In search of boundaries

The day begins before the engines do. A good sixty kilometres north-west of Barcelona, the slip road from the A-2 winds its way up into the hills of the province of Anoia, past barren fields and pine forests. Further back on the horizon, the jagged silhouette of Montserrat comes into view, its jagged rock spires reminiscent of a saw. Below, nestled in a valley of the Serra dels Ninots, lies Parcmotor de Castellolí.

Opened in 2009, the motorsport park – originally designed for motorbikes – now houses several race tracks and a racing school, co-developed by Spanish motorsport greats such as Àlex Crivillé, two-time motorbike world champion, and Carlos Checa, 2011 Superbike World Champion. Major racing series rarely stop off here. Instead, manufacturers love the venue for tests and presentations. One glance across the site and you’ll see why.

The track winds its way through the slopes in a figure-of-eight pattern. At one point, the track passes under a bridge, which you fly over yourself shortly afterwards. Around ninety metres of elevation gain are spread over a good four kilometres, with slow hairpin bends alternating with fast curves and long straights. That’s why some people call Castellolí a little spa. It’s ideal for a tyre test: here, you can experience and assess virtually every relevant riding situation.

The pit lane is still quiet. Then the first engine roars to life. A V8 clears its throat, a four-cylinder growls in its wake, and somewhere an impact wrench rattles. The air is thick with that scent of warm tarmac, petrol and fresh rubber – a smell familiar to anyone who has ever spent a morning at a racetrack.

Corvette Stingray: A thunderous roar

Kirill’s first choice: the Corvette Stingray. Mid-engine, V8, high-performance sports tyres. “You can’t go wrong with that,” he thinks to himself, and after leaving the pit lane, he really opens the throttle. With the 6.2-litre V8 roaring, he hurtles towards the first corner.

Lacking knowledge of the circuit, he takes it easy for the first few laps, but even then he can feel how confidently and precisely the tyres respond to his still tentative steering inputs. After just a few laps, things look very different: braking late – probably much later than the instructor in the passenger seat would like – he approaches the first corner after the start-finish straight. He gets back on the throttle early. In the next fast right-hander, he misses the apex and has to correct. The tyre couldn’t care less. It stubbornly follows his clumsy steering input.

Time to push the limits: harsh load changes, provocative steering inputs, finding the limits. Yet the tyre behaves like a Tibetan monk. It refuses to engage in any skirmishes. It fends off any aggression at the steering wheel and accelerator with stoic composure.

Honda Civic Type R: The Ugly Duckling

Back in the pit lane, it’s supposed to be a BMW M3. That should make it easy enough to find the limit. However, the instructor asks the photographer if he’d like to drive something a bit more exciting and points to the Honda Civic Type R. Kirill thinks it over: manual gearbox, lightweight, a front-wheel-drive car, mind you, but never mind. He goes for the Honda. And somehow, it makes sense. The Civic is at the other end of the spectrum: front-wheel drive instead of rear-wheel drive, 150 PS less, a third of the engine capacity, a manual gearbox instead of a dual-clutch transmission. The only thing they have in common is the tyres.

After just a few metres, that go-kart feeling sets in. The engine, however, sounds like an overpowered lawnmower, and this noise is even artificially pumped into the cabin via the speakers. First love looks a bit different. But after a few bends, the Honda brings a smile to his lips. The engine noise is forgotten; his full concentration is on the braking and turning points, helpfully marked with colourful cones at the side of the road.

The performance of this combination? “Amazing!” emphasises Kirill. Even after several “push laps”, during which other sports road tyres start to slip, the Conti remains on a par with semi-slicks when braking and cornering. And that’s with a tyre optimised for low rolling resistance, which you can ride on in the rain without any problems. It was great fun with this little tyre. The only drawback: it doesn’t quite reach the limit. It only just grazes it.

Racing taxi and wet braking

You’ll find even more edge-of-the-limit action in the racing taxi, a Porsche Cayman GT4 in race trim. The Zuffenhausen-built car also runs on SportContact 7 tyres. Is that supposed to work? It does. And it lasts for up to 170 laps. At least, that’s what the driver says. He knows what he’s talking about. After all, in his day job, he’s a racing driver.

For the wet braking test with a BMW i4, Kirill was back behind the wheel – or rather, at the pedals – himself. The aim is to get from 75 km/h down to 0 km/h as quickly as possible. External measuring equipment records the braking distance to the nearest centimetre. A second BMW i4 is on hand for comparison. The tyres on this one are from a competitor. Who’ll win? It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?

BMW 230i: A direct comparison

Penultimate stage. Once again, the focus is on a comparison with a competitor, this time in terms of lateral handling characteristics. Ten BMW 230i are lined up, five fitted with the Conti tyres, five with the competitor products. To keep the experience fresh, drivers switch cars after three laps. The result: see above.

To round things off, we head off-road. This is where the SportContact 7 calls it a day. After all, it isn’t really designed for rough terrain. On an Ineos Grenadier, the CrossContact H/T comes into its own – a tyre for both road and off-road use. After the circuit sessions, you can catch your breath here on the dusty tracks, climb the hills of the off-road course and reflect on the day. From the top, the view stretches once more towards Montserrat in the distance.

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