An interesting topic/question came up in another group I am with. I wanted to ask the question here since I think the answers will be better.

How much is the temperature fluctuation of a "warmed up" race tire during a lap? Once the tire is "warmed up", there will still be temp fluctuations due to cornering, braking, and acceleration differences around the track. What I am curious about is the absolute magnitude of these variations. My guess is the fluctuations are not that large, but I do not have the logging to have any data to back this up. If anyone does, I would appreciatte any numbers that you could give. Thanks.

 

I have seen real time tire temp traces with differences of 20-40F between inside and outside for open-wheel race cars. I would think on production cars, the delta could be greater with race tires. A bit less so with street tires.

 

My temperature variance is about 10°F degrees upfront which ideally (according to Matt Bell), they should be roughly ~25°F. This means I need more camber which is okay because I felt this time around the car pushes.

For the rear tires, my variance is ~4°F. What are you all running? I like a happy tail end and right now I am at -2.0°camber in the rear. Any more would kill it.

 

Here are some data logs of the 3 tire temps on each of two tires for an oval racing car at two different pointson a lap. They give an idea of the range around a lap, and shows you that taking temps in the pits tells you little about on track temps. Curious to see the reversals, and thewidening and narrowing of the range between parts..