FORUMula1.com - F1 Forum

[darwin dali]

Scott Speed did suffer from falling pressure in his front tyres.
From our and the team’s investigations we found these to be from air leakage which was not related to the tyres."
Kees van de Grint


Ok, if not related to the tires, then what is it?

[Irv the Swerve]

This sounds like a load of ''hot air''.

[darwin dali]

It could be valves, but aren't they considered part of the tires? The rims maybe?

[Red Five]

Maybe there was a bit of damage to the rims, happened to one of my sisiter's wheels on her Escort, but have both front wheels on the same car have problems and no one else on the grid? Sounds a bit dodgy to me!

[welshie]

The valves are a different part of the wheel, so it's extremely likely to be that. Every rim is x-rayed to make sure that it's structurally sound (no hairline fractures etc.) so i can only think that it could be the valves. Any other ideas tho??

[madbrad]

well it's a cheaper team, maybe they have cheaper wheels.

[Selcouth_Feline]

Speed has said that it was a mechanical problem to do with the valve stems
http://www.forumula1.com/2007/f1/driver ... ralian-gp/

What I don't get is, if he was losing tyre pressure, what caused the tyre to explode?

[freakonaleash]

Speed has said that it was a mechanical problem to do with the valve stems
http://www.forumula1.com/2007/f1/driver ... ralian-gp/

What I don't get is, if he was losing tyre pressure, what caused the tyre to explode?

Could the tire have been starting to come off of the bead, and then finally came off ? It seems possible, as he was in a corner, and with less air pressure, the tire could have advanced inwards and popped off of the bead ? I dont know, thats just a guess

[Grovenen]

He wears soft tyres, they're more sensitive to the efects of temperature, defectuous rims, bad transport... with cheap wheels...

Is you add all of this, you have Scott Speed with troubles

[aboldero]

hi, I used to work for bridgestone, so what i think they are getting at is this...

the tyres were checked after the car was returned to the pits, and all intact tyres were fine, the parts of the blown tyre were checked and also found to be fine (as they can be considering. lol)

the wheels used ar pretty much standard across he grid, so the quality of rims would have been fine, however, the rims are made of very light alloy and are very brittle, they dont last more than a few races so heavy abuse over kerbing on a rim's last race could produce small fractures which would allow air to leak, alternatively a bad seal on the valve.

any help?

[certom]

wow! great explanation! you worked for bridgestone as a worker in a factory or did you do something concerning formula 1?

[aboldero]

i was a truckie and fitter for F1 testing and GP2 racing.

I fitted the tyres then worked with the teams taking temps etc when cars returned to pits.