The new Michelin Pilot Sport Endurance tires, used this season on the Hypercar and GTP prototypes, have a detail that is unusual for racing image tires. Instead of a completely smooth and shiny surface, you can see a recognizable pattern on them, so the question naturally arises as to why a tire intended for a dry track has such an appearance.
The answer has nothing to do with wet grip. It is about the so-called Vision pattern, whose task is to start a conversation about the materials from which the tire is made. As much as 50 percent of its composition comes from recycled or renewable sources, which represents the first such result for this type of tire in endurance races.
The Michelin picture pattern is not intended for driving in the rain
The new series of tires represents an important step in Michelin’s sustainability strategy, as it uses a large proportion of biological and recycled materials without sacrificing performance. The visible motif is directly inspired by the Michelin Vision Concept project, which represents the company’s long-term direction in the development of more sustainable mobility.
Although it resembles shallow channels, the pattern is not cut into the tread and does not serve to drain water. It is formed directly in the mold and is completely flat with the contact surface. The material inside the tread is the same as the rest of the racing compound, so the tire still functions like a classic slick.
The pattern starts to change as soon as the car leaves the garage and the tires are exposed to large lateral forces. The speed of its disappearance depends on the configuration of the track, the load and the tuning of the car.
At the Daytona International Speedway, the motive quickly wore out on the right side of the car, which suffers more stress. It remained visible on the left side for about a third or half of the stint, but would disappear on both sides by the end of the stint.
On the Circuit de la Sarthe, where the wear is more uniform, the pattern disappeared after only three laps, including one qualifying one. After that, the tire gets a completely smooth surface characteristic of classic racing slick tires.
However, visual identity was not the main goal of the development. Michelin tested the new tires intensively after races at the Sebring and Watkins Glen tracks, and the result is faster reaching of working temperature, more uniform behavior during the stint and slower wear.
According to the company, feedback from drivers and teams has been positive. Michelin thus tried to combine more sustainable materials with better performance, while the unusual pattern serves only as a visible symbol of what is inside the tire.
Michelin uses a very similar organic visual pattern on its rain tires, but there it has a different construction and function. On the rain version, the space between the blocks is made up of real, deeper channels that drain water, while on the new Pilot Sport Endurance slick model Vision, the motif is just a shallow surface element molded into the mold.
This is why two tires can look almost the same when they are new, but they are fundamentally different. In the rain tire, the pattern is a functional part of the tread, while on the slick model it serves as a visual marker of more sustainable materials and quickly disappears while driving, reports Motorsport.