Classic

New tyres for historical sportscars – state-of-the-art technology in the original garment

Extensive new tyre approvals for classic sportscars by Porsche

Home Road Cars Classic New tyres for historical sportscars – state-of-the-art technology in the original garment

About 70 percent of all Porsche models ever built are in a roadworthy state even today! Now, in order to serve the need in suitable tyres for these automobile icons, Porsche along with Pirelli has newly developed, tested and approved numerous tyres which were matched to the respective generation of vehicles. In the matter of look and design of the tread the redevelopments are equal to the historic originals. But regarding driving quality, they meet the high demands of modern tyre generations. In fact they combine the appearance of the originals from former years of construction with the technology of modern tyres by using a modern carcase-construction together with state-of-the-art compounds. All new classic's tyres are marked with the N certification on the tyre wall which designates them as tyres homologated by Porsche. It exclusively decorates tyre models which perform well during the testing procedure that takes place before homologation. To stand that proof on European test tracks, the new tyres have to meet over 30 criteria under stringent conditions.

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The meaning of this is explained by Maurizio Boiocchi, General Manager Technology Pirelli: "This means Pirelli researchers work hand in hand with car engineers of Porsche in order to develop bespoke tyres for each model of the range mentioned above. These special tyres, engineerd by Pirelli, meet the individual needs of Porsche. They are custom designed for each model in order to showcase its performance characteristics." 
The original designs of the treads of the former years plus the tyre dimensions and aspect ratios from 1960s till the 1990s will help the historical sports-cars from Zuffenhausen to provide an appearance correct in the minutest detail and true to original appearance. 
Regarding the harmonization, Porsche-tyre testers co-operate with former World Rally Champion Walter Röhrl. He owns a great treasure of experience as to historical Porsche models and can give helpful hints concerning the typical handling of the tyres. "In earlier years the handling was not that complete and balanced. Better than ever the new generation of tyres correspond to the way of driving of a demanding sports-car", Walter Röhrl outlines the advantages of the completely new developed tyres. 
With these made to measure tyres the drivers can experience the full driving fascination of the sportscar-icons of different decades from Germany.