Video: Why do the new IMSA Michelin tires have a crazy tread?

So what were they recycling?

I'm guessing the steel belts are relatively easy to replace with recycled steel.  Maybe the cords can be made from some sort of recycled material (paper, cardboard, clothes).

If we're going to have a 'conversation about it', then go ahead and tell us about it!

Other explanations I have seen claim a performance advantage in that it reduces warmup time, allowing better handling soon after leaving the pits on new tires. In addition to the renewable aspect.

In reply to MauryH :

That’s what I found, too, after a bit of sleuthing.  Sure, the pattern attracts attention, clicks, and likes, and buzz is a valuable marketing tool, but the idea that Michelin would spent money to make an interesting looking tire and those pleasing aesthetics offer no benefit to performance, just doesn’t make sense even though the engineer said “that’s correct” to J.G.’s statement.

The one common topic raised for the last generation of tires was that it could take as many as three laps to get the tires up to temperature.  
I doubt any team was requesting that Michelin provide a cool looking tire for the fans vs developing a tire that heats up more quickly.  Besides, that soft-touch material has been on Michelin road tires for a handful of years now, so drivers and prospective customers that like to touch their velvety tires already can do so to their sidewalls.

Here’s what Autoweek reported:

“The racing effect concerns the velvety raised surface of the Vision tire, which is interspersed with a slightly tacky web of shallow grooves. The thin tread, which quickly burns off, is designed to help fresh tires come up to temperature more quickly when the finicky GTP cars leave the pits, where tire warmers have been outlawed since the beginning of the hybrid era in 2023.”

https://www.autoweek.com/racing/more-racing/a70053889/michelin-new-gtp-tire-to-reduce-cold-tire-drama/

BA5 said:

So what were they recycling?

 

Here’s an image of some of the recycled contents.

 https://www.instagram.com/p/DQV6FPKEVzY/?img_index=1

So... if indeed they are providing better traction on the outlap or three, it sort of causes one to wonder if teams will use previously scuffed tires anymore.  Or, will the drivers be told that they are going out of scuffs and need to tiptoe for a few laps?

I will say their velvet on the sidewalls do feel fantastic when I do the tire shine. 

As someone who worked on "90% sustainable tire" with Goodyear I am super curious to see their data sheets and how they make the numbers work on this.

That Autoweek story is interesting, because i couldn't get a single person at Michelin or from a team to tell me that the surface pattern affected warmup at all. Teams are reporting that the heating is better this year, but they're just attributing it to compound and design. Interesting that that statement is unattributed, too.

Also, Autoweek says that they're "A tacky web of shallow grooves" and they're neither tacky nor are they grooves. It's just a raised, textured area of the same tread rubber.

I think there's probably several secondary performance benefits of the pattern, like a nice visual indicator of exactly WHEN the entire tread surface is engaged and the tire has shed the mold release, but I don't think there's much designed-in performance gain beyond a cool visual branding element.

If I run in to Jonathan Ingram at the track I'll definitely pester him to find out who told him they warm up faster BECAUSE of the pattern.

Thanks J.G.  I hope you can run into him and get an answer.  That statement, while unambiguous, would carry more weight if it cited someone involved in the project.

Until then, the “buzz” has been created.  Mission accomplished.  People are talking about the product.  Marketing 101.

Michelin never tells the whole story.  Secrecy is in their corporate culture.