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Wet Handling and Cornering
Safety and control are paramount on wet roads - so which rubber was the most reassuring to drive on?
The only time most of us get close to the limit of our
tyres’ ability is on wet roads. Grip is drastically reduced and there can be
huge performance gaps between the best and worst rubber – often the difference between
having a crash or not.
Vredestein and Goodyear design tyres to perform well in the
wet, and the Sportrac 3 and OptiGrip uphold this. The Russian-owned Dutch firm
just took the win from its US rival, with Continental close behind.
All three inspired confidence, allowing the driver to get on
the throttle early and equiring the minimum of steering lock. The order was
shuffled a little on the cornering circle, with
Continental just in front and Bridgestone pipping Goodyear for
third. Reigning champ Pirelli felt particularly sharp, and was fifth on the
handling circuit but faded to eighth on the circle. In contrast, Kumho showed promise
in the cornering test, but didn’t deliver as the speeds increased on the
circuit, where the nose slid wide too easily.
Michelin suffered the same fate on the faster discipline,
coming fifth on the circle but dropping to eighth on the handling track in a
tightly packed group. The bottom of the top 10 was the best the Dunlop could
manage in both tests – even though it felt safe, it was short on grip.
A long way back was the Wanli. This was not a pleasant drive,
with the sheer dearth of grip triggering the anti-lock braking very early and
pushing the car wide as soon as the throttle was touched. Wanli was four
seconds slower than the next best make, and a worrying seven seconds behind the
top tyre on the handling circuit.
Dry track star Maxxis didn’t really take to the wet surface,
managing no better than two
11th places. But at least it was in touch with the rest of
its rivals.
