Depending on the cost/availability of the camera I wouldn't discount the value of play. Sometimes just seeing what you get will prompt you to figure out ways to use it. There are plenty of studies that relate learning to play (i.e. play is not just for kids). My personal favourite is to try different manufacturing techniques. You make a lot of mistakes and most of what you try leads you nowhere, but every now and then you get a real gem.

Just try and keep the playing affordable. A rented camera for a day sounds like a great idea. Either that or request a demo from a supplier before purchasing. Have a look at temp distributions around brakes, engines, driver, tyres, radiators, oil system, parts during machining, temperature distribution on composite parts during curing.

Frankly if you couldn't find value in using a FLIR I would be surprised. The tyres would be just one area to look. I wouldn't be doing it too much for hard data, but it could greatly increase your understanding of tyre behaviour in a very short amount of time, just by reviewing a lap of footage. If you did want to do harder data analysis then Matlab has some very powerful image manipulation tools available.

As engineers it is very important to develop a broad understanding of potential solutions. Looking at videos and pictures is a poor substitute for hands on learning.

Kev