Tyres - Striking the Right Balance
We get asked about tyres every day. Even more so now we have opened our new performance based workshop in Hemel.
For years, in pitlanes up and down the country, we have been asked by customers on their trackday as well as others just walking past our cars; What tyres do we use? How do we find the performance of the tyres? How much do we pay? How do they compare with this tyre? Are they suitable for the road? Etc.
As a business, we may have different buying criteria for our tyres than you. Factors that influence us when considering tyre brand, tread pattern, compound etc include dry performance, wet performance, cold/warm outright performance, cold/warm performance differential, consistency, longevity, predictability at the limit, short term availability and last but not least, cost.
Most people assume because we are a company specialising in high performance on circuit, we simply look for the tyre that offers us the most outright grip. But, as with all things, there must be a compromise. As a business we of course take payment in exchange for track time. We will need a high performance tyre to provide you, our client, with the best possible experience driving our cars up to the limit. However, we must also understand our customer base well enough to judge where to draw the line in terms of cost.
There is always a strong requirement from our customers to supply cars capable of offering supreme performance, but you also do not want to break the bank for what is, essentially, a single day of fun before going back to your everyday activities. So, like all things, we must strike the right balance of performance per £ otherwise our prices may end up becoming a limiting factor for some people.
We are always trying new products, and renegotiating with our suppliers to try and provide you, our customer and trackday enthusiast, with the best performance at a price you won't baulk at. To date, we have tested products from the following tyre manufacturers:
Bridgestone
Yokohama
UniRoyal
Nankang
Nexen
Toyo
We have so far not gone to print with any serious feedback about the tyres we have used in the past due to the 'unofficial' nature of our track tests and usage however, as we move forward and grow, we do intend to start feeding back to you, our customers, as to what we recommend and why.
Watch this space for more news, reviews, updates and videos from our exploits on track and from our workshop, as hopefully we become a more important resource for trackday enthusiasts and the constant thirst for information that may improve your lives on circuit.
