[macshome]

Until recently, Formula One teams used Helium in their wheel guns as it spins them faster. In their push to be more environmentally friendly the sanctioning bodies realized that banning the use of pneumatic helium was an easy win.

[HPsquared]

My favourite F1 tire gas story is when Ferrari used a refrigerant gas (HFC 404a) to inflate the tyres instead of the usual nitrogen.

The gas has mutch better heat transfer properties and helped with cooling, which gave them a slight advantage.

Not sure if they utilised a full-on refrigerant cycle within the tyre (liquid being thrown against the inside and evaporating) or similar a higher density and heat capacity, giving improved connections heat transfer, but pretty interesting nonetheless. Was banned soon after, of course.

https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/ferraris-tire-gas-...

Edit: definitely the latter, pressure nowhere near high enough to go liquid

[FirmwareBurner]

This was probably in the old days of F1 when teams could do whatever they wanted. Nowadays Pirelli is responsible for mounting the tires on the wheels and inflating them to spec.