ok heres one for all you F1 buffs.
i recently went back to playing F1 2002 on GameCube and they have a challenge mode on there, on happens to be negate a series of corners on worn tires, problem is, the game seems to make driving on worn tires impossible, like driving on ice if you try to break its impossible to corner, and when you accelerate it sends you into a spin, meaning passing the challenge with a gold rating is almost impossible,
thing being i have always thought worn tires give you better grip and faster speeds as more of the tire is in contact with the road, thus the reason they made the grooved tires a rule.
thanks for any info on this.

sorry i forgot to include i am on about slick tires.
howdy donovan, the problem is with slicks they become illegal after they have worn beyond a certain point because they do start to help with speed, but i am not sure about grip

Craig slick tyres are banned in F1, and have been for about 2 years
However the answer to your question is this. Worn tyres will loose grip gradually, and the effects you are getting are accurate. Its to do with the way the tyres are made in layers, and heat affects the rubber of the layer below as the new layer is added, or with injection mould tyres, the speed of cooling from inner to outer layer.
Now a warm tyre will grip better than a cold one (which is why all the cars have tyre warmers). They then do the warm-up lap to scrub off any bits of excess from the mould and to get the tyres up to temperature before the start.
All F1 tyres are X-rayed for imperfections, but as I said, the layer thing has yet to be cracked.... Once someone invents a cold-casting process (which physics says is impossible, but I never believe anything a physicist tells me, not even one of my oldest friends who is a high-energy nuclear physicist), then the problem will disappear and the tyre will be consistent throughout its use.
And I do know a lot about tyres as I spent a while working for Michelin in Watford (their head office in the UK), and spent a lot of time with the motorbike boss, and blagging trips to race tracks as part of the team (okay so I had to do a lot of menial physical labour, but I was in the pits)!!!

Ozzy

Ps. I never got the British GP All the managers would work that weekend

Welll, oooohhhh!  Ozzy seems to have it out for me!  Although he does seem to know what he is talking about.  The reason I threw in my post was that I learned about this exact problem in high school physics, albeit on regular cars.  My teacher was explaining why it is a good idea to buy new tires, from a physics point of view.

But I have forgotten why a cold tire doesn't grip like a warm one.  What is the reaction there, ozzy?

Absolutely right Craig
Hey Ender, its nothing personal. I just hated physics at school, my teacher was a psycho (he had to leave after beating a girl unconcious using a metal lab stool!).

Ozzy

Tell me about it. I'm in my 3rd year at the same school The hiring procedures are a joke, the interview was like;
"What special skills do you have?"
"I can jump out of an aeroplane and kill people with a machine gun"
"Do you like children?"
"No!"
"Welcome on board"

I didn't mention the marmalade as I didn't want to get lumbered with domestic science too