Planet 9

this was posted on the GRM site; this device scans the tire tread surface with IR sensors to get a temperature and displays it on a LCD display.

Not sure how much of the tread is scanned or if it just is centered on the center of the tire. The sensors are mounted in the wheels wells.

Optigrip Tire Temperature Monitoring System - Hot Lap Products - Hot Lap Motorsports, Inc.

Momentary, single point tread surface temps would be pretty useless for a street car, IMO & no substitute for probe pyrometer temps coming off a hot out lap.

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Dan

I like the idea of having tire temp feedback while still on track. No more guessing early on if your tires are up to the optimum temp range yet. I'd also like to know how much on track tire temps have come down by the time I can stick a probe into them (but this device apparently reads surface temps). It should also give racers an early warning that they are about to overheat the tires and lose some grip. Thus, it should help with tire temp management during a race. As already mentioned, a single measure for each tire wouldn't tell one much about what suspension setting adjustments might be advised.

Hi Gents. I've used IR tire temp sensors onboard race cars with good results. You may be surprised how quickly the temps change, and how quickly they cool and shift as the car is coming into the pits. They are a good tool. However, I've only done it with three per wheel, with the fronts being mounted on a structure connected to the upright - so the sensors stay equidistant from the tire at all times and turn with it. With only one sensor per tire, and mounted on the chassis - results would be very limited, so I would approach with caution. Old-fashioned static tire temps, and looking at the tires closely after running, will tell you a lot for now. -Jeff

Jeff:
So three mounted/wheel reading surface temps.
How do you focus the sensor to measure a specific part of the tire tread? Just eye balling where the sensor sits over the tire?

Hi Mike. We typically mount them close to the tire (~1.5" away) and in a location that corresponds to ~1" from outside & inside edges, and the center. This is to measure the effects of suspension tuning (i.e. camber). Honestly, I don't think I'd bother unless you can feed the signal into a data acquisition system and post-analyze. The data can be a little tricky to interpret.