Prisma Electronics

Billetta Imports has been the Australian Distributor for the past 10 months and things are going well. 

Prisma tyre gauges are fast becoming a favourite at the track in reducing tyre degradation and increasing performance. Here we discuss why…

For many of us, minimal changes in temperature will go unnoticed. In Motorsport, however, small increases or decreases of even one or two degrees have a considerable impact on how teams approach a race or session…

Two temperatures play an important role in Motorsport: air temperature and track temperature.

While the two are connected, they’re not the same. On a beautiful, sunny day, for example, both air and track temperatures will rise. As soon as the cloud cover arrives, the air temperature will drop immediately. However, the track will retain the heat over a longer period of time and cool down slowly.

Depending on the surface materials, tracks might heat up faster or slower. If the track surface features a high level of bitumen, it will be darker – and thus absorb more sunlight and heat up quicker. Variations in temperature impact many parts of the car or bike, but the biggest influence is usually on the tyres. The track temperature impacts how hot the tyres will run which will, in turn, impact the grip level and the degradation rate.

Racing tyres have a very narrow operating window – the sweet spot being where they are at the peak of their performance in terms of grip levels. Operating below this window doesn’t produce the same levels of mechanical grip or performance, while being above it can cause performance to drop and increase tyre wear. Missing the optimum tyre operating window by a few degrees can cost a tenth of a second in a lap time.

Variations in temperature impact many parts of the car or bike, but the biggest influence is usually on the tyres.

As the front and the rear tyres don’t operate at the same temperatures, a change in track temperature will impact them differently and increase or reduce their grip levels unevenly. Varying track temperatures will therefore also affect the balance of the car or bike. So, teams will be regularly altering the set-up to react to these changes.

But it’s not just the teams who react to those changes. It’s the drivers, too. Their driving style has an impact on tyre temperatures. Drivers will push harder if they want to put heat in the tyres, especially in high-speed corners. If the track temperature changes considerably during a race, drivers have several ways to deal with this.

In addition to how hard they push the tyres, they can alter their driving lines to suit the balance of the car or bike.

Here Tristan talks with Anthony West about Prisma gauges…

See you on the track!