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In the course of the 2022 Music Metropolis Grand Prix, IndyCar followers might need observed one thing new. As a substitute of the same old tire selections of the crimson and black tire compound duo from Firestone, the weekend noticed a inexperienced sidewall tire changing the reds. Constructed from guayule, or a desert shrub sourced in america and Mexico, these sustainable tires have been a decade in the making — which implies their debut went off and not using a hitch.
In a dialog with Cara Krstolic, Firestone’s chief engineer within the IndyCar realm, forward of the race, I discovered that the entire objective of the guayule tire was to create a compound that was precisely the identical because the crimson sidewall tire it could be changing — and that course of began ages in the past.
“After we began, we requested, right here’s this materials, how is it chemically much like our different rubber that we use? There are totally different grades of rubber, so we want to verify we get the identical grade of rubber so it could be chemically equal,” Krstolic mentioned. That’s to make sure that the brand new rubber substance can function a straightforward one-to-one substitute for the outgoing hevea rubber. “As soon as we received to the purpose the place we thought the guayule could possibly be an equal compound, we constructed a tire and put it by way of all the usual testing we might usually do, plus a little bit extra on simply the tire itself.”
After sturdiness testing that included long-distance operating and operating at larger speeds than you’d ever discover in an IndyCar, Firestone discovered that the inexperienced tires would primarily carry out precisely just like the crimson tires.
Krstolic assured me that there can be no surprises or quirks when it got here to the on-track efficiency of the inexperienced tires. Firestone can be watching the tires with curiosity, however the Nashville race was certainly not a proving floor. The arduous work had already been finished.
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And according to the drivers, the green tires were fine. Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden said they “felt like a normal red in a lot of ways,” which was exactly Firestone’s goal.
When I asked about the future of the green tires, Krstolic noted that the Nashville running was just a preliminary outing; any future implementation of the tires would come at a later date — and that includes on-track or on our road cars. So for now, Firestone can rest easy.
“Well get some data back and then we make some decisions on where to use it next year,” Krstolic said. “We’re still working on the growing process [of guayule], and we’re nonetheless engaged on commercialization. With a view to make this sustainable tire really sustainable, we want to verify there are different individuals that may develop the product. Then we’ll see the place we’re going to make use of it subsequent 12 months.”
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