The Toughest Test

Goodyear is rightly proud of its new Eagle F1 Supersport range of Ultra Ultra High Performance tyres. But what will evo readers make of them? We went to the Bedford Autodrome to find out

IT’S EASY FOR ANY TYRE COMPANY to talk the talk. ‘Our tyres do this. They excel at that. They’re the ones you’ll prefer.’ But the acid test of any new tyre comes when you let the people who are likely to buy them try them. Especially when they’re an audience as discerning as a group of trackobsessed evo readers…

That was the challenge Goodyear accepted when launching its new Ultra Ultra High Performance (UUHP) tyre, the Eagle F1 Supersport, to a bunch of experienced trackday goers at a recent evo-sponsored event at the acclaimed Bedford Autodrome and also at the challenging Knockhill circuit, both notoriously hard on tyres. A handful of readers had a set of Eagle F1 Supersports fitted to their cars to experience at the absolute limit on those circuits’ demanding and punishing curves, while another group got to try the tyres during some hard-driven road miles.

And having pushed these superb new tyres to extremes, what’s the evo readership verdict on the performance of the new Goodyear Eagle F1 Supersport?

Tom Parritt has experience of rival trackday rubber and came away very impressed with how the new Goodyears behaved on his 302bhp allwheel-drive Mercedes-amg A35. ‘The Supersport is very progressive and quieter than the P Zero – I think it’s generally superior to the Pirelli,’ he said. ‘It was great in the wet on the track; it was very hard to lose the car.’

Another driver able to provide some comparative comment was John Gray, owner of one of Porsche’s superlative Cayman Rs. ‘The Supersport is more progressive and provides better feedback than the Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S,’ was his frank appraisal.

Also a fan Is Rhys Hawkes, owner of a Renault Sport Clio 220 Sport: ‘The turn-in was really positive, and in Race mode, even without traction control or ESP, the back end was more locked down because they warm up more quickly. There was no understeer or squeal. On the road there’s not too much tyre noise and compared with other track tyres they give more all-round usability.’

Meanwhile, out on the road Aaron Whiffin and James Scott, both of whom own a Mk7 Volkswagen Golf R and are members of the UK Mk7 Golf R Owners Club, were also very enthusiastic. ‘They turn a well-handling car into something phenomenal,’ raved Aaron. ‘I’m amazed by them,’ proffered Scott. ‘For a fast road tyre they are going to be hard to beat.’

We’ll leave the final remarks to Gordon Shedden, three-time winner of the BTCC and therefore a shrewd judge of tyres. He tried a set of Eagle F1 Supersports on an Audi RS3 and had this to say: ‘That power and that four-wheel-drive

system require the best tyres to get the best possible performance from the car. These Eagle F1 Supersport tyres provide grip in abundance: they’re everything a driver could want.’

Positive feedback, then, from a knowledgeable group of potential buyers, as well as from someone with a little more track experience than most… Which bodes well for Goodyear’s ambition that the Eagle F1 Supersport range be seen as a true challenger to the established trackday staples from Michelin and Pirelli.

It’s designed to bring out the very best from the sort of pulse-raising cars that fill evo’s pages each month, with the Eagle F1 Supersport and Supersport R available in a wide range of popular sizes to suit everything from hot hatches to supercars, while the Eagle F1 Supersport RS has been designed specifically for Porsche 911 GT3 and GT2 models. In fact, the Supersport RS is Porsche’s recommended trackday tyre for its two most extreme sports cars, a further affirmation as to how accomplished this new Goodyear tyre is on the circuit.

The Eagle F1 Supersport’s on-track prowess is a direct result of Goodyear’s 100-plus years of motorsport experience, spanning all the elite branches of the sport from NASCAR to Formula 1 – and Goodyear has just announced it is developing a new range of race tyres for the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) for the 2019/2020 season.

Which means the design team for the Eagle F1 Supersport wasn’t short on inspiration and direction when creating this stunning new UUHP trackday tyre. Of course, the Eagle F1 Supersport also has to behave well on the road – you need to get to and from the circuit, after all – but the emphasis of its design is to boost the performance of your car on the track, and to instil confidence in you, the driver, when you’re giving it all.

As Technical Partner at evo’s track events, Goodyear has an intimate understanding of the ingredients required to produce a class-leading trackday tyre. Extreme levels of grip are fundamental, and a technically advanced new rubber compound ensures that even evo readers will be impressed by how hard they can push their car through corners on a set of these tyres.

Grip is just part of the equation, though. Precision handling – the ability to accurately hit an apex lap after lap – is crucial, too, and with the Eagle F1 Supersport this is facilitated in a number of ways. All versions of the tyre have an optimised footprint that gives more consistent pressure distribution across the tyre, enhancing steering accuracy and feedback. Stiff sidewalls help here, too. The ‘regular’ Supersport has a closed outside tread pattern that boosts control during load transfers through corners, while its stiff tread ribs aid agility in high-speed directional changes. And the Supersport R features bridges across the tread pattern’s inner groove to enhance in-corner stability.

So, you’ve absorbed the informed opinions of fellow evo readers, and learnt the technical highlights. Now would be a good time to experience a set of Goodyear Eagle F1 Supersports for yourself…