MOTOR Tyre Test 2015: Wet Braking

Ordinarily, we’d be discussing the field’s wet lateral G force performance right about here.

But, as with dry G force measurement on the Figure Eight, there were simply too many environmental variables at play to arrive at a genuine number representative of sustained lateral acceleration. So, this year, wet G force was left out.

Wet emergency braking, though, has no suitable substitute. As with Dry Braking, each tyre set copped two emergency stops, though in this instance using a 60-0km/h measurement, albeit with brakes fully applied, cold, from 70km/h.

Again, the Continental proved to be the most talented wet-conditions performer, pulling up in 13.92m, close to a full metre shorter than any other competitor. “It’s just got really, really good wet grip,” was Luff’s appraisal of the Conti.

The Bridgestone was the best of the rest, its 14.75m stop bettering the Goodyear’s 14.93 and the Toyo’s 14.96.

“While the Bridgestone tends to break away quickly laterally, it’s really good in straight line under brakes,” Luff explains. “If anything, the Goodyear struggles a little in the second half of the stop. The Toyo is a more forgiving tyre (in its breakaway) but it just lacks overall wet grip.”

Despite all-round excellence in all disciplines thus far, a middle-order fifth placing for the Michelin, at 15.27m, was a little bit of a surprise. “While it’s certainly one of the faster tyres out there, it simply doesn’t like standing water,” Luffy reckons.

The Falken’s 15.34m was, in Luff’s words, “nothing startling”, though it fared better than the Winrun, which stopped in 16.41m, and the Dunlop which, at 16.96m, stopped a further half-metre in distance still.

“The construction of the Dunlop feels quite hard,” Luff surmises. “As if it’s been designed for maximum durability rather than focusing on leveraging grip.”

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LUFF YOU LONG TIME
TEN-YEAR MOTOR-testing veteran Warren Luff was, as always, our go-to-guy for the serious business of producing speed, accuracy and consistency throughout the running of the Tyre Test. Count all the tests up and the bloke did an astonishing total of 144 tests in one day.

“It’s actually more fatiguing than racing on the upper body,” he says, mostly because the A45 AMG’s seats lack the kind of lateral support of a dedicated race seat.

When not playing chief stunt dummy for MOTOR, Warren’s split between racing and stunt driving commitments. Spice up your Facebook feed by ‘Liking’ Warren Luff or, for Twits, following @WazzaLuff.