Continental SportContact 6 Dominates AutoBild sportscars Tyre Test

• Ultra-high performance super sports tyre delivers balanced performance at highest level
• AutoBild journalists endorse “outstanding handling characteristics”
• Top marks for braking in the dry, as well as for wet and dry handling

PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa, 16 March 2017 – In the latest summer tyre test staged by AutoBild sportscars magazine (issue 4/17), the Continental SportContact 6 tyre retained the first place it won last year.

“This premium sports tyre scores with outstanding handling characteristics on wet and dry asphalt. With its precise steering response, balanced dynamic handling and huge fun factor, it leapt onto the top step of the podium,” the experts wrote.

Continental’s super sports tyre had to demonstrate its abilities in a total of 10 disciplines. The test line-up comprised nine tyres in the 235/35 R19 size from European, American and Asian brands.

In the individual tests, the Continental tyre scored with a balanced performance at the very highest level, reflected in top marks for braking in the dry, as well as for wet and dry handling. “Fast, crisp and faultless on a wet track – the stuff champions are made of,” summed up the AutoBild sportscars testers.

While the top-ranking tyre harvested praise, there were also “not recommended” ratings for two tyres in the test, mainly due to their handling on wet asphalt. “On the wet handling track, the Chinese contender handled like a wet sponge,” complained the journalists after testing one contender – thus reinforcing the benefits of fitting a premium tyre such as the Continental SportContact 6 for the highest levels of grip and safety.

The Continental SportContact 6 is a super sports tyre developed specifically for the ultra-high performance (UHP) segment. It offers exceptional handling, precise steering response and a speed rating of up to 350 km/h as standard.

To achieve performance improvements of as much as 14 percent in some areas, compared to its highly-praised predecessor, the ContiSportContact 5 P, the engineers at Continental reformulated the chemical composition of the tread, and redesigned the construction of the tyre.

The SportContact 6 features the German tyre manufacturer’s cutting-edge Black Chili technology with special grip resins patented by Continental. It achieves optimum micro flexibility and exceptional grip in the dry.

The rubber compound is fine-tuned to mesh with the structure of the road surface, while fleeting atomic bonds in the contact patch act like nanoscopic suction pads to ensure high adhesion. Together, these two factors provide maximum grip in all directions when braking, cornering and accelerating on both wet and dry roads.

Another innovation is the tyre’s Force Vectoring technology for optimum force transmission. This involves using different tread elements on the inside and outside of the tyre, and also in the centre.

The central ribs and the tyre’s inner shoulder are responsible for maximum transmission of lateral forces. This contributes to a perceptible improvement in the direct translation of steering commands to the road.

To provide optimal stability at high speed, the SportContact 6 features Aralon 350, which was specially designed for this UHP tyre. This synthetic textile fibre is embedded in the rubber and contains two yarns of high-strength aramid twisted together with a yarn of flexible nylon. Located beneath the tread, this endless cap ply acts like an additional steel belt, providing extra stabilisation to help deal with the enormous centrifugal forces that act on the tyre at very high speeds.

The Continental SportContact 6 range in South Africa currently comprises 31 sizes for rims from 19 to 23 inches.