F1 Pit Stops: 1950 vs Today

[Lanval]

I can't remember if I already posted this, and I'm too damn lazy to check. That's probably why when I changed my oil two weeks ago, all that came out was grey sludge. Anyway, here's the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRy_73i ... e=youtu.be

Colin; do you happen to know the theory behind such narrow tires in the 1950s? Surely they knew that a wider tire was better for gripping in high G turns?

Michael L

[Xelmon]

The basic theory is that the thinner the tire, the less rolling resistance it has.

The old tires were also... Bias, radial... Whichever has softer sidewalls, so the slip angle was different, and you could effective use more of the tire.
So when the tires are flexing and it's starting to "roll out", it's still definitely gripping.

Tire tech didn't jump to stiff/hard sidewalls until the 60's or so, where you couldn't get away with thin tires. That's when tread width started to increase... Drastically.

[whc03grady]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRy_73i ... e=youtu.be

Sweet Mary, I understand that things were perhaps generally slower 60+ years ago, but for the love of all that is holy, can someone get that tire guy a pneumatic wrench? Were they specifically disallowed or something? Good god.

[Amskeptic]

Colin; do you happen to know the theory behind such narrow tires in the 1950s? Surely they knew that a wider tire was better for gripping in high G turns?

Michael L

Then current technology could not allow bias belt tires to be too wide. The rim width had to be greater than the tire footprint in order for the bias belts to survive cornering. As it was, the heat build-up was pretty intense with bias construction, and this banged against the edge of then vulcanization capabilities.

Great video. How did they get the wheels to stay on? I saw no fastening operation in the 2013 video.
Colin