Tyre pressures at Paul Ricard
The lap, to scale. Track outline © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
How hard a circuit works each corner of the car shows up as tread temperature, and temperature is what sets pressure. GripCalc carries corner heating figures for Paul Ricard as a starting point: how much hotter each tyre runs over the session's base temperature, from the layout's mix of corners and load. They pre-fill the calculator when you pick the circuit, and your own pyrometer readings refine them from the first session.
| CORNER | RUNS HOTTER BY, °C |
|---|---|
| Left front | +2.0 |
| Right front | +1.5 |
| Left rear | +3.0 |
| Right rear | +2.5 |
ESTIMATED — class-based starting values over an 85°C session base, derived from this layout's type (direction, speed profile, load), and shared with circuits of similar character rather than measured here. Not gospel: enter your own pyrometer figures after a session and they take precedence.
Paul Ricard, on paper
| Location | Le Castellet, Var, France | OSM |
| Opened | 1969 | WIKIDATA |
| Lap as mapped | 3.852 km | MEASURED |
| Longest straight | ≈1177 m | DERIVED |
OSM — the sections mappers have named on this venue's tarmac: Courbe de Signes · Pinede · Piste de Glisse · "S" de la Verrerie · Chicane Nord · Driving Center Castellet · Double droite du Beausset · Virage de Bendor · Courbe du Garlaban · Virage du Lac · Virage du Pont · Ligne droite des stands · Virage de l'hotel · Virage du camp · Virage de la Sainte-Baume · Ligne droite du Mistral · Stand · Terrain dévolution · Espace tout-terrain
Lengths are measured from the OpenStreetMap geometry drawn above; the longest straight is derived from the same line and is approximate. Section names are the venue's, and can belong to any of its layouts.
What Paul Ricard asks of a tyre
Paul Ricard is flat, spacious and engineered: long runs including the Mistral straight, the very fast Signes right-hander at the end of it, and famous painted run-off instead of gravel. Signes is the corner that matters to tyres: arriving at maximum speed onto a sustained right after the tread has cooled down the straight.
Signes loads the left side at maximum speed after a long cooling straight
The abrasive high-grip surfaces in the braking zones work tread quickly
Flat and exposed: wind changes braking points and loads more than elevation would
A 992 GT3 on Cup 2 R at Paul Ricard
Published hot target 30.5 / 32.0 psi at 92°C tread, on a 15°C morning, with the corner figures above: cold set 21.5 / 21.5 front, 22.6 / 22.6 rear. A different car, tyre or morning moves every number, which is what the calculator is for.
Mugello · Imola · Laguna Seca · Circuit of the Americas · All 45 circuits