Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 6 - Motorsport legacy: From race to road and back again
The first Goodyear Eagle F1 road tire was launched in Europe 30 years ago. This was at the peak of Goodyear’s Formula 1 domination that led to 368 Grands Prix wins, more than any other tire company.
Motorsport has long been a proving ground for Goodyear’s innovations and technologies and today the crossover between road and track is more relevant than ever.
Today, Goodyear is highly active in endurance and touring car racing and there is close collaboration between the company’s racing and consumer road tire teams with many of the construction elements and compounds being created in the same Goodyear innovation and manufacturing centres.
Endurance challenges
Goodyear is the exclusive tire supplier to the Le Mans Prototype (LMP2) class of the FIA World Endurance Championship and European Le Mans Series. The top teams from both compete in the 24 hours of Le Mans, one of the world’s toughest tests of car, driver and tires.
“Le Mans and other major endurance races provide us with the opportunity to prove our technology in gruelling events that feature a wide range of temperatures, different race durations and a vast array of different circuit types,” explains Ben Crawley, Goodyear’s Director Motorsport EMEA. “We have to develop tires that deliver outright speed, durability and longevity. Even more importantly, versatility is crucial. Unlike modern Formula 1, where a range of compounds is permitted, Goodyear was tasked with producing a compound that can excel from the cool sub-10°C temperatures of a night race to the searing 40°C+ heat of racing at circuits such as Bahrain. This gives a real relevance to road tire technology as the driver using Eagle F1 Asymmetric 6 expects it to be ready for anything. We apply the learnings from racing to road car compound development, but often our race team is also learning from our road car colleagues.”
In the heat of the day a set of Goodyear LMP2 tires can achieve four stints (each stint is the distance the car races between refuelling stops) and go even further in the cool of the night. Just like on Eagle F1 Asymmetric 6, where low rolling resistance is as important to road car drivers as the performance and grip, this regulation gives the same target to Goodyear’s race engineers.
Electrifying the world tour
Goodyear is also the tire supplier to many touring car championships including the FIA WTCR World Touring Car Cup, the British Touring Car Championship and the new FIA ETCR - eTouring Car World Cup. The latter is the world's first all-electric multi-brand touring car series. Goodyear is supplying one spec of tire to be used in both wet and dry conditions, reducing the number of tires that have to be shipped to the global races. As well as improving sustainability, this also focuses Goodyear on developing technology that can work on a range of circuits and in changeable weather conditions. “To develop all-weather race tires for the most powerful touring cars ever is highly relevant for Goodyear. As the performance car market moves towards powerful, high torque and heavier electrified cars, our electric racing experience crosses over to the development of Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 6,” added Crawley.
To read the rest of the Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 6 press kit, click here.