Nokian Tyres recently helped a team to achieve the new world record for the fastest car driving on two wheels.
The run was made by stunt driver Vesa Kivimäki at Seinäjoki Airport in Finland, in a BMW equipped with bespoke Nokian tires featuring the company’s aramid sidewall technology.
The role of the tires was said to be very important at extreme speeds. This is especially true when two tires – in practice, two palm-sized patches – are the only contact with the road. In order to break the record, the vehicle also needed tires that were as durable as possible. The aramid sidewall technology was used to develop a tire that is particularly resistant to cuts and tears.
“When driving on two wheels, the sidewall maintains the road contact, so we had to design a special tire for this purpose. The aramid fiber added to the sidewall rubber compound strengthens the sidewall and gives it substantially better tear strength. This unique compound technology combined with a special structure created a specification that is suited for speed records,” explained Matti Morri, technical customer service manager for Nokian Tyres.
