Quote:
Originally Posted by Gregte
I always thought that, on dragsters, centrifugal force acting on the spinning tire was the largest reason that the tire has a narrower contact patch while spinning than while stationary. The same would be true of passenger car tires except to a much lesser degree due to a much slower spin speed.
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Take a real close look at the part of the tire that is actually in contact with the ground at - oh, say - the 60 foot mark. The centrifugal forces are indeed causing the tire to grow, but the black marks being left are even smaller than the width in contact with the surface.