"Cinturas in the wet are very, very good" a top rally driver reports
“Very impressive in the wet” was one of John Sprinzel’s major impressions after his 1,000-mile all-weather test of the Cintura and to check it he watched the performance of other tyres at a busy roundabout. We think you’ll agree that his good opinion is worth having. British Rally Champion in 1959, Sprinzel has won 14 class awards in international rallies, He judged the Cintura by the toughest, professional standards—and judged it a remarkable tyre. So it is. When you change to a set of Cinturas, you change to an entirely different class of road-holding. And you feet the effect immediately. What kind of effect? Read John Sprinzers tape-recorded answers.
“What were your first impressions of Cirturas?” John Sprinzel: “They were really guite startling. I drove the car on normal tyres, to have Cinturas fitted through fairly thick traffic in the rush hour. Well, driving back I felt I was in a different motor-car. It felt so much lighter all round, so much easier to drive, so precise, The action you made on the steering wheel got immediate response through the tread.
“How do Cinturas handle in the wet?”John Sprinzel: “I’ve driven all sorts of cars on skid pans. And the amount of steering effort you need depends considerably on the type of tyre. Well, with Cinturas under similar slippery conditions, you need half the effort to correct a slide. Then, take my first experience of Cinturas in the wet. We were going along a main road, fairly fastish. It looked as it it was wet because it was glistening (and, in fact, it was even a wee bit on the icy side in places). The surprising thing was that it really hardly showed at all in the road-holding of the car. I would say that Cintituras in the wet are very, very good … very impressive.
How did Cinturas affect cornering? John Sprinzel: “I was staggered, looking down at the speedometer; One didn’t seem to be going very fast at all round corners – yet one definitely was! And even if you take it to the limit and force a break-away of the tail,.it is so gently and gradual with the Cinturas that it is easily controlled. You just don’t get sudden breakaway with Cinturas, And this is a very big safety factor.”
“Would Cinturas be right for rallies?” John Sprinzel: “I was impressed personally by the way Cinturas held the road on loose gravel. I was impressed at the way they go over bumps. I like a tyre which lets me feel exactly what is happening. This is essential going fast round corners and on winding country lanes. And then there’s the lack of effort needed to steer with Cinturas. I think they handle exceptionally well under rally conditions. They let you drive the car sensitively. And for the comparatively inexperienced driver, Cinturas are a considerable safely factor. Steering with Cinturas is so wonderfully precise, that a slight correction gets you out of difficulties:There’s never any inclination to take a dangerous armful of wheel.”
The thinking behind Cinturas, The high-performance driving of high-performance cars can put conventional tyres under dangerous stress, and tyre distortion at speed can have unpleasant consequences. That is why the Cintura has a built-in ‘safety belt’. This ‘safety belt’ is an inextensible textile belt running right round the circumference of the tyre under the tread. It holds the tyre profile virtually unchanged even at high speeds, It gives the tyre a much more square and uniform contact area with the road, It keeps the tread pattern open under all conditions: it gives the Cintura a remarkably low slip angle; it helps to eliminate the formation of dynamic wave at high speeds; and it gives the tyre a very low roiling resistance.
The benefits which follow, logically and inescapably, are these: exceptional road-holding, longer tyre life, cooler, safer running at high speeds, less absorption of engine power, reduced fuel consumption.
In short, the Cintura is the only tyre fully matched to the potential of today’s top cars. On another page you will find a list of cars for which Cinturas are available. Is your car on the list? Then send for your copy of the Cintura book.