Mickey Butler Goodyear Tyres - Knockhill - 09 August 2026

Mickey Butler Goodyear Tyres - Knockhill - 09 August 2026

Transcript

Steve Taylor 0:00

Well, Mickey Butler, we're kicking off the second half of the season pretty much at Nock Hill. And as we're chatting now, it's been a good use of the wet weather tyres here, hasn't it?

SPEAKER_01 0:11

First time this year, I believe.

Steve Taylor 0:12

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:12

You know, we've had such an incredible first half of the season with the weather, um, temperatures we've never seen a lot before, track temperatures we've never seen a lot before, and especially at Thruxton. So we had a real test at Thruxton with hard compound. So back down to reality in Scotland.

Steve Taylor 0:28

And don't know anybody's freezing, but yeah, it's been good. You spend a lot of time talking to the teams, monitoring the data with with the tyres. What have those conversations been like this year?

SPEAKER_01 0:38

It's been it's been very open, very frank. We've you know, we've learnt a lot, we're inducing a lot, um understanding it. Obviously, we're seeing a lot higher track temperatures than we've ever seen them before, obviously. The cars have changed, the balance of changed, so where we can improve them. We're constantly developing, understanding which the direction we're going go forward for the future coming years. Um we're looking at new campaigns and one thing the other. So I think they're all pretty, and you can see the drivers there. What I was really amazed with that race was full on wet, full on, and you know, the tires switched on straight away. You can see the amount of water they was clearing, uh, you know, and they're doing 55 seconds lapping full wet around this track. So the performance was really, really good, really impressive, and I've had some lovely compliments from drivers. So that's nice. Um we'll keep you know, keep going forward.

Steve Taylor 1:25

There's such a variation around the country, isn't there? I mean, everybody knows how abrasive Truxton is, for example, and a hard tire gets used there, and there's been option tires introduced, some restrictions, tighter restrictions going on. I mean, it it's a it's part of the strategy. Tires are part very much part of the strategy for the the teams, aren't they?

SPEAKER_01 1:43

Yeah, you know, I like to challenge them. You know, we can do it, you know, it's a one-brand formula, but if we can introduce different compounds, different formulas, different situations, it challenges the engineers, it challenges the drivers. Having big offsets between different compounds always helps. You know, we tried something we've never done before at Thruxton, bringing a different compound in for qualifying, a medium. You know, we was learning as well. We can't really test to that track, so we were learning as well. Um, what the drivers couldn't get the head rounds, the amount of grip all of a sudden from a soft compound on that aggressive track. How to work with it. So we're learning, you know. I love the options we do at different circuits, I like the soft against the hard compound, it generates a lot of overtaking. The drivers may don't like it, but everybody's going to go through the same pain barrier at some point. But it it over, you know, especially like Autumn Park and Croft, it really generates overtaking. You know, we some of some of the overtaking we see now at Croft, just on a different scale. And that's what people want to see.

Steve Taylor 2:42

Absolutely. Just going back to Truxton and the introduction uh of the soft there for qualifying. What was the general feedback? I mean, I spoke to a lot of the drivers and there was sort of mixed response, but generally positive. I mean, what was the feedback to to you and Goodyear?

SPEAKER_01 2:56

I only listened to the positive, to be honest. No, you know, I I went round and spoke to a few of the teams, what did they think, and they said we'd probably need a bit more time, a bit more run-in in one of the FPS to understand it. Um you speak to Josh Cook and he was just he just loved it, and some of the other drivers. The whole driving style had to change from the hard to the medium because the steering part, and one thing it was more it was more accurate, you know, you have to be more precise. So I think they need a bit more time to practice and understand it. There's going to be pluses, there are going to be minuses. I saw it as a massive positive, and it was something different. The engineers' drivers had to get their heads around. Um, we'll look at the data over the coming weeks and see what we can do. I did get one driver saying, Now, is that can we do this off now at Fructon? And I said, I'll be watching you from the beach on Bio Bay Dos and no problem. But you know, we'll we'll keep looking at stuff. Will we see that again? Keep it, you've got to come back next year, as I say. Yeah, we'll we've already I started a couple of weeks ago looking at the 27 format. What can we do? What can we change? Do we do you know one lap shootout? You know, there's a lot of things we can do. We've got to keep it I want to keep it interesting because it can some you know, some championship can get it, it's the same old, same old, same old. But we need to keep developing, keep pushing the championship forward. As you saw yesterday, how tight it was in qualifying. I mean, I've never seen a qualifying that tight in my life. So there's new things coming, new things we're working on.

Steve Taylor 4:27

Absolutely. Uh just finally, uh motorsports generally feeds a lot of data and information back to the motor industry for the for the big manufacturers. Uh is it the same with Goodyears, what you take away from your involvement in motorsport, fed back into those products which uh you know are used on the road?

SPEAKER_01 4:44

Yeah, I mean we we're at the forefront. Us and R and D and whatever we learn goes into the passenger car. You know, we're we do develop the our motorsport never stops still, you can't. So we're always going. So what we learn, undertakings, polymers, oils, whatever, tread campaigns, what we goes into our rotor. So it's a very t close link between racing and no work. Um and that's we use motorsport to develop, understand the road, and we're seeing it a lot more now. People feedback, people buying our rotors, the feedback they're getting. So it's it's good.

Steve Taylor 5:18

Absolutely, and plenty to go in the season yet as well.

SPEAKER_01 5:21

Yeah, we've still got a long way to go, haven't we? I got it, yeah. After today, my knees are kicking.

Steve Taylor 5:26

And we'll have dried out by the time we get to uh to cross. No, it's Donington. Thanks for reminding me, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:32

Yeah, Donington. So let's see, let's see what's Donington. We've got our own challenges there. Donington GP, hard on brakes, on the long circuit. Doesn't really get you. So next challenge in two weeks' time. Absolutely. Good to catch up with you. And you, mate, take care.