Are there any magic new compounds coming through that will deliver the holy grail of grip and endurance?
One of the biggest recent advances has been the inclusion of silica, which has happened over the last couple of years. Silica effectively improves wet grip. When someone wants 15,000 miles out of a sport touring tyre, you’re not going to be able to use a very soft compound there. You’re going to have to have a medium to hard compound which isn’t going to be that good in the wet. Silica improves a harder compound’s ability to work in the wet. It’s all about temperature. A hard compound might not really work between 10 degrees and 90 degrees, say, and if it’s raining it might never get to that 10 degrees. Silica brings the effective operating temperature down to zero or one degree, so it will work in the wet. Silica also extends the tyre’s performance at the top end of the range by reducing the effects of overheating. The only trouble with silica is that it’s very expensive and very difficult to process. Some companies used to put a tiny amount in their tyres and then advertise them as ‘
