Caterham 1.6 K Roadsport Tires

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Tire Reviewed Dry Grip Wet Grip Feedback Handling Wear Comfort
Toyo R888 R (26) 93% 64% 85% 88% 64% 63%
Avon ZZR (11) 89% 61% 69% 86% 70% 70%

Caterham 1.6 K Roadsport Tire Review Highlights

Writing about the Toyo R888 R given 81% (185-60-13-)
Driving on track for 1500 spirited miles
he car I had came fitted with a set of Yokohama A539 tires. Designed for normal passenger car use they needed significantly more than 500kg on top of them and they were hopeless. Zero grip, got hot, became squirmy and unpredictable and were hopeless on track. Id driven on the ZZS quite a lot but wasn't sure if Avon merited the price premium, and the tire size wasn't ideal for my model so I opted for the R888R in GG compound.

Shortly after I had a chance at Croft to compare three Caterham's with ZZR, ZZS and the R888R.

Initial impressions are that in the bone dry with all other considerations gone, the ZZR is king. Genuinely a superb stable high performance tire that stays on the boil for a significant amount of time. I'd suggest a window of at least 10 laps where the tire was on perfect form. Then a slow transition into being slightly more slippery and excess tire wear as the temperature increases.

The ZZS is a superb road tire for a Caterham. Remarkably useful in the wet and even down to quite low temperatures, and works very well on a track as long as you limit your sessions to say 6-8 laps. After this again the transition into slightly less predictable begins and the car just becomes very slidey!

The R888R was somewhere in between the two extremes. I felt that the Toyos offered ALMOST ZZR performance but at a fairly significant discount. They were definitely better from cold than the ZZS and lasted a little longer before going off. They also worked almost as well on the road as a ZZS, dealing with water pretty well. The R888R stayed on my car.

Downsides: the R888R is a heavier tire with a stiffer sidewall, so this makes them a little less comfortable and adds a touch of unsprung weight to a light car, but their benefits generally outweighed these issues.

Ultimately I feel budget and requirement would dictate which you'd have. On a modern Caterham where ride height and sump layouts allow the smaller ratios, I'd suggest pick either a ZZR/S. But for older academy cars based on 175/70/13 tires, going down to a 185/55/13 was just too much. The toyo in 185/60/13 was a better bet, with a small tweak to ride height.
tire reviewed on 2019-04-05 05:34:35
Writing about the Avon ZZR given 86% (185-55-15-)
Driving on track for 2000 spirited miles
Grippy, stays on boil on consecutive laps and lightweight construction makes it ideal for the likes of the Caterham 7 and Elise. Although not as useful in the wet as the ZZS and not as hardcore as a racing slick, it offers a sensible compromise between both.

I'd suggest this is primarily a track car though, not great for year round road use as it doesn't work well at low temperatures or in any standing water.
tire reviewed on 2019-04-05 05:32:49
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