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 Michelin
and Auburn Partnership
In 2006 Auburn
began a partnership with Michelin that we expect will benefit both
parties to a great degree. Michelin recognizes the sizable market
that exists in Formula SAE and has launched a project to design an
FSAE-specific tire that they hope will rival Hoosier for event
domination. They have selected Auburn, Clemson, and Georgia Tech to
aid in this process. These three teams were given free tires as
well as access to Michelin’s Laurens Proving Grounds as part of the
testing process.
Auburn made two trips to Laurens during the 2006
season. For the first we took our 2003 and 2005 cars, equipped with
hardware for accurately measuring surface temperatures and
temperature gradients of the tires. At this outing multiple tests
were conducted to help lay
down general trends for the Michelin radials, as Auburn has always
run bias-ply tires in the past. A baseline set-up was found, which
we took with us when we went back with our 2006 car later in the
year. This second trip helped us to shake down the new car and work
out several bugs.
All of this, in addition to the technical help from
some of Michelin’s top race engineers, has not only saved Auburn
thousands of dollars but given us an understanding of the behavior
of tires that is nearly unmatched amongst other Formula SAE teams.
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;)
Michelin
and Auburn Partnership