Beat the Tariffs

I dont get it? surely when you drive on them the hairs come off?

 

As a tyre dealer i would also like to encourage gratuitous wheel spins as well. Wheel spins are cool.

Tyres are evil and should be punished!

Some years ago I had this fabulous/dreadful Lexus LS400. I bought it because i was entered in an amazing race run by the VSCC called the Pomeroy Torphy where you can race anything! (its officially not a race it is a high speed trial) Anyway i couldn't get my Frazer Nash to stop hosing oil out of its rear main bearing, on about my 5th attempt to get the lip seal to take the pressure it failed, i was drenched in oil and fed up, and had no car to race in the Pom. Last time i did it in my wifes Ford Galaxy it got me in no end of trouble.

Anyway, my mate Jono turned up and said "lets go to the pub." The boy is a genius.

While we were sat in the pub, it occured to us that there was a car auction opposite. I went and bought the car with the biggest engine, which turned out to be an early Lexus LS400, which was fast. I mean fast. It had this fabulous brutal upward gear change which meant it would let you rev round to 6.5K revs then just smash it into the next gear. No attempt to smooth it off. Which meant you could wheel spin it round to over 100mph on the speedo. I guess the diff must have been working very hard, one wheel would hardly be moving and the other doing 200mph. the smoke was stupendous.

So that Friday night, after i bought the car for £A bag of sand; i went home fitted a fire extinguisher and the other bits and bobs i would need for scrutineering. I put an extra 10psi in every corner. I ate a take away curry. Then I drove down to Silverstone and got in the Green Man Pub in time for last orders. Bulls Eye.

Next day, after some tests it became apparent how fast the Lexus was so i was toward the front end of the grid, anyway off we shot, the front row was my uncle in his Porsche Boxter, my mate George in another Boxter, someone in a wikedly fast modern Merc with one of those 6.3 engines, someone in an incredibly hot Subaru Forester, then my cousin in one of those modern Aston Martin DBS. The DBS was faster than all of us, we all ploughed up to Copse behind the DBS which promptly spun at about 100mph. I had to lift a little not to stuff it into the back of the DBS. The Forester got a bit of luck and a free run, and the rest of our bunch dropped back avoiding my numpty cousin. This left me chasing the Forester. It took a few laps to get past the Forester, because i hadn't driven the full Gran Prix track before and when a Forester is sideways in a corner its quite scarey to get close. The rest of the bunch i never saw again. I was lapping Silverstone Grand Prix track in a 15 year old LS400 faster than a newer Porsche Boxter and a 6.3 Merc, my cousin just couldn't keep his Aston on the track. maybe he should have left the traction control on. No car passed me for a ful 40 minutes, the only car that returned a faster lap than me was one of those modern Golf R's

I have digressed. the real reason i mentioned the Lexus is because when the tyres needed changing i did this.



Childish i know, but i thought a bit of scientific research was needed.

Also worth noting that if you are in the UK the best place to be this weekend is at Cadwell Park. Not only is the VSCC running a race meeting there but there is also the Frazer Nash Race!

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I did buy another one later, but it wasn't as good.

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It is a bit of a diliema. For the most part i use my cars, they are either in use regularly or in bits. i dont currently own a modern car. my most modern (a 1976 Black Silver Shadow with a red velvet interior) is currrently suffering from a dodgey brake fluid pipe.

However among my tat i do have 2 cars that i try not to drive for preservation reasons:

1/ Is my wifes GN. 1921 chain driven V2 aircooled engine in a silly little dainty cycle car. It is currently in my shed with with its cylinder heads because the valve seat fell out. This car is rare because it is so very standard. As a result it is totally unreliable because all the bits are worn out.

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All things considered my wife will hopefully be racing it at the end of July in the Longstone Light Car Race at Mallory Park.

2/ Then i have a rather gorgeous 1922 Peugeot Quadrilette. this car is so original i dont want to damage it or mess with its original paint.

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However that will be racing on the 30th of August as well!

However back to the subject of hairy tyres.

I dont know why they do it. well i do know why they have hairs on them, but i dont know why some have absolutely loads and others don't. I will ask Michelin, because they seem to be the main culprits. However it is exactly the sort of question they might be cagey about.

Anyway i don't know if it will make you feel better, but i thought i might post a picture of an even hairier tyre as a fun contrast.

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