Just wondering how the Indianapolis track surface was on the Indy tires for the Indy 500

Question

this is a question coming from a Nascar fan to the Indy fans. this past Sundays' Nascar Brickyard 400 was brutal on the Nascar car's tires. the track just ate up their tires. i'm just wondering how that Indy cars did at the Indy 500 this past year? any tire problems with their cars?

Answer 1

Well Firestone knows Indy cars, and there is no comparison with the Indy cars and the Nascar race cars, big time weight difference.. Hopefully Goodyear will get this together before next yr.. The COT needs to be tweaked alittle to make it work better, I do not remember this problem last yr at all...and hopefully never again...If so maybe Nascar needs to let firestone have a shot at the big cup cars..

Go Helio

Answer 2

One reason. Weight difference.  Thats it.  An Indy car is about 1500 lbs and a Cup car is about 3200 lbs I believe.  Thats why its important for Goodyear and Nascar to bring the proper compound.  I guess its still a mystery though as to why the rubber wasn't staying in the racing groove instead of turning to rubber dust.

Answer 3

No problems with the Indycars, or the Firestones.  The Indycars are light, and produce alot of downforce, but there is still a ton of load on the tires.  Goodyear just didn't do their homework.  Maybe nascar  should have called Hoosier before the race!?

Answer 4

They work fine. Firestone and Bridgestone (F1) had success for many years. Kind of funny, Goodyear used to be the sole tire supplier for the old CART days when they raced in the Indy 500, so you think Goodyear had some experience with the surface from the past.

Oh well, another black eye for NASCAR in 2008.

Answer 5

There were no problems at the Indy 500.  The only times I remember there being problems have been on days where it has been unseasonably cold, and the tires have struggled to get to racing temperatures.

Goodyear and NASCAR did a very small test on the track in April, and there were concerns expressed then.  But nobody made any changes to the tires.  Hopefully they learn from this and aren't so arrogant as to expect it to work fine next year.

Answer 6

Indy cars had no problem with the track surface. Blame it on NASCAR and Goodyear. Cup car suspension is so skewed to turn left, I'm not surprised at all they had problems with the right side tires. Lets make stock car racing more realistic, like using STOCK CARS instead of these crates that nascar designed!

Answer 7

The tires for the Indy 500 were perfect.  Most cars made it around 30 laps  before they needed tires and fuel.  I don't know what was going on during the Brickyard 400, but I guess the difference is Goodyear and Firestone.

Answer 8

They were fine. Indianapolis is meant for IndyCars, so It's fine. The "Diamond grind" is really for the IndyCars, not NASCAR. NASCAR wasn't meant to go there. The IndyCars have much high downforce and grip, not like the low downforce less grip, heavier cars in NASCAR.