Oh. My. Goodness. What a day... I felt like I was having an out of body experience testing the limits like a wild person. I normally drive pretty subdued, you know having precious cargo and all, so when the track master said, FLOOR IT, then SLAM ON YOUR BRAKES. I was like, um... are you sure? He smiled and said, Floor it, then picture a kid in front of the car. That was all I needed. I floored it, hit 55 miles an hour, then at the orange cones pictured a kid. I slammed on my brakes for dear life, on a track covered in water no less! Thankfully, the tires did their job and stopped. Well, the Continental TrueContact tires stopped...
It makes me sick to say it, but the tires on my own car did not stop until almost 15 feet AFTER the place where the Continental tires stopped. I was so upset when my tire manufacturer didn't stop. I got out of the car in disbelief, and asked the track guy why? WHY did my tires made by a leading tire manufacturer preform SO poorly in comparison? He explained the different tread levels on various tires, and the materials used. Plain and simple, Continental doesn't mess around when it comes to safety, materials and the environment. It's scary that other companies can.
Speaking of scary... Our next task was to purposely hydroplane! The purpose of the test was to show that if you can only afford to replace two tires, you should put them on the BACK, not the front. Which is the opposite of what I had always been taught, but sure enough, its true! I learned this by driving two separate cars-- one with new (TrueContact) tires on the front, and the other with new (TrueContact) tires only on the back-- around an oval track "hugging the white line" at 55 miles an hour, and then once I came to the part of the track with water being constantly hosed on it, I had and resist the urge to break when I saw the water. I actually had to hit that strip of wet track at 55 miles an hour and hydroplane! This showed the difference of control between having bald tires on the front vs. the back. It was night and day... and SO scary!
That's me saying, OMG! Did you see that! SCARY! It really was amazing how I just came right out of the hydroplane! LOVE these tires!! |
That's me, extra focused. That's my partner holding on to the "oh shit" handle and praying. |
WHAT A DAY! |
To learn more about the Continental TrueContact Tires, CLICK HERE!