PURE ETCR is the ‘perfect laboratory’ for developing high-performance tyres for the electric vehicle market, according to series founding partner and official tyre supplier Goodyear.
In episode three of PURE Talk presented by Goodyear, the organisation’s Director, Motorsport EMEA, Ben Crawley, and its PURE ETCR Event Leader, Sebastian Trinks, lift the lid on why the legendary tyre brand is keen to use the series to move ahead of the competition with its technical development.
“The connection between road and racetrack is two-way and gives us a stronger bond between the two in both technical and marketing terms, so you can see that racing has always had a real sense of purpose for us,” Crawley explains to Haven.
“PURE ETCR gives us fabulous insights when it comes to testing our products, whether that’s under the extreme conditions of racing or the driver-sophistication element. It’s great being able to relay all that [information] into our future products.
“It’s the perfect laboratory for our technical development teams to test different compounds and constructions as well as processes, and to learn if what we do can be applied either across our motorsport portfolio or – more importantly – into our road-going products.”
PURE ETCR will use a bespoke Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport tyre, incorporating both the Power Shoulder and High Force Construction features; key to maximising performance in the 500kW (680hp) touring cars.
The all-weather, treaded, construction means fewer tyres will be produced than in other racing series, creating significant environmental benefits in both production and transportation.
Trinks says the PURE ETCR tyre, which has been designed to cope with the instant power delivery and performance requirements of the electric machines, will benefit from Goodyear’s years of expertise in development.
“We knew we had a good base product to start with since we launched our Eagle F1 SuperSport in 2019,” he explains to Haven.
“Because an electric vehicle is heavier [than an internal-combustion powered alternative], the tyre must withstand greater forces in cornering, braking and acceleration, so we stiffened the sidewall and used new building techniques to cope with the increased forces.
“Because this is an all-weather tyre, we adapted the tread pattern so it can run in dry and wet conditions.
“The all-weather tyre is especially important as both we and PURE ETCR are committed to a big sustainability plan with fewer tyres produced, fewer containers [needed for transport] and less pollution. It’s a very good fit for both of us.”
Testing began on-track in August; later than planned due to the events that have affected the world in 2020, but this has created an opportunity for more simulation work at Goodyear’s racing headquarters than was previously thought possible.
“Because of the extra time we’ve had to do simulations, we’ve been able to make some improvements and work out what things are taking us in the right direction and what things are not,” Trinks adds.
“We’re already back on the [planned] timeline and have started our [track] testing programme again. We’ll continue the development even once racing has started.”
Episode Three of PURE Talk presented by Goodyear, and hosted by Martin Haven, is available from PURE-ETRC.com and other outlets from 1300 CET today (7 September).