Goodyear to use Le Mans race as technology testbed

LE MANS, France—Goodyear is leveraging the one-off appearance of a NASCAR-based entry at this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race to test its SightLine tire-data monitoring technology under competitive conditions.

Goodyear, the designated race tire supplier to two of three classes running at Le Mans this year, also is supporting a Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entered by Hendrick Motorsports built to NASCAR NextGen specifications that is running at Le Mans under the race organizer's "Garage 56" regulations for emerging technologies.

The race is scheduled to run June 10-11 at the 8.5-mile Le Mans circuit in central France.

Goodyear has cured a passive, non-battery-powered sensor into the tires built for the ZL1 Camaro. The sensor is powered by Goodyear SightLine, the firm's intelligent technology that will provide real-time tire data to Hendrick Motorsports as the race unfolds.

Engineers and drivers will be able to leverage the tire intelligence data to understand tire pressure and temperature, Goodyear said, to optimize the vehicle's performance by adjusting the car and driver settings in real-time.

"Because tires are a vehicle's only connection to the road, they have the potential to provide tremendous real-time insight that improves the performance of drivers under the most grueling of conditions," Goodyear Chairman, President and CEO Rich Kramer said.

"Goodyear is extremely proud to have the tire intelligence to unlock this potential in motorsports, and it's been a privilege to partner with NASCAR, Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet on this Garage 56 entry."

Goodyear has engineered three types of tires for the Hendricks ZL1 Garage 56 entry to cope with any potential weather conditions, including slicks for dry conditions, lightly grooved intermediate versions for mist to light rain conditions and full skid-depth wet tires for heavy rains featuring a distinct tread design and tire construction to help evacuate water combined with a softer tread compound to help maintain grip when track temperatures cool off.

All of the Goodyear tires for the NASCAR Next Gen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Garage 56 entry were built at the race tire plant at Goodyear's Innovation Center in Akron.

Goodyear develops and builds the race tires for the World Endurance Championship, which includes the Le Mans 24 Hours race, at a plant in Hanau, Germany. It is supplying tires for 46 cars entered in the LMP2 and LMGTE classes in addition to the Hendricks Camaro.

The Garage 56 entry will be driven by seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, former 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Mike Rockenfeller and 2009 Formula 1 world champion Jenson Button.

Garage 56 is a special single-entry class set aside by the race organizers for concept cars that demonstrate innovative technology of the future. In addition to the Garage 56 entry at 24 Hours of Le Mans, Goodyear is also the exclusive tire supplier for the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) and LMGTE Am classes.

Goodyear plans to bring over 2,500 tires to Le Mans for the weekend for practice, qualifying and the race, along with 65-plus employees, including tire engineers who are embedded with each team to look after all tire requirements.

Each entry is allocated six sets of slick tires for practice and 14 sets for the race and qualifying; the number of wet tires is unrestricted. To keep track of tire usage, Goodyear adds a Radio Frequency Identification Tag inside each tire.

Goodyear describes SightLine as a suite of proprietary cloud-based predictive maintenance technologies that can help fleet managers and drivers address a range of challenges, including predicting breakdowns, minimizing downtime and monitoring tire pressure and wear for enhanced safety and more cost-efficient mobility.

Goodyear claims SightLine—which employs cloud-based algorithms using data generated from tire-mounted sensors to communicate with fleet operators—can help such fleets achieve "seamless, safe and reliable mobility."