I'm not terribly surprised by the price of the tires. My mom's old Corvette tires were, IIRC, $1200 a piece. Don't know what tires on her '16 go for. And Corvettes don't go 231 mph. As I recall, tires were what speed-limited one of the Bugattis.
Frankly, I have no idea how they get a tire to hold together at 231mph. I haven't sat down and gone "okay, tire is X mm in diameter, at 231mph, that's Y RPM, carry the one...", but I imagine there are some incredible forces trying to pull that tire apart at 231mph. And the poor thing has to keep it together well enough to negotiate a corner with added side forces added to an already stressful situation.
So for $50K [0] you'll assure me that the tread won't come unglued from the carcass while I'm traveling the length of a football field every second? Sounds like a bargain to me.
(Kept separate from my other comment to avoid digression.)
A remarkable amount of engineering goes into a tyre. The Concorde was one of the most sophisticated aircraft of its time, but it was ultimately undone by tyres - nobody quite figured out how to build a tyre that could reliably handle 170mph landings. Poor maintenance and pilot error played a contributory role in the crash of Air France flight 4590, but Concorde had a rate of tyre failure 30 times higher than subsonic aircraft.
Corvette tires are expensive because they’re designed to go very fast and also to go very far when they go flat (50-70 miles without air if I recall), as you carried no spare (different sized wheels front and back). Not sure about the latest generation Corvette (have not owned one since the early 00s), but the C5s were only ~$300/tire (Goodyear Eagle F1s).
I think the new ones have tires all the same size. Regardless, yes, ‘vettes go fast, which why I used them as an example. Because I imagine a hockey stick on the tire speed rating/price curve. We can get you to 180mph for a reasonable price ($1200 ‘vette tires). You want over 200mph? Ooh, that’s going to cost you because that’s very hard to do, and there aren’t a dozen street-legal cars in the world that need them.
Frankly, I have no idea how they get a tire to hold together at 231mph. I haven't sat down and gone "okay, tire is X mm in diameter, at 231mph, that's Y RPM, carry the one...", but I imagine there are some incredible forces trying to pull that tire apart at 231mph. And the poor thing has to keep it together well enough to negotiate a corner with added side forces added to an already stressful situation.
So for $50K [0] you'll assure me that the tread won't come unglued from the carcass while I'm traveling the length of a football field every second? Sounds like a bargain to me.
(Kept separate from my other comment to avoid digression.)
[0] EDIT: oops, $50K/set, not each