Premium German tyre maker Continental Tyres organised a day long Track Day event at the Wabco India Proving Ground in Tiruvallur, Tamil Nadu in the first week of January. The event was curated to test the recently launched Continental CrossContact H/T (Highway Terrain) range of tyres for SUVs.
The cars offered for the day were SUVs fitted with the CrossContact H/T (Highway Terrain) and included models like the Toyota Fortuner, Mahindra XUV700 and a few Hyundai Cretas.
CrossContact H/T tyres are made at the company’s ModiPuram plant in Uttar Pradesh and are available for rim sizes ranging from 15 inches to 18 inches. These tyres have been meticulously designed and developed specifically to meet tough Indian operation conditions, says Samir Gupta, Managing Director of Continental Tyres India, and Head of Central Region BA RE APAC.
At the Track Day event, Gupta said that the rubber compounds and structure of the CrossContact H/T tyres factored-in various road and mild off-road conditions and are specially reinforced to prevent casing damage and therefore can handle the daily challenges of a passenger car, crossover or SUV comfortably. They have been formulated to offer good grip, low noise, low rolling resistance and strong performance characteristics, he added.
For the Track Day event, the test track area was divided into three zones wherein various dry/wet tests were carried out. The dry zone included high-speed braking tests of large SUVs like the Toyota Fortuner and the Mahindra XUV700 to ascertain the grip and stopping distances on them. In this exercise, the run up speed attained was 80-90km/h with marker cones for hard braking manoeuvres. While the stopping distances varied between the Toyota Fortuner and the Mahindra XUV700, however, it was not the cars that were the subject of focus, but the ability of the CrossContact H/T tyres under these exercises.
Likewise, on the wet track, the nimble Hyundai Cretas were used for the demonstrations with the cars travelling up to 50 km/h in a straight line. The hard braking by drivers didn’t ruffle the car and it remained quite composed and the cars felt really good on the brakes, with only a small amount of ABS intervention.
During the tests, none of the electronic safety aids like ESP, Traction control were switched off or disabled. The highest day temperatures were reported to be 30◦C and most of the testing was done between 4.00-6.00pm, so working the environment was cooler and the laps didn’t impact the tyre pressures that much.
The third exercise was an autocross set-up with twists and turns to help understand and feel the dynamic performance of the tyres and the Hyundai Creta proved to be the perfect vehicle for this exercise.
Lastly, on the track, a longish unhindered drive was also permitted to allow drivers to experience the cushioning and road noise characteristics of the tyres in the SUVs.
Conclusion
While the multi-purpose tread pattern on the CrossContact H/T tyres are capable of handling the daily driving challenges on-road, these multitasking tyres have added “grip teeth”, that is small protrusions in the tread grooves that offer the necessary grip on non-asphalt or loose gravel surfaces. “With the multipurpose pattern, low road noise, and improved tread life, the product greatly fulfils Indian drivers needs and ensures a safe and comfortable ride across various Indian terrains,” said Gupta when the tyre was launched a few weeks ago.