Andy E.

Congratulations go out to Matt & Nathalie Lane as lucky winners of the Pirelli tire tech session grand prize: Four (4) Pirelli P-Zero Trofeos!

Thanks go out to all who attended this successful event.

Dwane

Matt didn't win the tires Nathalie did!
And I am in the process of acquiring said tires.
Thanks to Nicholas and the guys at Touchette(Tony and Eric) as well as Yves from Pirelli.

oups59

+1

early_grayce

Unfortunately I couldn't make it to the event due to work....
Anyone care to provide a little summary, or share anything interesting they learned?

Thanks!

Bob Rouleau

N rated tires are different. Porsche mandates specific angles for the seat (where the tire meets the rim to allow for the fact that rear wheels on Porsches use more negative camber. Additionally added metal cords are used on the inside edge of the tire to prevent overheating the tire due to toe in and camber. This applies specifically to the Pirelli tires used by Porsche but appears to be typical, so while they look the same, they are quite different on the inside. For a car to be eligible for a CPO warranty it must be on N rated tires.

If a car comes on say, N2, you can replace them with the same or a higher number, i.e. N2, N3, N4 etc. but never with a lower N number.

Trailers without shock absorbers must use bias ply tires. With shocks, radials are OK.

New Tropheo replaces Corsa System with improved dry and wet grip, also lighter due to use of improved materials.

Lots more ...

Dwane

Andy E. is trying to make a cut on N rated tires.

Andy E.

Dwane, I'm tempted to buy one of each in a bastard size and slice them both up to see if in fact there's any truth to this. Maybe we can find the same Pirelli engineer who can cut them for us at a mere $500/sample?

early_grayce

Tropheo are R compound, right? Where would they sit in terms of price, speed, durability etc... relative to MPSC, R888, NT01's?

Bob Rouleau

Tropheo is not an R compound, rather a replacement for the Corsa system and will soon be N rated.

Matt Lane

It was a good event. Natalie winning tires aside, it was great to see everyone again and catch up - Bob, Andy, Dwane, Michael, Ian etc.

Thank you Andy and the Rennsport organizers, Touchette, and Pirelli as sponsor.

Regarding the N spec, I was ready to jump into the discussion but the presenter was quite animated and definitive...

What was not mentioned is that the Porsche accounts for a number of design elements (and compromises) in each model produced. By way of example, new cars need to

1. Have a safe alignment that, by defnition, understeers.
2. Have reasonably soft and compliant street ride.
3. Have low road noise/intrusion.
4. Have reasonable longevity and durability.

Few of us would stand up and say these are especially desirable from a performance standpoint. Yet, logically, these same parameters and compromises are specifically engineered into an N-spec tire which is part of the suspension and braking systems.

That's all good and well, but many of us are looking for performance beyond that offered by an OE street tire, and we're willing to accept a harsher, noisier and short-lived ride. In fact, after 10 minutes of defending N-spec tires, it was apparent that the latest and greatest Trofeo (released in summer 2010) remains of extremely limited availability, nothing N rated.

Just food for thought.

Best,

Matt

FFaust

So more a competitor to the Mich Super Sport then and not quite at the level of the Cups.

Thanks for the info Bob and Matt, and congratulations on winning the tires Matt.

Was signed up for the first date, but was not in Montreal for this one. Too bad.

Anyone in Toronto on 2 April, there is a Pagid tech session at Sports Car Boutique.