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					Bridgestone - United States Grand Prix - Preview
						United front as the show goes on Formula 1 arrives in Indianapolis ready to put on an exciting and entertaining show for its American fans. Bridgestone is proud to be racing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and hopes the second grand prix at the famous circuit will go some way towards helping the American people move forward from recent tragic events. Home fo the famous Indy 500, the IMS or 'Brickyard' is one of the best known circuits in the world. However, when Formula 1 went there last year, it was a whole new experience, in particular for the banked corner that forms part of the oval track and the 200,000-plus crowd. It is a track of contrasts, from the 200mph pit straight to the twisty in-field section with second gear corners taken at 50mph. This means car set-up is something of a compromise, while the tyres too have to be capable of fulfilling various demands: they must have good heat durability for the fast parts of the track, be capable of carrying more-than-normal load generated through the banked corner and also provide grip through the slow section to maintain a good lap time. Bridgestone has a new compound for the United States Grand Prix, while the second dry tyre specification has been used before this season. All of Bridgestone's dry weather tyres arrived in Indianapolis last week, unaffected by transport problems. The two specifications were divided into batches and flown separately from Tokyo, with the first batch arriving in the United States last Tuesday. As a precaution, the company also flew out a third, spare specification from the UK, just in case the chosen race tyres did not make. The wet weather tyres arrived in Indianapolis some time ago, having been shipped by sea. Hisao Suganuma, Technical Manager at Bridgestone Motorsport, said: "Indianapolis is a unique circuit for Formula 1 because of the banking. We went there last year not really knowing what to expect but appreciating that the banking would test the heat durability of our tyres. In reality, the effect was not as severe as we had anticipated, mainly because the cars enter the banked section from the slow in-field and there is only one corner where they use the full bank. In terms of maximum speed, Indianapolis is most like Canada but the load through the tyres is much greater. "Having raced at Indy once, we now know that the most important aspect is finding a tyre that works well through both the high-speed part of the track and through the slow corners. Most of the lap time comes from the twisty in-field so this is the section where the most time can be gained or lost. The point is to get through it as quickly as possible. Bridgestone can help by offering tyres with good grip levels. While this can be achieved with a softer compound, the same tyre has to be capable of coping with the heat generated on the high-speed oval section. "We have developed a new medium-range compound for Indianapolis which was tested at Valencia and Mugello prior to the Italian Grand Prix. All six of our teams had a chance to run it last week at Silverstone, Mugello and Fiorano."
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