Coming to a racing series near us soon™?

[Zynerji]

https://michelinmedia.com/michelin-uptis/

Seems to be the most "tunable" tyre for movement, could easily be a slick, and we would never see a race ending puncture again.

Is it coming to racing within the next 10 years?

[Edax]

Are these “grooves” open across the width of the tire?

They look pretty deep, I am wondering how they deal with ice, dried out mud and stones getting lodged in them.

[Zynerji]

They address that in the literature. The shapes, as they compress, are self-cleaning.

[Edax]

They address that in the literature. The shapes, as they compress, are self-cleaning.

Yeah, just came across it as well.

21. What will happen if some small stones or mud or snow get in between the structure of Uptis?

The objective during the development of the commercial product is to test Uptis in all of these situations. Some preliminary tests show that stones, mud or ice/snow will not stay inside the Uptis

[Zynerji]

They address that in the literature. The shapes, as they compress, are self-cleaning.

Yeah, just came across it as well.

21. What will happen if some small stones or mud or snow get in between the structure of Uptis?

The objective during the development of the commercial product is to test Uptis in all of these situations. Some preliminary tests show that stones, mud or ice/snow will not stay inside the Uptis

I'm sure that was a HUGE part of the R&D.

[jjn9128]

Is it coming to racing within the next 10 years?

These airless tyres have been "coming" for at least 10 years already. It might make sense for motorsport to take it on as a development aid.

[Zynerji]

Is it coming to racing within the next 10 years?

These airless tyres have been "coming" for at least 10 years already. It might make sense for motorsport to take it on as a development aid.

Since they are 3d printed, we could actually see teams designing their own tyres for their individual requirements, and having them printed by a manufacturer... It could be something huge, and the current tech for producing items is lightyears ahead of where it was 10 years ago.

I think this could be a great F1 technology.

[RZS10]

The second video in the gallery (near the bottom of the page) shows an extreme example where they packed it with mud and let it dry and it's pretty much clear of most (maybe even all) of it after some time.

The question with regards to racing use would probably be how well those would cope with high speeds (i don't think it's mentioned anywhere?) or high lateral loads ... the "soon™" is probably very fitting.

[Zynerji]

The second video in the gallery (near the bottom of the page) shows an extreme example where they packed it with mud and let it dry and it's pretty much clear of most (maybe even all) of it after some time.

The question with regards to racing use would probably be how well those would cope with high speeds (i don't think it's mentioned anywhere?) or high lateral loads ... the "soon™" is probably very fitting.

One would be forgiven to believe that with Michelin's racing heritage, they they have studied this as well. It will be interesting to see what PR comes out of this. Maybe some Pikes Peak/Nordschleife/LeMans demonstrations incoming? Maybe a WRC test? I'm looking forward to this!

[nzjrs]

Would be interested in understanding their calculations that led them to say less material usage. The X% reduction in the number of tires scrapped vs the increase in material used in these tires compared to normal.

Also, wonder what they sound like?

[Zynerji]

Would be interested in understanding their calculations that led them to say less material usage. The X% reduction in the number of tires scrapped vs the increase in material used in these tires compared to normal.

Also, wonder what they sound like?

Additive manufacturing may just eliminate a huge amount of waste material. It definitely looks like these have way more surface area than regular tyres, so it must come from somewhere else.

Sound is an interesting question. It is probably a function of the contact patch area. That brings another question. Could the internal structure be engineered to be "progressive" to the point that camber and such are no longer the tuning device of choice for contact patch control...?

[RZS10]

So far they're just doing some slow city drive demo runs and they don't appear to be any louder than conventional tyres but there's obviously no way to tell how much sound editing (noise cancellation) has been done ... the ride appears quite rough though.

In this one at around 8:15 they say that the tyre does well at and above the limit and is more direct but at the same time it doesn't really sound like they are aiming at sporting use (a big maybe).

[jjn9128]

Would be interested in understanding their calculations that led them to say less material usage. The X% reduction in the number of tires scrapped vs the increase in material used in these tires compared to normal.

Also, wonder what they sound like?

I doubt it'll reduce scrap as it's the tread block wearing which is why tyres need replacing.

[Zynerji]

Would be interested in understanding their calculations that led them to say less material usage. The X% reduction in the number of tires scrapped vs the increase in material used in these tires compared to normal.

Also, wonder what they sound like?

I doubt it'll reduce scrap as it's the tread block wearing which is why tyres need replacing.

These seem likely candidates for re-treading!

[hUirEYExbN]

I want one of these for my spare.