Owning a supercar is undoubtedly the ultimate in automotive ecstasy. The pleasure derived from cocooning yourself in an exclusive world of luxury and outstanding horsepower, then letting your wilder desires loose as you put your foot on the accelerator. The adrenaline rush is akin to sailing a Swan 80RS in the Round the Island Race during Cowes Week, or skiing off piste in Klosters; combined with the utter bliss of its striking beauty, enormous power, stunning handling and thoroughbred performance credentials.
Restricting this joyous experience to the summer months in the UK can make the passion that we all feel about our cars turn into guilty pleasures – like owning the Taylor-Burton diamond, but never taking it out of the safe. These elegant expressions of vitality and success should be enjoyed all year round. However as winter truly arrives, the road surfaces become more hazardous. Yet the solution is very simple as it all comes down to changing tyres.
Premium, high-performance cars tend to come with tyres optimised for summer conditions. Summer tyres are specifically built to maximize traction on asphalt at higher temperatures. In low temperatures roads surfaces are affected by dampness, slush and snow, greatly reducing friction and making summer tyres less safe at speed. Furthermore, even though our automotive thoroughbreds contain the ultimate computer driven stabilizing technologies, which may help take out the human element from traction optimization, these devices can only optimize the traction that’s available from the tyres.
The video below shows the 1978 World Rally Champion Markku Alen behind the wheel of the FF on the Arjeplog track in the North of Sweden.
In many parts of Northern Europe it is a compulsory legal requirement for drivers to keep two sets of wheels and tyres – a set of ‘summer’ tyres and a set of specialist ‘winter’ tyres. Although not compulsory in the UK, they are certainly advisable, especially for the more powerful engine as it is more important that the tyres maintain traction at speed. The tread pattern on winter tyres is specifically designed to remain flexible at low temperatures which gives them good traction and braking performance on snow and ice. They even perform better in wet conditions. As soon as the temperature drops below +7 degrees, then winter tyres are advisable.
Please contact one of our service teams to enquire about winter tyres and enjoy the bliss of owning and driving a prestigious masterpiece of elegant modern automotive engineering all year round.
