[Land-speed] Contact patch size

[neil at dbelltech.com]

That works great for sand rails but on an LSR car it might lead to
catastrophic tire failure. As the tire flexes as it rotates, the carcass
generates heat and it gets worse as the speed increases. 

Regards, Neil   Tucson, AZ

-----Original Message-----
From: land-speed-bounces at autox.team.net
[mailto:land-speed-bounces at autox.team.net] On Behalf Of Jon Wennerberg
Sent: Monday, November 17, 2008 6:45 AM
To: autox List
Subject: [Land-speed] Contact patch size

I posted this on the landracing.com forum -- and I'll try it here,  
too, to see if there's a good answer to the quandary.

"I've got this nagging thought about the size of the contact patch -  
maybe someone will tell me if it's right or wrong.

That is, the contact patch -- the number of square inches of tire  
that's contacting the ground -- would be a function of tire pressure  
and the weight that's on those square inches.  As an example:  40 psi  
and 1000 pounds would need 25 square inches of contact patch.  A five  
inch wide tire would need to have five inches on the surface -- a ten  
inch wide tire would need 2 1/2 inches.  The weight/pressure would  
dictate the amount of rubber in contact with the ground, not the width  
of the tire.  Want more contact patch?  Run lower tire pressures, not  
different tire sizes.

Okay -- that's the math.  If it's not the way it really works -- why  
not?"



       Jon Wennerberg
Tall guy with moustache
and a pair of 2 Club hats
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