Optimal tire temp?

[GNBRETT]

Can anyone chum in on what is the optimal temp ones tire should be when heating them up in the box. Is too much heating of the tire counter productive to traction in ones 60 foot?

[bison]

Usually by the time you do your second pass the tires are good once they start to smoke. No more is needed. The first burnout of the night takes about 15 minutes for the adhesives in the tire to come to the surface and work effectively. I usually let them smoke for a few seconds on the first burnout and after that just till they smoke. Any more is a waste and could be counterproductive since the tire pressure will rise rapidly if the tire gets too hot. Its worth blueprinting you slicks also. Simply take them off the car and measure their height side by each with the same pressures and temps in each tire. Find out which one is taller and usually one is by at least an eighth inch. Over inflate that slick to make it grow slightly taller than the intended height. Then let it sit in the sun for a few hours. Then let it cool and air it down till its the same height as the other one. You may need to repeat till its the same height. Then you have to hope the track is prepped properly and the correct temp. I think around 90* track temp is optimal. The track prep is more important the the tire temp itself.

[Chuck Leeper]

We did some tire testing w/ M/T engineers, some time ago.
[Article ended up in Chevy HP, as I recall.]
We used an I/R gun to determine the track temps.. [Waaay too hot for anyone w/ any sense to be there..Ambient was 104, track near 150]
Jerry Francis of M/T, was calling the shots.[I was the "tire geek", Dave Emanuel, [writer] was the BS'r]
To maintain some degree of repeatability, we heated the tires to track temp, + 10-15*. That took a short burnout, and an immediate stage.. NO dry hops! That leaves "bald spots", of rubber w/ little to zero oils, at the surface.

Back under my rock...

[bison]

Originally Posted by Chuck Leeper

We did some tire testing w/ M/T engineers, some time ago.
[Article ended up in Chevy HP, as I recall.]
We used an I/R gun to determine the track temps.. [Waaay too hot for anyone w/ any sense to be there..Ambient was 104, track near 150]
Jerry Francis of M/T, was calling the shots.[I was the "tire geek", Dave Emanuel, [writer] was the BS'r]
To maintain some degree of repeatability, we heated the tires to track temp, + 10-15*. That took a short burnout, and an immediate stage.. NO dry hops! That leaves "bald spots", of rubber w/ little to zero oils, at the surface.

Back under my rock...

So what were the results of the testing?

[Chuck Leeper]

Originally Posted by bison

So what were the results of the testing?

in recalling the results, but here it is.
The car: 87 Camaro, auto, 12 sec trim.
The tires: M/T ET streets, M/T ET drag slicks, M/T sportsman.
The car was instrumented with:
Ft wheel speed sensor.
Driveshaft speed sensor.
Engine rpm.
A set of 3 runs, [1/8th mi], each were performed, and then averaged.
Engine temps were maintained/recorded, as were tire pressures, burnout times, tire/track temps. The data logs were compared to the results in each run, to be sure we had no anomalies...
Results, in worst to best:
3. Sportsman.
2. Slicks.
1. ET Streets.
We found only a slight advantage to the ET's, over the slicks. We concluded they allowed just enough tire spin, to allow the engine to stay up in the power band a bit better.[Datalog on engine rpm confirmed the differences]

Thats about it...