Tyre failures at Daytona

Are we seeing the beginning of the end of Daytona as the flagship AMA
round?

 

Last years race was really good, there are (almost) always really tight
finishes at Daytona, and that race was pretty tight the entire time. The
ability to leverage the drafting on the banking has won many a racer the
trophy there.

It's exciting to see the bike WFO on the bank, fighting the wind and
turbulence.

But, it's my understanding that most riders simply don't like this track.

I would like them to keep at least one long race on the schedule, just
because it is interesting.

But I think there is a reason for Daytona. Having a 200 in the middle of the
year would be terrible.

Daytona is the first race. Fresh riders, fresh bikes. It's a great
opportunity to test and work the bikes (witness Ducati). The riders are
(mostly) healthy and have the stamina and endurance to run such a long race,
whereas in the middle of the year, they may be is lesser shape. I think this
helps keep it close.

What I don't want to see is a 200 race with the leader 2 minutes in front of
#2 who's 45s in front of number 3. The way Mladin walked away from the pack
last year, you could see that happening if he's doing that well in a 200
race.

I understand that the 200 is a burden on the privateers. The pit stops kill
'em because they can't drop $50k on bike bits and infrastructure for a
single race in the season. But, a 200 is still an interesting race, IMHO.

Regards,

Will Hartung
()

 

i didnt see eric bostroms michelins fail during his testing and he was in
the 148's going just as fast as the dunlops that failed.

 

I don't think that's the case. There are a few riders that are very
vocal about not liking it. Not being able to trust your equipment to
stay together doesn't help.

It gives everyone a chance to get away from their winter weather to do
or watch some racing. It is worth traveling the long distances to get
away from the snow, which keeps us from the racing we crave. Later in
the year it would not have the same drawing power. (Some crack under
the strain and end up doing things like this.)

http://www.oatbit.com/~gus/ice/

Hate to tell ya but Matt didn't walk away from the pack at Daytona
last year. He didn't even make the podium. He doesn't like the
place, and will probably never do well there. Now he's worried about
his tires too. He can't speak too badly about his tires if he expects
to keep his job, so that leaves attacking the track.

The privateers are not the ones complaining about Daytona. They do
the best they can with what they have, and most go away feeling good
that they raced at Daytona. They aren't expected to win. You are
more likely to hear complaints about safety from those that have the
equipment to be competitive but aren't, or are uncomfortable with what
they have to do to be competitive.

The real problem right now is not with Daytona, it is with Dunlop
tires. They have failed at other tracks, so it is not just Daytona.
Other manufactures are not having the same problem, so it should be up
to Dunlop to fix their problem, not the tracks.

 

Julian, Daytona is the "flagship" like the Isle of Man is the "flagship" of
UK racing. 90% of the people that go to Bike Week never make it to the
track.
Might have been important years ago, but now...

 

Michelin had E Bostrom's tire chunk at their test. Didn't lose air so he
nursed it in. Per AMASuperbike.com
So this isn't just a Dunlop thing.

 

But then the IoM is no longer part of a national championship. It
survives despite that. And frankly, the IoM hasn't been the flagship of
UK racing for 10 years or so.

You could remove the racing and turn Daytona into MarchFest and 90% of
the people who go to Daytona would never notice.

For years I've wished someone would find the money to build a modern
race track on the IoM. We could have WSB one end of the week, GP the
other end and a few demonstration and club races on the Mountain circuit
during the week. Although it's been mooted a few times, nobody's ever
found the money.

 

Chunking or blistering is one thing, instant total failure is another.
I haven't heard about any other manufacturer having failures like
Dunlop's lately.

 

200 means little in the great scheme of things.The manufacturers like to do
well there because it gives them a hook for the early season advertising.
Yeah, it's a spooky place (I've ridden there, so can grasp the discomfort),
but the goal is to finish for most of the top guys. Winning is nice, not
crucial.Very few champions have won the 200 and the championship in the same
season.
And it's more like 20-25 years for IoM to have any meaning.

It's like that in the fall as well

 

And what guys are out there on other tires?
Increase the number of people running a product and a small failure rate
becomes a real problem. Dunlop is a very high percentage of users in the US
Chunking is just the start of the failure cycle. Carcass failure follows
closely behind it.Blistering is another animal.

 

Another thing to keep in mind is that Daytona tires are purpose built
for that track. The amount of R&D that goes into Daytona tires is
astounding considering they won't be used at any other track. The
tricky thing is that they have to be dual compound with the left side
much harder than the right and they have to run at about 400 F whereas
most other slicks, even other dual compound ones don't have to go much
over 200 F. Also other tires don't get to run such high speeds for
prolonged periods of time. These requirements make them special and
unusable anywhere else. So if Dunlop is having a problem with their
Daytona tires, that does not necessarily mean anything about their
other tires. Same goes for everyone else of course.

 

Tire failure at Daytona? not the first time. Ask Ben Bostrum - He
crashed at 180mph+ when a Radial popped off the rim. Don't think he
ever got his form back! I think the Radial tyre is the problem here.
After all it is designed to deform under load but I have never got on
with them. OK on a light 125 or 250 but all I got was 100yd slides on
a 904. I changed to Bias Belted track compounds, any size that would
fit.