Water tire cooling for the next world's fastest supercars?

[g-force_addict]

The Bugatti Veyron tires would fail after 15 minutes driving at 400 km/h+
Although the fuel tank will be empty sooner than that, the tires seem to be the weak link.

Will spraying fine water droplets cool tires enough to go beyond 500 km/h?
Increasing the Tire Life Span by Means of Water Cooling
http://eprints2.utem.edu.my/8585/1/IJMM ... terjet.pdf

Would sprayed water cause some aquaplanning or dangerously reduce friction at such high speeds?
Land speed tires are made of very hard rubber compounds that already have low friction so maybe friction won't be an issue at all.

[Lycoming]

Although the fuel tank will be empty sooner than that, the tires seem to be the weak link.

...doesn't that imply the fuel is the weak link since that's the limit you hit first?

[luke!]

Maybe water would reduce friction (think of what happens when the tarmac is wet) and the damp surface would collect the dirt of the roads. It doesn't seem to me a great idea.

[Hovepeter]

i am not sure its a heat problem, which makes the tires holds for so little time. i think its a problem with the centrifugal force that the tire is under when driving 400+ kilometers per hour. that the tire maybe deform under this pressure until its explode.

someone correct me if i am wrong, but thats what makes best sense for me

[Jersey Tom]

Where could you even go to find a place where you could go 400 kph for 15 minutes?? You'd need a 100 km straight

[TurboLag]

that huge oval in the middle of Germany would suffice..

[WaikeCU]

Maybe yes, the tires will hold up longer, but water would cause lower grip. Imagine losing control at +400kph. Not so nice anymore right?

[Jersey Tom]

that huge oval in the middle of Germany would suffice..

Eh? Which? You can't possibly mean the Nordschleife. The fastest lap time ever around there only averaged 200 kph.

Apparently there's a 90 mile straight road in Australia, that might do.

I don't think water cooling would really do much though. Even if you cooled the surface slightly you'll have crazy amounts of internal heat. If you wanted to go that fast for that long you'd have to build special tires with the absolute minimum of tread gauge you could manufacture, very "hard" rubber, high air pressures, etc. Basically land speed record tires.

[acosmichippo]

even if this was a viable method to increase tire durability, it wouldn't be worth the weight of the system. Think about it, 99.999% of the time you're driving the car (or more), you're going less than 400kmph - that weight in pumps, pipes, and liters of water would decrease acceleration and mobility. you're compromising performance of the car for a situation that probably won't ever happen anyway.

[mrluke]

The tires will be at over 100 dec C. Don't think you are going to end of with wet roads from spraying water droplets at them.

[Saribro]

that huge oval in the middle of Germany would suffice..

Eh? Which? You can't possibly mean the Nordschleife.

No, he means Ehra-Lessien, with the 9km straight.

[Lycoming]

Actually, I think that was a reference to the Nardo ring, which is neither oval nor is it located in Germany.

If you wanted to go that fast for that long you'd have to build special tires with the absolute minimum of tread gauge you could manufacture, very "hard" rubber, high air pressures, etc. Basically land speed record tires.

That doesn't sound like a very comfortable ride.

[wesley123]

Isn't an issue with the heat the expansion of air(implying they use air in the tire, I really am not certain on that) in the tire?

[Jersey Tom]

Isn't an issue with the heat the expansion of air(implying they use air in the tire, I really am not certain on that) in the tire?

Not at all. Air pressure going up is good for tire durability.

For as much as the casual F1 fan might be accustomed to hearing that hot tires are good... heat is really the enemy for tire / rubber durability. Some fabrics used in tires are heat sensitive, to the point where they can soften or melt and fail. Alternatively the rubber inside the tire that's effectively the "glue" holding everything together (or the matrix of the composite, with the fabric being the reinforcement) can blister / fail and the tire will be ripped apart.

Running tires underinflated is dangerous because that means more strain, potentially putting plies in compression, and also more heat. High inflation puts more preload in the plies (good) and less strain and heat (good).

[bdr529]

If flat and straight is what your in need of then look no further then Saskatchewan Canada
As they say "it's so flat you can watch your dog run away for two days"