Test track's sprinkler system aids development of new Pirelli rain tires

Jan. 1, 2020
The south of France is not normally known for torrential rain, but Pirelli has successfully completed two days of wet running at the Le Castellet circuit in the south of France while preparing for its return to Formula One.
The south of France is not normally known for torrential rain, but Pirelli has successfully completed two days of wet running at the Le Castellet circuit in the south of France while preparing for its return to Formula One.

An advanced sprinkler system at the Paul Ricard High Tech Test Track is able to accurately dampen the track to any specified level of wetness for testing under rainy conditions.

Over the course of the two days, driver Pedro de la Rosa completed 826 kilometers in the Toyota TF109. The test was aimed exclusively at refining Pirelli’s array of two rain tires: Extreme Wet and the Intermediate.

The Extreme Wet is used for full rain conditions while the Intermediate is a transition tire that copes well with conditions between dry and wet. These tires were previously run in Valencia at the beginning of October, and plenty of progress was made throughout the two days at Le Castellet, according to the company.

Pirelli was able to test both types of tire comprehensively within a wide window of conditions, gathering some extremely useful data about each tire’s behavior on a wet, damp and drying track. As a result, the design of the rain tires have now been finalized and significant progress has been on the definition of the compounds.

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British driver Ben Hanley also tested the Extreme Wet tire for GP2. Unlike Formula One, the GP2 regulations do not permit an intermediate tire, meaning that the GP2 Extreme Wet has to be versatile to cope with a wide range of rain conditions.

Wet weather testing will continue next year, but for now the European phase of development has come to end, and Pirelli’s team heads next to Abu Dhabi, where the Formula One racers will have their first taste of the new rubber in a two-day test.

The tire maker will take two types of slick tire to the Abu Dhabi test: The medium tire as the prime and the soft tire as the option. Each of the 12 Formula One cars will have eight sets of tires available over the course of the two days, meaning that Pirelli will take nearly 500 tires to the Middle East.

“We’re very pleased with the outcome of this wet test session,” says motorsports director Paul Hembery. “The sprinkler facilities at Paul Ricard allowed us to carry out all the work that we intended in consistent conditions and maximize our time there to the best effect,” he notes.

“With our European campaign over we now head to Abu Dhabi, which will be the first indicator of where we are really at,” says Hembery. “It’s still a big step into the unknown, but we believe that we have a solid foundation of products now with which to make more progress after less than three months of running to-date.”

For more information visit www.us.pirelli.com.