Tag Archives: Wet Weather Test

2016, F1, FIA, FOM, Formula 1, Formula One, Pirelli, tyres

Formula One: 6 Million Litres of water used for wet weather test

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TEST PIRELLI LE CASTELLET

With the Pirelli wet weather simulation test at the Paul Ricard Circuit in the South of France having reached its conclusion yesterday. JWGP spoke to the circuit management around the environmental impact of this form of simulation.

In order to simulate the wet weather conditions required for Pirelli to trial revised compounds and construction of the wet and Intermediate tyre the circuit utilises 400 sprinklers installed around the circuit. These sprinklers dispense 20 cubic metres of water per minute across the circuit amounting to a total of 3 million litres of water per day.

In total 6 million litres of water hit the track over the 2-day test session, which would be the same as filling  4 Olympic sized swimming pools.  Whilst water scarcity is not an issue in the area surrounding the circuit, some may question if this is an effective use of resources. However, the Paul Ricard circuit has installed an entirely closed loop waste free solution to facilitate wet weather simulations.

The water used through such tests is recovered rain water, no water from the local water grid is used by the circuit for wet weather testing.  The drainage system in place throughout the circuit channels all water back towards a lake situated near the circuit (pictured)

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Through this system the circuit is able to offer wet weather simulation capabilities with zero impact to the local water grid. This closed loop solution not only minimises the cost of such a test (water is not free!) but also ensures minimal negative impact on the local environment. Should FOM ever seriously seek to investigate the use of such systems in race situations, a closed loop solution as achieved at the Paul Ricard circuit would have to be incorporated into any proposal.

2016, F1, FIA, Formula 1, Formula One, Motorsport, Pirelli, tyres

Formula One: Final Laps of the Wet Weather Simulation

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TEST PIRELLI LE CASTELLET

Pirelli’s two-day wet tyre test, held at the state-of-the-art Paul Ricard circuit in the south of France, concluded today at 4pm – with the specific aim of developing the latest generation of full wet tyres.

Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull were present at the test, having accepted Pirelli’s invitation to all the teams to take part.

The Paul Ricard circuit’s sophisticated variable sprinkler system allowed Pirelli to test with different amounts of water on the track, in order to simulate a wide range of wet conditions. This meant that the drivers could try a number of full wet tyre prototypes, with different compounds and constructions compared to the existing 2015 Cinturato Blue.

As this was a ‘blind test’ the prototypes did not carry any colour markings on the sidewalls, and the teams and drivers did not know which specification of tyres they were testing. All the cars ran in unaltered 2015 specification.

The test and development programme was completed within two full days at Paul Ricard, with 659 laps of a short circuit configuration run by the five drivers involved, totalling 2326 kilometres.

Temperatures remained consistently low throughout both days of the test, peaking at 11 degrees centigrade. Although these were not ideally representative conditions, a wide range of data was collected that will subsequently be analysed at Pirelli’s headquarters in Milan.

McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne was the only driver to drive during both days, while Ferrari ran Kimi Raikkonen on Monday and Sebastian Vettel on Tuesday. Red Bull tested with Daniel Ricciardo on day one and Daniil Kvyat on day two.

These were the quickest times set over the course of the two days:

 Vettel  (Ferrari)  1.06″750  (134 laps)
 Kvyat  (Red Bull)  1.06″833  (113)
 Vandoorne  (McLaren)  1.07″758  (87 + 127)
 Ricciardo  (Red Bull)  1.08″713  (99)
 Raikkonen  (Ferrari)  1.09″637  (99)

The development programme will now continue back at base, when Pirelli will compare each team’s telemetry with its own data, in order to obtain a full picture of every prototype’s performance.