Continental tailored the compound of this tire specifically for consistency and durability for the track day enthusiast and 7-10 hour endurance races like the World Racing League (WRL) that has classes that require a 200-UTQG “street” tire.
Continental promotes this tire’s consistent lap times, with predictable handling and grip levels from the first lap until the last. Their SportPlus* Technology provides responsive handling, better grip on wet and dry roads, and extends tread life. With this endurance-focus, it will be interesting to see how its outright grip stacks up to its super-fast competitors in the class.
I’ve said in many of my previous articles that UTQG ratings are essentially USELESS and are only marketing and sales tools that have created a battlefield among tire manufacturers in this 200-UTQG rating, used by most competition events from time attacks to amateur racing. You can read more about this HERE.
The solid center rib improves steering response and consistent longitudinal traction for acceleration and braking. The two center circumferential grooves help against hydroplaning, while the angled lateral grooves help to evacuate water from the outer shoulders.
Meanwhile, the wide, low void outboard shoulders maximize the contact patch when cornering and improves mid-corner steering precision.
Tread depth wear holes are molded into the shoulder to help drivers monitor performance and wear. This is a great feature that really helps provide useful information to the track-day enthusiast and racer.
6 comments
Great article. I can’t wait for the track test. I am also looking at some Titan 7 made wheels for my 08 Miata. Evasive Motorsports has a custom line made for them by Titan. 17×10 +47 EVS Tuning 52R, which should need just a 3-5mm spacer to fit the NC properly. They are meant for S2000’s, but luckily that offset is very close to what the NC’s need, too.
Where are the Titan’s made?
Minor correction: the reinforced wheel is on the left, unreinforced on the right.
Valve stems are placed where they are most aesthetic on modern aluminum wheels, not on the heavy spot of the wheel. It’s nice to be consistent about aligning the dot on the tire with the valve stem but it really means nothing.
That’s all well and good but the author didn’t even mention the dot.
I think he was just saying that on pro race cars, they make a mark on the tire at the valve stem to keep an eye on slip.
Correct, it’s easy to make a small line with a paint pen to mark the valve stem position to monitor tire slippage on the wheel.