MICHELIN POWER CUP EVO
Ifind Michelin a real funny subject when talking about two-wheeled tyres. Think about it; they represent and run the rubber at the very pinnacle of racing in MotoGP, yet when was the last time you ever saw a significant amount of branding, support or any involvement at a national level? Nah, I don’t remember either.
But then again, brand awareness definitely doesn’t equate to grip on track, so I was secretly excited to have the Michelin man watching over me.
From the very off in my head I was little cynical, as Michelin was the only manufacturer to deliver us a 190 section rear tyre (instead of a 200). This meant that after half a lap or so I could throw the GSX-R into corners with absolute and unparalleled ease; the thing would fall in on a six pence. This meant that I was pushing the front harder, and from the outset I struggled to get any proper feedback from that front end over the proper bumpy sections – it almost felt like the suspension wasn’t pushing the tyre hard enough, and instead of moulding and flexing, the construction felt much stiffer than the competition. This made it quite hard to find that sweet spot with the front end, and in return meant I was trying to over compensate by making up time on the gas – which in hindsight was a bit silly.
The rear had the same sense of stiffness and every time I tried to bury the gas harder, it obliged, until it would flick out of line with very little warning – there’s a first gear hairpin at Parcmotor, and on three separate occasions I ended up almost being employed by NASA… and it was at that point, I’d learnt my lesson. See, the Michelins were great up to a point, but above that, they just didn’t offer enough: At one point everything was all gravy, then bam, the TC light is flashing its tits off, the back end is going west and I was just in it for the ride. I think a smoother, more pliant track would’ve done wonders for the Michelin’s results, but we didn’t want to make it easy for the rubber.
The 190 rear tyre definitely didn’t do it any favours for my noggin and the lap time reflected that, but on a more positive note, the rubber didn’t look too bad at all after a couple of sessions of spanking. Every cloud…