The Pirelli Collezione range – featuring tyres for vintage and modern classic cars – has set its first world record. Scoring the highest number of hairpin turns in 12 hours of driving, the record accomplished with the iconic first-generation Mazda MX-5 on its 30th anniversary, in a test organised by Mazda Motors in Germany during the summer.
The record drive began on 17 July 2019 at 19.00 on Kaunertaler Gletscherstraße (Glacier Road) in the Austrian Tyrol, under the strict supervision of the Hamburg Record Institute for Germany. At the wheel of the roadster was racing driver Cyndie Allemann, MX-5 Cup driver Jan Spieß, Auto Bild test driver Stefan Novitzki and rally driver Niki Schelle, alternating every hour.
After 12 hours, the team had completed exactly 2,900 hairpin bends, far surpassing the 1,500 required for the record. The panoramic Austrian road is 26 kilometres long and has 29 hairpin bends in total, with an elevation change of almost 1,500 metres. It leads to the beginning of the Kaunertal glacier, at 2,750 metres.
The Mazda MX-5 was equipped with a set of P Zero Asimmetrico Pirelli 205/50ZR15 86W from the Pirelli Collezione range for vintage cars and modern classics.
“This tyre, manufactured with racing technology, features exactly the high performance required for the record in terms of strength, durability, grip, steering precision, performance and safety on wet roads,” said Jörg Schäfer, head of Outdoor Driving Tests and Dynamic Instrument Testing at Pirelli Germany.
“The tread pattern of the P Zero Asimmetrico is the original pattern from the P Zero tyre, which has been very successful for more than three decades. This tread pattern was used for rally cars as early as 1986, under a different name, and its design is optimised for high lateral loads”.
To produce the P Zero Asimmetrico for Pirelli Collezione, Pirelli engineers use modern construction processes and compounds that are currently used in ultra high performance tyres to withstand the extreme loads during cornering.
In order to evaluate the durability of the tyre structure before the world record drive, experts from Pirelli recorded the route profile of the Kaunertal Gletscherstraße on computer and translated it into a digital test programme. After that, the tyres were physically tested in an indoor laboratory for maximum lateral acceleration, both in a straight line and through a variety of corners for 18 hours. The wheel load was also repeatedly tested at 150 per cent of its maximum capacity.
