COMPOUND FACTORS: A great tyre can add plenty to a performance car, and creating the right rubber can combine art science and an ex-F1 star

摘要

The scene before us could be out of some earthquake-inspired disaster movie: six lanes of arrow-straight road and a bunch of cars, pick-ups and SUVs weaving about as if Richter scale-seven tremors were wrinkling the asphalt. From where I'm sitting it looks dramatic, especially for the occupants of the Japanese crew-cab pick-up that appears to be snaking towards a panel-smashing moment. But experts are driving these cars, and our location is not an interstate straddling the San Andreas fault line but a test track south of Rome. This is one of Bridgestone's tyre testing facilities, and the cars are all performing lane change manoeuvres. Soon I'll be doing the same aboard a 302bhp BMW335i with 46-year-old former F1 driver Stefano Modena, a veteran of 81 grands prix.