All Terrain Pros and Cons

(By: Andy Fox)

Racing off-road in a Patrol, a lot of people ask me about tyres and what they are really like.

For sure Yokohama supply me tyres for racing, feedback and R&D…But if the tyres don’t work and they don’t win races then what’s the point.

The other thing I see a lot of is everybody has a hero that squats beside the car extolling the virtues of their rubber. Tyres aren’t Tyres, it depends on what you do to what you need. So here is some feedback from the drivers’ seat.

Recently we drove the race car to Canberra, (yep it is road registered)…we headed up the highway from Melbourne and then cut across the hills to Beechworth, Khancoban up the Alpine Way, Thredbo, Jindabyne and then into Queanbeyan from there. For us the first time on Geolander All Terrains... Normally we use Geolander M/T G001’s.

What’s the difference?

As a direct comparison both tyres are well positioned and have distinct advantages.

On Road:

The All Terrains have Grip, Grip and more Grip. The weekend we went to Queanbeyan they had 4 inches of rain in one day... It was crazy at one stage the windscreen was leaking and dripping on my throttle foot. Gotta love race cars...

I could not believe the feel in the steering and the smooth way the tyres go about their business of roadholding... The key things I noted were;

1. Great initial steer.
2. Great feel in the wet.
3. Awesome traction.
4. Progressive and surefooted in braking.

It is real peace of mind to be driving in crazy road conditions and have that smile on your face thinking that you still have a margin for safety when you can clearly see that even car drivers are struggling. I suppose if you have a family these things would be top of mind for me.

The Geolander M/T G001’s are a different kettle of fish.

On the road they;

1. Are reasonably quiet for a mud type tyre, when they wear they are much noisier than the All Terrains.
2. Give good traction.
3. Clear water really well.
4. Have great braking,
5. Give good initial turn in .

Off Road

In this case you have to keep in mind that we are racing up to 200kmh in some sections, so the feedback I give is in regard to how they perform in race conditions and not a crawl through the bush at 20kmh.

AT’s

The AT’s clear the gravel well and seem to be able to grab a hold on the cleaner sections of the dirt road. They work well for a dual purpose tyre. One thing I would say is that if you do get off the track and on to the really loose stuff they don’t work as well here.

1. Okay feel.
2. The tyre forms to the surface of the road giving good traction.
3. A good compromise of quietness on road and grip, predictability off road.
4. Lacks the outright grip of the Geolander M/T+ (G001)

Geolander M/T+ (G001)

These things are great, as a direct comparison with other tyre brands I have used before. The Geolander M/T+ tyres are superb. They

1. Clear the mud really well.
2. Clear rocks and stones really well.
3. Steer really well .
4. Are awesome on braking.
5. Have great lateral grip in the loose stuff and in the slippery stuff as well.
6. Are reasonably noisy on the road.

Most people aren’t winch nazi’s. If that’s you and you like a tyre that has greater levels of grip, predictability and stays in balance, then have a chat to your Yoky bloke and get him to fit you with some freshies…..