BF Goodrich rally programme manager, Aime Chatard has revealed that they will need to re-cut their tyres this weekend, in order to ensure their rubber clears the countless marble-like stones that carpet the forest tracks of Western Australia.
Speaking prior to the latest round in the
FIA World Rally Championship - one where BFGoodrich will be eager to extend their unbroken run, which has seen them take the victory on every event thus far this year - Chatard added though that the Perth-based event is anything but easy, as it is impossible to do similar testing elsewhere as the surface is just so specific.
"Australia is an atypical rally," he noted. "The fast, narrow, eucalyptus tree-lined stages demand extreme precision and good lateral bite from the tyres. These round stones also make the surface unstable, with little grip.
“The regulations do not permit on-site testing and it's impossible to find similar conditions in Europe. To complicate matters further, a single type of tread pattern is authorised. For mechanical grip, we therefore need to 're-cut' the tyres, i.e. add extra grooves to increase the space between the tread blocks as a function of the depth of the top layer."
Pirelli technician, Terenzio Testoni meanwhile agrees that the ability to get rid of the small bauxite stones is crucial: “The tread pattern must be able to expel the small bauxite stones in the same way that one attempts to increase the ejection of water when confronted with wet asphalt, without forgetting that the special stages of the third leg are partly sandy – another variable of no minor importance that we must take into consideration”.
Pirelli and
Subaru are still gunning for their first win this year and while Turkey showed they are making progress, time is running out if they are to secure a win this season - with just three rounds left, including this weekend's affair in Australia.
![BF Goodrich engineers check tyre pressures [Pic credit: BF Goodrich]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/208214.jpg)
