options to the test
With further growth expected in Hypercar thanks to new entries from Alpine, BMW, Isotta Fraschini and Lamborghini, the LMP2 class being dropped and the introduction of LMGT3, the FIA World Endurance Championship paddock in 2024 will look and feel very different.
But beyond the new class structure and a slew of new teams, there is another significant change in the form of a new tire supply deal that will see Goodyear shift from working in LMP2, to the new LMGT3 class.
Securing this new deal was hugely important for Goodyear and its future at the top end of sports car racing. With Michelin supplying Hypercar for the foreseeable future and LMP2 gone, in order to maintain a presence at the highest level of endurance racing, being granted LMGT3 was imperative, so Goodyear put together a commercial and technological package in the tender process that the ACO couldn’t refuse.
For a major tire brand like Goodyear, shifting its focus from LMP2 to LMGT3 does have significant benefits. In terms of perception, having visibility with a category that features race cars derived from road-going GT cars is valuable. It also works from an R&D point of view.
“Endurance racing is so relevant to what we are doing for road tires,” Goodyear’s endurance program manager Mike McGregor told RACER. “Look at GT3 cars and look at what people are taking on track days, it’s very current and relevant to GT3 race cars.
“This program is not only exciting because we enjoy going racing, but it also gives us knowledge on how to develop a product. What we’ve done within LMP2 and GT in the past is directly relevant to our road tires. For instance, our GT3 RS Porsche compound was specifically developed at the racetrack. We want to do this the right way and put everything into it.”
Developing a new tire for the category on short notice was never going to be an easy task, but Goodyear has a team behind the scenes with decades of experience to draw from to ensure that it produces rubber which allows for good racing and meets the criteria outlined in the future “tire road map” that the ACO and FIA have set out.
Goodyear has less than a year to design, test and sign off tires for the 2024 season, which gets underway next March in Qatar. With the final homologation set for November time, and the announcement made back in April, Goodyear has had to move quickly in order to create the best possible product, which once homologated, is set to be frozen for three seasons.
A huge selection of tires is available at the start of the test, which data and feedback will gradually winnow down as well as drive subsequent development.
At the second of Goodyear’s planned series of major LMGT3 tire tests at the Motorland Aragon circuit in Spain, a double garage is filled to the brim with unused rubber. The stacks of tires that stretched as far as the eye could see immediately brought it home just how much resource goes into developing a new race tire.
It is a lengthy and taxing process. Creating a tire that works well for all of the 10-plus GT3 manufacturers that could enter cars in the FIA WEC and ELMS requires a lot of trial and error. The overarching aim in terms of capabilities is to produce a tire that can run from cold (without tire warmers), is user-friendly for amateur drivers and can double stint on grand prix circuits and triple at Le Mans.
To get ahead of the curve, ahead of being officially granted the contract to supply LMGT3, Goodyear began working on 2024 tires at the start of this year and had already tested on track before the announcement was made in April. The first stop was Vallelunga, before the test at Aragon in May. Further tests will follow, including one in August at Paul Ricard and a provisional opportunity in October, before a final test open to everyone with the frozen homologated tires in November at a yet-to-be-determined location.
“We start with a few concepts that we want to evaluate,” Joao Coelho, Goodyear’s manager of motorsport testing and track support, said when asked about the timeline. “At the first test, you filter some out. Then you take the ones you see with potential and expand on them at the next test, bringing sets based on that, with additional fine-tuning. Then at the final test, we will decide what we want to go racing with.”
That overarching process may sound simple, but the reality is that there is no margin for error. No time or resources can be wasted if it is to deliver the highest-quality tires for competition next season.
At Motorland Aragon Goodyear was joined by representatives from Porsche, Lamborghini, Ferrari and a fourth GT3 manufacturer that wished to remain anonymous. Each manufacturer brought a single car (set up using SRO’s BoP values) and a nominated pro driver.
Goodyear brought 40 engineers to direct the process, led by McGregor and Coelho. From that group, each OEM was assisted by two dedicated track support engineers, one vehicle dynamics engineer, and one R&D engineer, all working independently for their manufacturer. Consistency is key throughout the process, so Goodyear tried where possible to ensure the same drivers and engineers were paired up throughout testing.
Over the four days of track action, the job list for all in attendance is huge at a development test. It all starts with a baseline, which in this case is Goodyear’s current European Le Mans Series GTE wet and dry tires. Why the GTE tires and not its Nürburgring-raced GT3 products? Goodyear feels the GTE tires are suitable because they have been proven to work well with a variety of platforms and weight distributions.
In Spain, it was immediately clear why having a strong baseline is so important. With 36 tire specs to test at Aragon, a good reference point was needed in order for Goodyear to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each new compound and construction it was working with.
Another essential aspect to get right when tire testing is the methodology. At a development test, each invited manufacturer is given multiple batches of five to six tires to sample throughout the day. Goodyear’s engineers know which is which, but the test drivers go in blind.
“We won’t tell the drivers in advance what they are testing. We won’t say if it’s a compound or construction group,” explained Coelho. “It’s not to test them or trick them, we just want their honest, unbiased feedback of how they feel driving the car.”
The first part of the day sees each manufacturer receive a batch of five to six specs. After a run on the baseline tire, drivers then take each new spec out for short stints, an out-lap, five flying laps and an in-lap.
When they get out of the car, the drivers are given a detailed feedback form where they are asked to rate each aspect of the tire and compare it to the baseline. Additional detailed verbal feedback is also taken down.
“They all expect a baseline to start, but we sometimes throw another baseline run at some point during the day,” Coelho added. “Again, not to trick them, but to get them to evaluate track evolution during the day.
“Temperatures, wind, sunlight — it all changes and has an impact. By doing that we can re-center where the baseline is.”
After all the work of prepping and testing the tires is done, the development process is just getting started.
The sheer amount of information Goodyear is left to trawl through when testing finishes is mind-bending. It takes weeks to get through it all. Driver feedback is only one element — the data gathered from each car is just as important and even more complex to decipher. Data is shared freely between Goodyear and the manufacturers, to ensure they can gather as much knowledge about each concept as possible.
“We have lap time information, car data information and we will spend weeks after the test putting all the information together,” said Coelho. “From there we can work out which ones we want to carry forward to the next test and which concepts we want to evaluate again.”
For a driver, tire testing is not an easy task. It requires egos to be left at the door, as superior lap times do not matter.
Instead, the most effective test drivers have the ability to produce consistent lap times and translate everything they’re feeling into cognizant feedback. For some, this comes naturally; for others it can be extremely tricky to compare minor differences between tire specs and provide useful first-hand information.
“You have to be honest,” one test driver at Aragon told RACER. “You’re always having to think, does it understeer more? Is it better at high speed? What is it like on entry?
“Five or six laps of running usually gives you a good idea of the tire. When you get used to it, it’s a really good experience and valuable for a driver too. Sometimes you’re testing nearly identical tires, where the lap time difference is only a tenth or two. Sometimes you get a few curve balls, where you get tires that are built for longevity, and the difference can be seconds per lap.
“You just push 100 percent every lap; if you can do that then you will find the differences. You’ll realize in your mind, ‘Oh I was flat through that corner before,’ or, ‘That snapped on exit, that’s new.’
“For pro drivers, that feeling we get is invaluable to tire engineers, because you can look at two lap times that are identical, but only we know how we achieved that. One of the two laps might have been a lot harder to nail. With data alone, you cannot understand the feeling the tires give a driver.”
In tire testing, consistency rather than sheer speed is the driver’s most valuable asset.
Goodyear also has to take into consideration that every driver performs differently and has varying preferences. This is why having a variety of drivers on hand at each test, and not just using one or two, is the most ideal solution.
“It’s important to not go too far down one direction with the tires, as every driver feels differently and knows what they want,” added Coelho.
Then comes the second part of each day, where each manufacturer’s staff, their driver and their dedicated Goodyear engineers decide which tires are good enough to be tested on long runs.
The longer runs give an even better indication of which tire specs are most suitable. It’s all about whittling down the number of tires that should be developed further ahead of the final homologation. But the DNA for tires that don’t make the cut for the long runs are not necessarily dismissed entirely.
“After the test, we will look over the data and it may be that we create new specs using one tire’s compound, the mold of another, and the construction of another, to get the best of multiple specs,” Coleho explained. “We may take two tire specs that work well and blend them together if both of them work well on an individual car. The evolutions could be in construction, like the inside of the tire walls.”
This is why the hard work really takes place between tests when Goodyear works on a new set of specs using learnings from previous runs. The improved specs are conceived, then manufactured rapidly in Germany and undergo a series of safety checks and simulator runs before being handed over to drivers on the next test.
For the 2024 LMGT3 tires, there are still significant milestones to come. As it stands, no front-engined GT3 cars have yet tested with Goodyear. However, this is set to change at Paul Ricard over the summer, with Ford expected to send a Mustang to test ahead of its planned WEC program with Proton. Corvette also plans to run its new-for-2024 Z06 GT3.R on Goodyear tires before the final homologation.
No Bronze or Silver-rated drivers have had a chance to sample Goodyears either. But this may change at Ricard, as Goodyear knows there is real value to any feedback from less experienced hands.
Furthermore, a decision on the number of homologated compounds that will be used during the season hasn’t yet been made. There could be just one dry and wet tire for the season or multiple specs for use at different circuits.
