Wet cornering

“IT WAS the first cone down!” said Renato excitedly after pushing just that bit too hard through one of our two wet corners. The Tucson was still pointing in the right direction, but an orange cone had a few more black marks down its side. Ultimately tyre compound and tread pattern can make a huge difference, even if there are compromises elsewhere, as the Maxxis proved. What it lacked in stability in dry cornering it made up for with grip on a slippery surface. Renato also praised its consistency despite some apparent flex in the sidewall. Whereas the weight and height of the Tucson proved a challenge with 1G peaks in the dry, they were less of an issue when the G forces were wound back to around 0.8/0.9G in the wet. Almost as quick and with way more feel was the Continental PremiumContact, which just “did everything really well … from a feel and driver point of view”. Despite average wet braking, the Cooper bit well into wet bitumen when cornering. Consistent and predictable, it matched the Con ti Premium Contact for traction through our wet bends. Even though the Cooper finished a hundredth of a second behind the Conti UltraContact, Renato was moved to say the Cooper was “super impressive in the way it went to understeer in the wet”. Never before has understeer been so enjoyable… It was the Hifly rubber that threw up the biggest surprise. After a strong performance in the wet braking exercise, its softer compound saw it notch up another impressive result here to finish just outside the podium places. The Toyo didn't cover itself in glory by finishing eighth, though Renato was positive about its ability to be thrown around in the wet. There was no hiding with the Kumho, which reached its grip limits early and saw Renato battling with lengthy skating. It was a clear wooden spooner, though the marginally better Hankook was described as “very vague”. “I tried to push it a couple of percent harder on the way in and it gave me nothing back,” said Renato. Except a flying cone.