Manufacturer news - Bridgestone Special Edition F1
Snow Tyres
10 Apr 07
By Emily Henry
Contributing Writer
Tyre-makers frequently look to F1 technology in the
development of road car tyres, often using the
connection as the unique selling point of their own
products. In a reversal of the situation however, it is
road tyre technology that will be the secret weapon of
the BMW Sauber F1 Team. Bridgestone has adapted winter
road tyre designs to create a Snow Tyre suitable for
racing in extreme conditions. The result is the Potenza
F1 extreme weather tyre; a winter tyre partially
inspired by the Bridgestone Noranza studded tyre.
Bridgestone Motorsport has created a special, limited
edition, F1 Potenza Snow tyre following a request from
the BMW Sauber F1 Team. The F1 Team are set to hold a
demonstration at the prestigious White Turf horse racing
event held in St. Mortiz, Switzerland, and require
special tyres for the extreme Swiss weather conditions
that the BMW Sauber F1.06 will have to face.
The F1 Snow Tyres are produced by the Bridgestone
Motorsport Technical Centre in Tokyo and come specially
adapted with 420 studs on the front tyres and 588 studs
on the rear tyres. The studs are manually inserted by
Bridgestone technicians, taking over 16 hours of labour
time to carefully affix the 2,016 total studs into the
double layer of tread compound on a single set of tyres.
The tyre studs, which are formed from tungsten and
encased with aluminium, are specially designed to
provide enhanced grip on icy and snow-compacted
surfaces. Experts anticipate that the Swiss resort of
St. Mortiz, where the BMW Sauber will be demonstrated by
the F1 team, will be susceptible to the severe
conditions for which the Snow Tyres are designed. Recent
weather reports have indicated a decrease in
temperature, with overnight conditions dropping to
approximately minus 15 degrees Celsius in the St. Mortiz
resort.
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