Hankook tyres

[Steve L]

John and Graeme. Where did I say that speeds of over 100Mph were driven by me on the highway, because I did not.

Perhaps you should read the last seven words. "safety of other road users being paramount"

AIM and ROSPA training is all about forward thinking and being much more aware of hazard perception.

You do not need to exceed the speed limits to be cosiderably quicker on a journey, nor do you need to cut corners or pull out of junctions in front of traffic.

As for the fuel consumption senario that was using the vehicle on the same run, which just went to show how much un-necessray braking and acceleration took place.

Perhaps a track day with me where I drive to the max would show what a "trained" driver realy can do with a car. In those circumstances I do exceed the tonand often get close to doubling it. Or may be a day out "drifting" with a Skyline would show some accutely accurate car control.

While whay you see on the outside as yobs in cars doing quite the opposite of safe driving, the skill level rquired to get a car to slide exactly how you want is very high indeed.

Copy,paste,criticise is quite a low level skill!

 

[GrahamSouthBrum]

In your posting you did not state that your driving over the ton & beyond was on or off road, I would hope that from your comments that it is off road.

To copy & paste is a low level skill.

To train as a Firefighter, drive LGVs up to 24 ton on blue lights through city centers at speed safely, not low level

 

[Sedo]

Hi lads

Can you please let me know what tyres you do all these deeds of derring do on. As I've said I'm very lucky in getting a free set of Mich tyres but reading what some of you lads seem to be able to do other tyres I might be inclined to shell out for set and have a bit of excitement in my life. I'm one of these boring guys who drives round at the speed limit on public roads so I'd be really interested in the tyres you use.

All the best

Tomo

 

[Steve L]

In your posting you did not state that your driving over the ton & beyond was on or off road, I would hope that from your comments that it is off road.

To copy & paste is a low level skill.

To train as a Firefighter, drive LGVs up to 24 ton on blue lights through city centers at speed safely, not low level

Yes Graeme, my high speed exploits are primarily off road, or to be more precise test track.

In a previous job, I was trained by Lotus cars to their "black license" standard and also an approved track test driver. Like wise, Aston Martin also trained me in a simlar way.

I got to drive cars you see today whenthey were proto types, to report on such vital things as steering, braking and performance power characteristics.

When the development boys got it wrong you certainly knew about it when you hit a corner at 140Mph and things went pear shaped. That's how my interest in "drifting" came to light, as I spent time with acouple of top guys to learn their techniques to help me out of tight corners.

After all, it is better to find out these design faults on a test track rather than the highway.

Remember the early freelander fault where the removeable rear roof top on the sport version parted company above 70Mph. Sloppy testing there.

Steve.

 

[Steve L]

The German ADAC auto club published a comparison test of typical 175/65 R14T summer tyres in the March issue of their magazine. The overall ratings, taking individual results on dry and wet road surfaces, effect on fuel consumption, high speed running, and tyre wear into account, were as follows:

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

1. Pirelli Cinturato P4

2. Fulda EcoControl

3. Continental EcoContact 3

4. Kunho Solus KH17

RECOMMENDED

5. Yokohama C Drive

6. Firestone Multihawk

7. Dunlop SP30

8. Hankook Optimo K715

9. Maloy Crono 465t

10. Goodyear DuraGrip

11. Semperit Comfort Life

12. Bridgestone B250

ACCEPTABLE

13. Barum Brillantis

14. Vredestein T-Trac Si

NOT RECOMMENDED

15. Sava Perfecta

16. Avon CR322 Enviro

17. Tigar TG621

18. Trayal T400

I must admit I hadn't heard of a number of the above makes before.

Thank you Lutz.

I certainly feel a little more comfortable knowing Hankook are in the top end listings.

A lot of people tend to be brand concious and so tend to rubbish the less well known.

I tend to look more at design and build quality as often you get for instance a 5 year old goodyear design pop back up today as a not so well known brand etc.

Steve L.

 

[Steve L]

Just to give an update on the Hankook Optima K415 tyres fitted to my Laguna.

I spent yesterday trudging up and down the M4 and M5, driving between Leominster and Taunton. You see being too tight to pay the toll, I use my Welshmans right to enter England free via the new severn crossing, and then go back via Gloucester to sneak in the back door.

I drove both on wet and dry roads and found the tyres to be well behaved. There is no significant road noise intrusion at speed, the cornering ability is very good even when you have to alter coarse in a corner to avoid tractor reversing out of a farm entrance with a plough on the back and no "banksman" to guide him. What a "twit"!!

Motorway driving was very good with no sign of aquaplaning, or tendancey to drift on the greasey nearside lane, not that many folks use that lane these days!

All of the driving was done under normal trafic conditions.

As the tyres are new I will reserve full judgement until I've worn them out and hopefully, that'll be a while yet.

So far I'm quite impressed with the perfomance.

Steve L.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Steve I quote the your whole paragraph:

"I'm no slow coach when driving and am quite used to driving at the ton and beyond, but due to my high standard of driver training which involved ROSPA, Lotus cars and Aston Martin,which has given me the necessary skills to drive a vehicle both to it's top performance and also defencively with safety of other road users being paramount."

You quite clearly state that you are used to driving at the ton and beyond, You the go on to point out that you drive high performance vehicles, and then say that your ROSPA training has equipped you to do this.

The last sentence does not state that you do not speed, only that you consider other road users. That is only a limited qualification in so far that when there are no other road users, it implies you feel free to speed. My point is that regardless of the road and traffic conditions it is illegal for the general public to speed.

In the absence of any statement to the effect that you only drive at the ton and beyond in the UK on race tracks or other private roads, or that you are an emergency response driver, we are left with the definite impression that you use such speeds on the public highways.

I am certain that ROSPA would distance themselves from such statements, and I question why it seems to be that so many people on this forum proudly pronounce themselves to be ROSAP or IAM trained and then link that statement with the ability to drive beyond the speed limits.

Advanced driver training is not designed to make faster drivers but better, safer drivers.

Please clarify your position.

 

[Steve L]

John.

Perhaps if you'd read the comment I returned to Graham following both of your rebuff's then you would be a little more informed.

I have been trained and approved by two of the leading UK sports car manufacturers to "test drive" their super high performance cars. This has been primarily on race/test tracks. Believe me their training goes way beyond the two public faced advanced training institutes, after all, they don't what you writing off a mutli-million pound prototype that took years to get to the tarmac.

Both AIM and ROSPA concentrate their training of the public on safety and hazard perception.

I have also stated that you do not have to exceed the speed limits to be a quick driver on the roads.

However being a perceptive and anticipative driver enables much higher average speeds. Again that does not mean being "all accelerator and brake".

The average driver would be quite amazed at how much the choice of tyres, tyre pressures, shock absorbers, air filters, engine oil, etc make to the overall efficiencey of their bog standard car.

Steve L.

 

[ProfJohnL]

John.

Perhaps if you'd read the comment I returned to Graham following both of your rebuff's then you would be a little more informed.

I have been trained and approved by two of the leading UK sports car manufacturers to "test drive" their super high performance cars. This has been primarily on race/test tracks. Believe me their training goes way beyond the two public faced advanced training institutes, after all, they don't what you writing off a mutli-million pound prototype that took years to get to the tarmac.

Both AIM and ROSPA concentrate their training of the public on safety and hazard perception.

I have also stated that you do not have to exceed the speed limits to be a quick driver on the roads.

However being a perceptive and anticipative driver enables much higher average speeds. Again that does not mean being "all accelerator and brake".

The average driver would be quite amazed at how much the choice of tyres, tyre pressures, shock absorbers, air filters, engine oil, etc make to the overall efficiencey of their bog standard car.

Steve L.

Hello Steve,

I confess I had missed you comment. And I welcome the clarification. Equally on most points I tend to agree with your postings, so I am pleased to read of the more sensible approach you express.

May I suggest that if it is beneficial to expound a point about driving, then only use the references to RoSPA etc in the context of hazard awareness and better driving, rather than high speeds.

regards