Does Anyone Know What the Heck is Going on at Goodyear!?

So we just got a letter that says quote "After a careful review of the business case associated with developing a 10" tire, Goodyear has decided not to pursue developing the tire will therefore be exiting FSAE support".

Has anyone spoke directly with Goodyear or gotten this letter? It sounds like they are fully pulling out of the competition, which I need to know ASAP seeing as it makes all of our months of research on tire data a somewhat moot point. For people that have not got this letter, sorry to be bearer of bad news.

-Steve Karkenny
University of Pittsburgh

You are saying that since they dont want to make a 10 inch tire, they wont make any? A year after developing the 2704?

Anyone else have any info on this?

After looking at the Goodyear racing home page under products, there is no longer a Formula SAE link. If you google "Goodyear racing formula SAE" you can find the page, but as soon as you navigate somewhere else on the site, the link is gone.

If this is true, this is sad news for the FSAE/FStudent community, and will also set us back on development.

I would encourage everyone to write a letter to Goodyear Racing thanking them for their support and emphasizing how important their program has been to FSAE. Also, respectfully urge them to continue working with the FSAE community and explain the impact it can have.

It goes without saying, but a resentful tone isn't going to encourage positive results. Keep it classy.

Please respond to me PM ASAP. Thanks

Quote:

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Originally posted by GoodyearFSAE:
Unfortunately I can confirm this as accurate. At this time Goodyear is making serious revisions to the tire lineup produced by the racing division. The current FSAE line is one of several products being discontinued.

Last week SAE and several of the schools we have worked closely with in the past were notified of these changes.

- Plans to develop a 10" tire have been dropped.
- Goodyear sponsored track days including the Fall Shootout have been cancelled.
- As of this time there are no plans for further production of the D2704 or D2703.

We apologize for the impact this will have on many teams development cycles. This was not a decision that was made lightly.

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Sounds like quite a few teams are going to get thrown under the bus because of this decision. Hopefully they can transition to another brand early enough to change their design.

This does not bode well....for a lot of teams.

Ben

I thought it was strange when I emailed Brian the other day and the email bounced.....Oh well...Hoosier won.

And we were just about to switch to the D2704s http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_frown.gif

If Goodyear gives up their FSAE tire / program that is a sad news. FSAE needs diversity in colleges, nations, culture etc.. and suppliers. Goodyear was a major player with good ex-FSAE engineers helping FSAE / FS team and these guys knew what they were speaking about. Again if this is true, it is a loss.

That being said, 3 quick comments:

1. I keep being puzzled by the lack of research made by the students; there are many tires on the market from 8" diameter to 15" and over which could make a VERY good tire in FSAE / FS competitions. Goodyear is (was) a good, proven solution and so is Hoosier but there are not the only ones.

In some case, tire companies build specific tires for 1 or 2 FSAE teams, gives them the tires, the technical support, access to testing facilities ... and a budget! But that is for teams who gave them test report, engage in real engineering partnership and test at least 4 months before the competition (old story)


2. If I had to build a FSAE car and weight and inertia reduction were major targets, I would at least consider 8" tires. Lots of space constraints in such a small rim... but possible. Major issue: lack of TTC data for tire newcomers.


3. I feel the pain for the guys who already started to design their car (especially suspension) around the Goodyear tire )(that is if they use the TTC data properly) That being said, as a design judge, that is question I often asked to students: IF circumstances force you to switch from tire A to tire B, what would you change (or have changed) in the car suspension concept and in your car setup (spring, damper, ARB etc..). For some teams this hypothetical question does become a reality.