Shedden v TT ace McGuinnessposted in BTCC19 | 08 | 2016

    DOUBLE CHAMP GORDON SHEDDEN may have endured a tough British Touring Car Championship weekend at Knockhill, but the Honda ace returned to the track to pit himself against Isle of Man TT legend John McGuinness.

    In a unique event, 37-year-old Shedden showed off his riding skills aboard Honda Racing’s TT winning CBR1000RR Fireblade SP, while McGuinness strapped himself into the Scot’s BTCC Honda Civic Type R. Both machines were shod with Dunlop rubber.

    Both men tackled the event knowing they are at the peak of their sport; capable of using the tyres to their maximum to achieve the best lap times.

    Related: Legendary Ecurie Ecosse Jaguar to hit $25m

    Whether that’s in a 27 lap race, over 21 miles against 31 other cars on a smooth race track at Knockhill, or a single 37.73-mile lap of the daunting Isle of Man TT Mountain course, held on closed public roads.


    Swapping machines is no mean feat – to get competitive lap times, they both needed to learn the car and bike respectively in just a handful of laps. During that time, they also had to adjust to the very different tyres that were the only thing between their vehicle and the tarmac.


    While Dunlop or Honda will not be releasing official lap times from the event on Monday, both boys were said to be incredibly close to each other’s lap times.

    Worth highlighting here though that on the official video, Shedden’s fastest lap on the bike is listed as 54.1secs, with McGuinness clocked at 54.0s in the Civic.

    “It was absolutely out of this world,” Auchterarder ace and defending BTCC champ Shedden beamed afterwards. “You maybe build a picture of what you think it’s like in your head, but nothing compares to it when you’re out there. It’s phenomenally fast, but once you get used to it you learn to relax and get more confident. It was an absolute privilege to have a go.


    “It was the first time I’ve ever ridden on a slick tyre and I cannot believe the grip the contact patch the size of a credit card can actually give you, it’s just absolutely mind blowing.

    “The speed obviously is as you’d expect, the world passes by at a million miles an hour. I can only imagine what it’s like going round the TT course, and John is welcome to stay on that!


    “Each stint I started to relax more and get more confidence in the grip that was available. The brakes on the race car are fantastic with four big slick tyres to hold the thing on, so you wouldn’t believe the bike would have the stopping capability that it does.”

    Related: Shedden reflects on tough Knockhill weekend

    And the sentiments were shared by TT legend McGuinness; the 44-year-old Lancastrian has won on the Mountain Course on 23 occasions.

    "It was brilliant; I didn’t want to get out of the car to be honest," he smiled. “The first session all happened really fast, but then I settled down into a groove. The whole mindset changes when you swap from what you know to something new, and I was a bit nervous, but we’re all racers and just want to go fast.


    “It’s hard to see the apex, you’re strapped in tight, and it’s quite warm in there. You’re breathing in engine fumes and there are lots of rattles and bangs; it’s such a different world, but I was shocked by how nice and precise it was.

    “Dunlop put on some soft, sticky, amazing grippy tyres on the Honda Civic Type R and they gave me so much confidence to go fast.


    “My Honda Fireblade had the same tyres we used at the TT where we did a 132.6mph average lap and we brought it here and did some riding on those same tyres, which is testament to Dunlop and how good their product is.

    “You know we put our lives in the hands of a few things, but tyres are such an important part of the package.”

    Gordon-Shedden-and-BSB-bike-2.jpg

    TYRE TALK – THE DIFFERENCES:

    SIZE MATTERS:

    The contact patch on a bike is tiny compared to that of the car, just the size of a credit card. At around 3-4 times smaller it has to take a power to weight ratio quite differently (close to 1 for a motorcycle against close 0.25 for a BTCC). And that is just for the rear tyre. The front contact patch on a motorcycle is yet again even smaller and needs to cope with the bike slowing at close to 1G deceleration.

    WHEELY IMPORTANT STUFF:

    The BTCC wheel is 18 inches in diameter – an inch bigger than that of the TT rear wheel, although the overall tyre diameter is actually bigger on a motorcycle. This means the tyre mechanics are different.

    A BIT ON THE SIDE:

    Gordon needed to rely on the side walls of the tyres on the Fireblade, while John’s Civic Type R was (mainly) squarely on the base of the tyres. The motorcycle tyre will deform more in the sidewall and tread area to key into the asphalt and generate grip whereas the BTCC tyre will mainly deform in the sidewall area to withstand the weight and get the support required.

    UNDER PRESSURE:

    Tyre pressures vary. There’s up to 1.1 bar of difference between the bike and car pressures to get the best performance – double the pressure in the front tyres when cold for the bike compared to the car. A motorcycle tyre will run between 1.5 bar to 1.6 bar hot, whereas a BTCC tyre will be aimed to run at 1.85-1.95 bar hot. It may not seem such a big difference for most people but Gordon or John would have spotted that change of tyre performance with less than 0.1 bar difference!

    THE MAGIC INGREDIENTS AND CONSTRUCTION:

    While some ingredients or at least concepts may be tried in one discipline and transferred into another, the secrets inside the tyres are very different – but they have to stay secret.

    Related: New UK-built Honda Civic heads for US

    Keep up-to-date with all the latest news by following us on twitter.com/Scotcars

    Jim McGill

     

User Comments

Login or register to post comments.