Michelin Tyres at the WEC 6 Hours of Silverstone

Your scribbler has the enquiring mind of a child! So where did this Michelin and Bibendum business start?

Back in 1894 Edouard and Andre Michelin were in Lyon attending an exhibition and they noticed a pile of used tyres that made Edouard think of a man with no arms.. bit of imagination needed here I agree. Some four years later Andre met a cartoonist called Marius Rossillon. Marius showed him an image that had been rejected by a Munich brewery. It was a cartoon of a sizeable rather regal figure holding a massive glass of beer and quoting Horace’s phrase “Nunc est bibendum” or “now is the time to drink”! André immediately suggested replacing the man with a figure made from tyres. This transformed the earlier image into Michelin's current symbol. Today, Bibendum is one of the world's most recognised trademarks, representing Michelin in over 150 countries. 

Enough history.. back to The 6 Hours of Silverstone! 

Michelin have all but cornered that market in WEC, there are only four cars on the grid using Dunlop. This year’s visit gives the tyre suppliers a new challenge because the entire track has been resurfaced. It will be the first time this has happened in 22 years of hard use. The only chance to test here was at the end of July when the exceptionally hot weather wasn’t really representative of the conditions teams normally encountered at Silverstone.

The long, fast track features ten right-hand and eight left-hand turns which put tremendous strain on tyres. The technical regulations for the 2018/2019 FIA WEC dictate that, Michelin’s partners must use tyres that were developed to cover the entire super-season. Jérôme Mondain who is manager of Michelin Motorsport’s endurance racing programmes tells us that  “Silverstone was recently resurfaced, so it’s like we are going there for the very first time because we have zero data. Based on experience, wear rates are likely to be low if the conditions stay dry due to the new surface’s characteristics. That said, the track promises to heat up in direct sunshine and we could see particularly high ground temperatures which would certainly have an impact on tyre performance. If it rains, the resurfacing probably won’t assist draining, so standing water will tend to accumulate and this will lower the aquaplaning threshold.” 

The regulations state that FIA WEC entries for Silverstone are allowed just 18 tyres in the LM P1, LM P2 and LM GTE Pro classes, but LM GTE Am runners will be able to use up to 26 tyres. Teams will be able to choose between hard- and medium-compound tyres. If it rains, as well it might, they will be able to fit either ‘Wets’ or ‘Full Wets’.Things are a bit different for the LM P1 teams who will have the option of selecting the ‘Hybrid’ intermediate slick for drying conditions.

This Hybrid tyre is just for the LMP1 cars and was introduced to replace the more conventional ‘intermediate’ treaded  tyre for the first time in 2012. It’s revolutionary compound means this pattern-less tyre can be used in damp and drying conditions. Michelin have brought along around 3,200 tyres to Silverstone in order to cover the possible weather conditions and different strategies of its 30 different cars..

Jock Simpson

Le Mans 2017: The Michelin Man and his tyres..

The Michelin Man or Bibendum to our French friends first broke cover when he was introduced at the Lyon Exhibition in 1894 where the Michelin brothers had a stand. He has become a classic icon here at Le Mans and this year is no exception. The demands of modern endurance raced have changed dramatically over the years and Michelin have continually been developing their tyres to keep up and try and get ahead.

© Kelvin Pope/Sportscarglobal.com

The race winning LMP1 car will cover around 5,000 kms over the 24 hours. It will lap the 13.629 kms circuit approximately 400 times. This year has been the hottest, driest one since 2000 and the cars are faster, with more downforce and as a final twist teams will be restricted to just seven sets of ‘dry’ tyres for qualifying and the race. Add to that the simple mathematics that an estimated 25 seconds can be saved each time the teams don’t have to change tyres and you will see that getting as many ‘stints’ as possible out of a set of tyres is crucial. The Porsche and Toyota teams are looking  at 13 laps per stint as opposed to 11 last year.

They have brought along around 5,000 tyres made up of a mix of three types of slick tyres..soft, medium and hard. There will be two types of wet tyres available described as ‘wet’ and ‘full wet’.  The ‘full wet’ is capable of clearing 120 litres of water every second! We will have to take their word for that since 2017 has been bone dry! There is also a very special ‘Hybrid’ tyre for the LMP 1 teams. This tyre won’t be needed either since it is designed for damp and drying conditions. It is interesting to note that it is not a grooved tyre, it looks more like a slick.

Like Dunlop, Michelin are also using RFID technology which involves a chip embedded in he tyre which communicates with the official timing system and race control.  

These tyres travel in an impressive fleet of 13 ‘semi trailers’. When they arrive there is an 800 -square meter covered compound. There is also a 600 square-meter workshop housing 45 fitters. There are also twenty specialists who work with the teams all the way through the event.

After the race all the used tyres are gathered up and returned to Michelin’s main base where they are dissected and then recycled.

It is a huge operation that has evolved over the years and it runs perfectly year on year.

Spare thought for Mr Bibendum as he supervises the teams in temperatures that soared upto at least 30°C