In an interview with the UK Tyre Safety charity, Formula One legend, David Coulthard, who competed in 15 seasons of Formula One between 1994 and 2008, taking 13 Grand Prix victories and 62 podium finishes, highlighted the high stakes of tyre safety on the road.
What is your current role at Cooper Tire Europe?
I speak to you today as the proud Cooper Tires Ambassador and my official role is High Performance Safety Ambassador.
Have you ever been involved in the tyre development process?
Well, it’s important of course if you are going to be a High Performance Ambassador then you need to know how the tyres perform. So yes, I have been involved in several of the test and development runs on various tracks throughout Europe and it really again comes back to the days in motorsport where the only thing that touches the ground is the tyres, and therefore arguably the most important influence on performance is making sure that you have got the right compound for the right conditions. We get very high performance tyres across many of the standard testing conditions, but more importantly for me, when you take it on a track, is a tyre that maintains performance throughout its life.
Tyres are typically ignored or taken for granted by motorists, how important do you feel tyres are?
They’re more important than staying safe on the race track. While staying safe on the race track is vitally important, but on the roads its not just about yourself but it’s about your family and other road users.
In Britain I have often wondered why there isn’t the same legislation as there is in Europe, where you’re obliged to transfer over to a winter or an all season tyre, because it is a huge difference in performance and safety. I think that also it is very important in the UK market where there are tutorial videos, for example the 20p test where people need to be aware of the tyre and the tread depth. They have to understand that their lives and the health of them and their families rests on making the right tyre choices.
On the track or on the road, when are tyres more important?
Clearly it’s important on both occasions, but on the road it’s more important because racing tyres are by their very nature only used for a certain period of time. With road car tyres, a lot of people buy their cars and may not be aware of the difference in performance of different tyre brands.
What advice do you give to friends and family about tyre safety?
Make sure you are always following tutorials, which further endorse all the important messaging on checking your tyres. Making sure your pressures, your tread depth, your compounds are all as they should be.
For more information and advice about checks you can perform, head here: https://www.tyresafe.org/the-checks/
Can F1 racers tell when the tyres on their road cars aren’t performing as they should?
Well you can, but it’s obviously a subtle difference, because no one should be driving on their tyres to 99% of their performance limit. From when you turn on your engine to when you park your car outside your house it’s a very different discipline to racing. But I think that what racing does is improve the degree of engineering knowledge that comes from an on track performance, and a lot of our final proving of the tyre comes from putting it on a track, but that’s a car that’s meant for performance on the road. In that situation what we are trying to do is increase durability across the life of the tyre and improve performance.
What we are very aware of in racing is as the tread depth, or gauge of the tyre decreases, then the compound of the tyre is changing and that has an affect on how it warms up in different conditions and of course how it performs.
So yes, I can feel the difference, and ultimately the point at which someone who is not used to pushing a tyre can feel it, it’s too late. So you have to make good choices when you are replacing tyres, but before you even get to that point make sure you are following on the tutorials on tyre pressure and making sure the tread depth is right. It is hugely important and something a lot of people take for granted.
Tyre pressure is more than making sure the tyre looks round, it affects the vehicle dynamics, it affects the suspension, the springs, overall performance, its ability to handle pot holes on the road. If you have the incorrect pressure on your tyres, all of these things can have a catastrophic effect on the tyre.