Countach Tires - does anyone care

We will be buying these this year....? Or will it likely/ realistically be 2019?

 

2018

 

I'm pleased to report my Countach is now fitted with a set of Pirelli's reintroduced Cinturato P7 tyres, which I'm currently doing as many (varied) miles on as I can over the next few weeks, after which I will report back to Pirelli on my findings comparing these to the P-Zero Asimmetrico tyre. Before then, though, I thought you guys would be interested to know some initial thoughts.

First thing to note is the very different profile at the outer edges of the P7 compared to the Pirelli P-Zero Asimmetrico, as you can see in this photo..
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You can see how the shoulders of the rear tyres are much more rounded. It's the same story on the fronts but a big surprise is the P7 tyres have much less tread depth than the P-Zero, which I think is a good thing as I felt excessive tread block movement was a significant issue with new P-Zero Countach tyres. The P-Zero tyres that came off my car still had around 6-7mm tread depth after around 6,000mls and set of nearly new tyres I have as spares have between 8-9mm tread depth, while the new P7 tyres have approx 6mm of tread depth, or around 30% less than a new P-Zero.

Once I drove the Countach with the P7 fitted I could feel the difference straight away, the car immediately felt as if it was riding better on the P7, there was none of the 'squirm' I had felt when I first fitted a set of new P-Zero tyres. There was much less tram-lining apparent, which I guess must be something to do with the more rounded profile presenting less tread on the road when the car is running straight. I've only done around 200miles on them so far but now they are broken in, I want to try them on more demanding roads as I have a suspicion out-right grip might be lower than the P-Zero but I'm hoping the outer limit of grip is easier to read, which was another failing for me with the P-Zero Countach tyre.

That said, I already feel these new P7 tyres suit the Countach better than the P-Zero, they feel 'right' straight out of the box, which is not something I felt with the P-Zero but I'll report more thoughts once I've put more miles on them.

Here are some more photos of how the tyres look on the car (the hand-written number on the side-wall is to signify these are pre-production customer standard tyres, which have been checked by Pirelli and cleared for testing), they don't look as imposing as the P-Zero did but somehow look very right on a Countach.. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Has anyone heard the status on the 285/40/15 P7? Are they still on hold?

 

I would need to check with Longstone Tyres but I believe Dougal had a set of those on the van when he came up to fit these 345/35R15 to my car. He also had a set of P7 205/50 fronts for early Countach, which haven't been available for decades.

 

Nice, moving right along. Thanks for testing (risking lol) Harry.

 

Thank you Sir. This is great news! I hope they are a hit and you can recommend them. Get that video camera rolling.

 

Fantastic, thank you for doing the testing Harry.

Dougal has been great with heads-up along the way and I look forward to receiving an early set!

Your comments only confirm my expectations and what I have said for years: the PZero is not the correct spec tire for the pre-Anniverstay Countach.

Even my old P7s feel much better than new PZeros.

Personally, I do not care for the tread-pattern on the PZeros and much prefer the rounder shoulders and iconic tread pattern of the P7.

A fantastic conclusion to an epic story of persistence.

 

Fwiw last weekend a Pantera enthusiast told me that the 285/40 were being made [for the front] so that a full set would be available for the Pantera. There are no 195/50 on the cards [for the front of the Silhouette] so the 205/50 will have to suffice...

 

So the 285/40 do actually exist!! Excellent news...

 

The homologation Silhouette 40026 on P7s outside the factory when new...

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Thank you Dougal, I'm honored to receive set number 1 for the USA, I don't know what to say, except that I need to call you Monday and pay up!!

 

P7s were initially seen on Bravo in 1974 and they were tested by Sterzel on the arancio P250 bodied Urraco muletto in the last quarter of 1975 and the Silhouette proto snorkel car in the winter of 75/76. Guerra told me that he made the arches and snorkel engine cover from aluminium...

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I spent today driving my P7 equipped Countach on the more dynamic roads I use for most of my filming and I'm very pleased to report I like these new P7 even more today than I did before.

My fear the grip levels wouldn't be there like before proved to be unfounded, I'd have to go on track to push any harder than I did today and yet the car didn't spring any surprises, understeer was minimal and reading what was happening at the tyre contact patch was much easier with these new P7 tyres than with the P-Zero tyres I had fitted previously. In fact, my Countach felt better dynamically today than it has ever felt before, which is such great news.

In summary, these P7 tyres tramline less, ride better, deliver similar levels of grip but better feel than the P-Zero, which is a great list of attributes and a remarkable result for Countach owners. If you care about how your Countach drives, then I have no hesitation in saying these are the tyres for you, thank you to all involved in getting them back in production, us Countach owners should be most grateful.

Pirelli were asking for feedback on Friday afternoon before pressing the (production) button but I wanted more time to try them on these more testing roads before reporting. The only thing I haven't done is test them in the wet but I don't see this as a critical factor in how they drive, so I will file my report in the morning
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Not sure where Douglas came from, meant to read Dougal, apologies. I blame auto spell checker!

 

Speaking to a tire engineer, I was told to expect good things with today's rubber compounds.

Hearing your Countach feels better than it has ever done only underscores my belief that these cars can be made to work incredibly well by following the original format.

I cannot wait to get these P7s on our Countach as we had the suspension completely rebuilt during the restoration and subsequently dialed-in.

A big win for the Countach in general, epic news all round, and thank you again for the effort.

Yes we are lucky to get early sets of tires and I appreciate Dougal doing that.

 

Fantastic, souds like we all will enjoy our cars even more, can not waith to get a set, will they be avail in Us thru Pirell Us? Or will Longstone tires be exclusive?

 

Thanks

 

I am posting this message in hope that Dougal does not see it

Unless you guys are getting an unbelievable 20% 30% 50% off on a set of tires from somewhere in your/our country, I would heavily suggest and recommend buying them from Longstone.
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Dougal has been one of the driving forces for us owners and is the ONLY tire guy that has kept us updated. The other distributors have rather just sat back and waited for these and its orders from owners. I do not recall any of them checking with us.
Look at this thread and when it started on Dec 23, 2015. Has anyone else thought about us and checked with us? No.

Now we have Harry testing and posting his feedback here, to us! Really, us guys, not just Pirelli.
To save a hundred, if that, is not really worth it considering all that has been done for us. Plus it looks like free shipping to the States, at least.

That's just my 2 cents. I will be ordering at a later date as my car's getting a bunch of other much need work done. Even though I have pretty new P-Zeros on it!

 

Btw, can we get them with raised white Pirelli letters

 

I was wondering the same thing Peter. Dougal offers free shipping. Not sure what Lucas Tire will do once they have them in stock, but I could see $100+ shipping charges tacked on. I agree with you that Dougal put this baby together, I’d order from him without question.

Not only that, but I must say I was shocked at the price. All this time I had been assuming the price of the new P7 would be as expensive, if not more, then the P-Zero Asimetrico tires. What a surprise to see both sizes of the P7 were less than 1/2 of the P-Zero!! Its almost like Christmas in May!

Thanks again to all involved in putting this together.

Mike

P.S. Just curiouw for those who have the tires already, what are the date codes? I’m assuming they are something like “1118, 1218, 1318” or something close.

 

Success is almost always the result of a joint effort and a positive mindset, and this thread underscores that, and Pirelli should be applauded for listening

You can paint them on as Pirelli did for the Auto Shows in yellow, meanwhile I think the moulds are set with 'Pirelli Cinturato P7'

The pricing means that PZeros (which are not the right equipment anyway) will almost always be passed over in favor of the P7 for the Countach, thereby making it viable for continued prodction by Pirelli

Meanwhile, only Harry has a set, mine are in transit, I'll check codes when they arrive