[quote=“RRhodes” post=73111]I read the definition, but not being a polymer chemist and unable to do an actual analysis, I’m tempted to listen to the conservative gremlin that’s whispering in my ear that says any activity able to bring the tires to full grip has an effect on the compound that should be considered a “full heat cycle”. Like qualifying.
To that point though let me ask a related racecraft type question. Is it better to drive 7/10 practice laps (or possibly skip them altogether) with the intent of starting dead last and having clean air for qualifying, or is it better to drive them at 10/10 to get the best starting grid spot? And does the answer depend on the field size?[/quote]
I don’t know enough about tires to support my theory that 3 hot laps can most accurately be called a half cycle. If we call practice and qual, only 15min in the SE so a warm up lap and 3-4 hot laps, a full heat cycle then my tire rotation idea works twice as well.
I didn’t understand your linkage between practice and qual. Maybe in your region practice times set qual start position? In the SE we start qual wherever we want. Obviously the important thing in qual is to get some space between you and other cars. There’s a variety of ways to do that of course, but it’s highly dependent on folks around you having a clue. I tend to grid up for qual near the rear. Then I back off the guy in front of me with the objective of hitting the turn before S/F at full speed with no one >50m in front of me. Since I started in the rear, I reduce the number of guys that might want to move up and crowd me.
It doesn’t work for me to grid up near the front because I’m not as fast as the front-runners. If I grid mid-pack there will be 25 guys behind me and some knucklehead will not understand that I’m going slow to get space and will instead pass me…forcing me to drop back further.
There’s no perfect answer.