Option Tire Question

[JoeBob]

At the start of the season, and in the first couple of races, the "Option Tire" (with red stripe on the sidewall) was available to teams, and had to be used for at least one segment of the race.

I haven't heard any mention of those tires lately. Are they still being used? Are they now available, but not required? Neither available, nor required? Was there an announcement that I missed?

[Rogue Leader]

AFAIK from what it seems they stopped requiring the option tire and instead had bridgestone determine a certain compound for each different course and supply it to all the teams.

[nrc]

Portland was the last time Bridgestone provided an option tire, but every Bridgestone pre-race report since has made a point of mentioning that there wasn't an option tire that weekend. My guess is that they either haven't considered it worthwhile or they dropped it to cut costs.

[Steve99]

The option tire was an expirement they were going to try at selected races this year. They never said it was going to for every race. Not sure if we will see it again this year.

[pfc_m_drake]

It may be that the circuits they've been on lately (Cleveland, Toronto, Vancouver, Denver) have been deemed too abrasive to warrant experimenting with the option tire.

Now, of course, you'll bring up Road America and the only thing I can say there is maybe they decided against it because of the length of the circuit.

I'd guess that if you don't see them in Montreal that they've gone by the wayside.

[Dougrun]

Bridgestone said that it will be at Laguna seca as well as one other course.

[JoeBob]

Here's an update:

http://www.champcarworldseries.com/News/Article.asp?ID=8253


CHAMP CAR TEAMS GIVEN STRATEGIC OPTIONS WITH RETURN OF BRIDGESTONE ALTERNATE TIRE

INDIANAPOLIS (August 23, 2004) - The Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford features some of the fastest racing in the world, but Bridgestone tire manufacturers have made advances this season that have made strategy every bit as important as pure speed.

This year, Bridgestone introduced an alternate compound tire at selected road-course events, giving Champ Car teams one set of softer compound tires in their race allotments. The teams must use one set of the tires during a race, allowing teams to strategize as to when the best time to use the tires might be, since the softer-compound tires provide increased grip and better performance.

Bridgestone today announced that it would provide the alternate tires for three of the remaining races on the 2004 Champ Car schedule, beginning with this weekend's Molson Indy Montreal. Teams will have three sets of the tires available for the August 25-27 Montreal weekend, and must use one of those sets during Sunday's race. The alternate tires, distinguishable from regular tires by red markings on the sidewall, will also be available to teams for events at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City.

"The alternate tires provide additional strategic options for our teams, which in turn provides more interesting racing for the fans," said Executive Vice-President of Champ Car Operations John Lopes. "The alternate tires have shown that they provide an advantage on road courses, meaning that the teams will figure the tires prominently in their race strategies."

The alternate tires were introduced at Long Beach this year, and were used again by the Champ Cars at Portland. Bridgestone also announced that it was increasing the red markings on the tires for the next three events, making it easier for fans to distinguish between the alternate and normal tires.

"The alternate tire has benefited competition in its uses earlier this season at Long Beach and Portland, we expect it to do so at these three road-course events coming up," said Al Speyer, executive director for Bridgestone Motorsport. "The ability of teams to vary when they use the alternate set in the race makes for a wide range of race strategies. It means some cars may be on the quicker alternate Potenzas while others are on the standard Bridgestone tire, which should increase passing opportunities at different junctures of the races for different teams."