TYRES & TRACTION
expensive, downtrodden … but still sexy (it says here).
Automotive’s only touch with the real world
Neglected dirty hot demanding crucial
sense of humour missing when flat
Sensitive rarely complaining violently abused short life expectancy
Unreasonable forces flexible quietly spoken wet skills
BUT COMPLETELY VITAL INVALUABLE PERFORMANCE BEYOND
AND HAS BEEN SINCE 1880 -
Only, at any one time, you never use more than four … each with a footprint of a size 10 …
YOUR TRACTION CIRCLE …
Understanding performance cars in terms of their grip & handling in an enormous subject which over the decades, has been simplified well. Their best designs nowadays are the result of generations of superfine tuning, sometimes born out of speed competitions but also the requirement in terms of ride quality, multi variations in road conditions and longevity too.
It pays with a car of the nature of the Nichols N1a - fine honed driving implements - to get to understand the full importance of the effect tyres have in terms of grip and feel of your motor car. It is a HUGE subject; as huge indeed, as the number of demanding rolls & conditions tyres have to accommodate.
There are many and varied descriptions on the internet, as to how all the compromises come together to give us the best tyre for the job. We’ll leave it to your better judgment to select the lesson & understanding most suitable for your required comprehension.
But as a starting point, we would suggest you simply draw on paper a notional circle which nominally represents the footprint of each of your four tyres. And we will call this circle, A TRACTION CIRCLE or a CIRCLE OF GRIP.
A traction circle is a visual way of illustrating how much grip a particular car tyre has on the road, and how it can be used. It’s a simple way of visualizing how acceleration, braking, and turning affect how much grip your tires have, and the relationship between each of these.
YOUR CIRCLE OF TRACTION - is the depiction of grip available to better explain that under maximum acceleration or braking, there is a much lower limit of lateral adhesion for left or right hand cornering. Or vice-versa, when cornering forces are high, there is much less interrelated grip available for hard acceleration or braking.
Add to that some of the multitude of variations that further play on the availability of grip, assists the understanding of just how a skilled driver can ‘play’ these variations to best effect.
This is arguably the source of delight or disappointment in a car’s relationship with the road, for the driver to exploit and enjoy. With the Nichols N1a, it’s almost a guarantee of performance driving reward …