Hi trackheads,

Please take a look at my rear tyre in this photo. It was taken yesterday as I was lapping the Nurburgring. Any idea what that discolouration ring on the tyre represents? It appeared after a few laps on both rears but not the fronts. There's still plenty of tread (4mm or more) on the rears. The track temperature rose quickly during the day and tyre pressures increased a bit more than I had expected, and I let out some air to get them all below 40psi. The discolouration had already appeared.

 

Dirt? dust from apexes? Also possible scrubbing of the sidewall before the tire got up to temperature.
I would think that you should be able to determine what it was after stopping.

 

yeah looks like dirt. You sure you weren't dropping wheels off the pavement?

Oh yeah, you're a bastard I wish I could drive the Ring in my s2k

 

i'm still not sure what it is. upon closer inspection, it looks kinda like sidewall scrubbing, not dirt. Only happened this weekend. Both rear tyres have almost identical marks. Why only on the rears though? I had set the rear tyre pressures a bit higher than the fronts as an experiment that day. Guess the sidewalls scrubbed.

krazik, i only live 50 miles from the Ring too, so I can basically jump out for a mid-week lap or 10 whenever I have time!

 

They let you do hot laps without a helmet?!? Are you going hard, or just driving around?

 

you can drive as hard as you like, but the track's not as safe as most modern ones, so it's not such a good idea to push it too far, i.e. hardly any run-off.

some of the more hardc0re ringers do fit their cars with additional safety equipment and run with helmets, but it's not required.

they hold some races and 24-hour endurance events as well as driver training and manufacturer testing, too.

it's legally classified as a one-way public toll road, so normal insurance, road rules, and such applies.