I still remember Chris Harris did this to a C63 AMG (the one with the 6.2 NA V8) about 10 years ago in CHOC. He said he practically doubled the power-to-wheel ground contact ratio of the AMG, which means double the fun haha
This was my very first thought too, Chris Harris drifting a C63 on spare tyres. I´ve been guilty of doing something very similar on my RWD 940 and having it slide on the skinniest tyres i can fit. Great, cheap fun
DING DING DING!!! I came to the comment section to see if Chris "Monkey" Harris and his space-saver tire experiment was mentioned. I was not disappointed. Thank you!
I'd say it IS eco-friendly. These tires are plentiful at every junkyard, and gets recycled without ever being used. Better to use them for fun before recycling.
I absolutely LOVE how Scott is an extremely capable racing driver and able to explain very technical issues on his other channel, and yet he still lets his crazy side show over here. Amazing content!
I suspect the admonition to keep the speed under 50mph is more down to the very limited grip they have to overcome the inertia of the car. I would imagine one tire on a car with 3 other normal tires would make handling quite unpredictable at higher speeds for the average driver. That and/or there might be limitations on the ability of the tire sidewalls to survive extended traveling at speeds greater than 50mph. Might be they're so cheaply made that sidewall heating at speed becomes a real danger.
I'd say it's purely because of grip, if you were to take them on the highway any kind of sudden braking would probably cause that little thing to lock and throw you sideways
Speed ratings also have a lot to do with limitations of heat dissipation, pressure buildup, wheel balance, and potential issues with ABS and locking diffs when dealing with different diameters side-to-side. The important thing to know is that the rated speed isn't a "don't exceed this value" kind of number but more of a "can safely operate for about 10 minutes at this speed" kind of rating. Some of the risks of exceeding the rated speed for the rated time could be tread separation or blowout. And it can vary quite a bit between manufacturers, products, and even batches of the same product just how forgiving that might be. They're also typically not rated for more than about 50 miles of usage.
@@aldrichemrys yeah well we have safety standards today and the same wrecks drivers walk away from today would leave drivers critically injured or dead back then. It wouldnt be like that today plus it would reduce top speeds as it will take forever to slow down. You also cant go through corners or exit them with the same speed so incidents would have less potential for injury.
@@AlmostSickBoy - YEP and lets be honest - no one cares if the cars are doing 50mph or 150pmh, its the overtaking, the slides, the drifts etc that make it fun to watch.
I can confirm scotts Formular for fun. When i had Michelin energysaver, i where on the Grip Limit 40 kph earier than with the pilot sports. It was fun because you did not drive fast to enjoy the Limit. On the pilot sports i dont drive fast anymore. For some reason there is alsway urine when i try to reach the Limit.
Spare tyres are actually a really soft tyre compound, not made to last or hold up to UV rays but they seem hard because they are inflated to very high pressures, sometimes up to 90 psi!
I think having 4 spare tyres fitted on is driveable as the grip is equal all around the car. Try 3 normal tyres and a spare, or the other way around. According to Scott's formula, that can be a lot of fun :)
@@kurtlamprecht93 Believe in JESUS today, confess and repent of your sins. No one goes to heaven for doing good but by believing in JESUS who died for our sins. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.(John 3:16)🥳❤️😗❤️😘❤️
Believe in JESUS today, confess and repent of your sins. No one goes to heaven for doing good but by believing in JESUS who died for our sins. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.(John 3:16)🥳❤️😗❤️😘❤️
you are telling me, these lasted 45 minutes on dry asphalt before showing wire like that? Hell I think they got the perfect slow drift car , no weight no grip, just missing a front angle kit and done.
Believe in JESUS today, confess and repent of your sins. No one goes to heaven for doing good but by believing in JESUS who died for our sins. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.(John 3:16)🥳❤️😗❤️😘❤️
Car "enthusiasts" always shoot down the idea that driving fast isn't always fun its about driving around a track at the limit of the car while also being at your limit at the same time.
I found a 1967 Porsche 911s in a barn once. It was on blocks. I used 4 spar tires with a close-enough bolt pattern to get it through the forest to my truck. It looked so funny! Wish I could have driven it like that!
So nice to see someone emphasizing fun over speed. I wanted to create a channel just to finding out which affordable used cars, focusing first on sedans, are the most fun. Turns out I'm rubbish on camera, so keep it up guys.
I'd like to see this as a racing series. I think to encourage a tire company to participate their goal is to make a low grip tire that make it several races have a number of tires per season limit. boom shenanigans racing series.
I wonder what would happen if they went with the narrowest regular set of tyres they can find. Same outer diameter (or close) as the stock tyres and XL rated if possible.
One of the most entertaining drives I've had was in a manual Nissan Micra K13 1.2L manual, on super skinny tyres, in the wet, on a twisty mountain road. It was sliding at 30km/h but you had a week to think about how to control the slide. Just a riot of fun. Chuck it into every corner and laugh as you slide around on the way out! The best cars for fun are slow cars that make you feel like you're going fast, rather than fast cars that make you feel like you're going slow......!
Driving a slow FWD car in thick powder snow is kind of like that. Grip is crap, but you have lots of time to correct your errors due to the slow speeds involved.
For fun we used to get: - 2x McDonald's plastic serving trays - Put them under the rear wheels of our FWD's - Pull the handbrake on -The send it "drifting" around the car park Best part was it didn't waste tyres or petrol. So much fun!!
@@kurtlamprecht93 because since it's fwd, you don't need to rev hard to lose traction. You just the trays to get rid of the rear grip. You still lose petrol to gain fun, but not as much as you do with rwd drifting
I have been wanting to do this myself for ages. And proves that I was right! Mind you, I do have an 86 which I have deliberately kept the standard width tires on, because less grip is fun! 🤘🤣🤘
I was restoring a 1991 Chrysler LeBaron convertable (I have no idea why) and put a set of these on it during the build. I left them on it when returning it from the paint shop and discovered how much giggle factor they rated. Everyone should try them sometime on an abandoned piece of pavement somewhere.
bruh, as my 8 year old son says.. full send. this is awesome..keep it up not to repeat others or diminish anything YOU have done, but this gives OG Top Gear vibes and it's EPIC. the banter, the craziness... keep it up and dial it to 11.
@@OVERDRIVE.studios - Im still believing it was my request - I just bent space-time. Can you PLEASE do Skinny ROAD tires V fat ROAD tires - say a 145 V 325 The equation for grip does NOT have contact patch size in it - so in theory the same compound SHOULD give the same grip no matter the tire width. I am dying to find out if you really do get the same grip in the real world as you do in the mathematical world. In theory, they should be the same - but the thin tire will heat up more and wear out a lot faster.
@@piccalillipit9211 Wider tires have more grip if not the car is very light or the surface is very slippery. As a rule wider tires have more grip only if the pressure to the road is enough to create grip. (on snow/ice you want skinny tires to dig into the road to create some grip on tarmac you generally want wider to make use of all the grip thats avalible). A ligther car corners faster then a heavy car. This is true becuase of the stresses that is put on a tire is more on a heavy car. But with wider tires a heavy car can keep up alot better. (becuase the Pressure once again is lower, so the stresses on the tire is lower). sry for bad english
@@vu3aym Believe in JESUS today, confess and repent of your sins. No one goes to heaven for doing good but by believing in JESUS who died for our sins. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.(John 3:16)🥳❤️😗❤️😘❤️
I know it is more fun, I've had 20year old winter tires that were basically semi-slick on an VW Polo 6N with 8 valve 1.6, the thing had torque to spin the wheels on third on dry asphalt also it was lift-off oversteery as hell, much more fun than high horsepower, only rear wheel drive was missing.
This is incredibly dumb. I love it and want more. What happens with mismatched tyres? Would it slide *more* if the front tyres are fat and grippy and the rear tyres belong on a bicycle?
135/85R15 or 165/85R15 on about a 4inch wide rim... Like old VW tires... Are still available. Are commonly used on the front of drag cars and hotrods. If you want to make them grippy, (on dry pavement only!!) Soak rags in diesel and wrap the tread with them, then cover with shrink-wrap(like for pallets) for about a week... But don't get them wet, traction goes from good to *zero*! But spares are $10/ea at most yards, and they got lots of them.... Buy a pile of them and I bet you get the price down to $5/ea
Way ahead of you guys. Been making cars more fun and able to drive through puddles at ###mph with impunity since I put the 145x12 on my Hillman Imp back in the 70s. I have had problems with tyre fade in Glen Shiel on a sunny day but apart from that it's been a positive experience. (Persuading tyre fitters to try to fit a 185 on a 7" rim can be hard though.)
Many years ago I won a trophy at a grass autotest. I had a 65bhp diesel. It was so much fun and the lag of grip was a huge leveller between cars with different amounts of power.
Interesting video. I have one of these spares in my car and have wondered how it would behave if I had to do a sudden manoeuvre whilst using it. I'm guessing that the ESP would be earning its keep.
Still cant belive the mighty citronen xantia activa still holds the mosse test record i had one always wished they did a 4 wheel drive and 4 wheel steer version torsen diffs 4x4 was available on its sister car the peugeot 405, the standard xantia was great fun off road and over jumps really miss them
Me and my buddies used to get tons of spare tires from the wrecking yards for a used pos car we would all go in on together, then we would destroy that car over the summer on a huge property. Only one car survived and it was a chevy sprint. That damn thing just wouldn't die even with its body bent like a banana and dragging across the ground. Honestly with DRS being the main way to pass in F1, seeing them reduce the tire size and grip with a single set for the race would make things really fun to watch.
Spare tyres are usually rated to 120 or 130km/h . The sticker to 50Mph has several reasons. For one it's usually smaller and thereby more weight on it but also more rotations. Which leads to the next problem. Stability control going haywire and your diff doesn't like that difference in rotational speed for a long time and the faster the worse. Lastly these are usually underinflated as nobody takes care until you need it.
I see many folks resorting to motorcycle tires for those narrow spare wheels, as it's often easier to find than the proper spare tire. On a sidenote, with so many heavy machinery using normal truck tires, yet exceeding the load rated for the usage on trucks, seems like the same reasoning could apply to motorcycle tires as a spare tire for a car. Well, maybe a Hayabusa tire could make sense in a featherweight sports car like that Caterham?
Haha The 13 inch tires on my old 85 camry were probably its most redeeming quality. Was super fun to use a predictable amount of understeer and skid to nose in to some bendies on the backroads. Was some good slowcar fast times for sure.
Keep up the great content! Here are some suggestions: - Spare Tire vs Cold F1 Tire Race - 8 Tires vs Warm F1 Tire Race - Normal front wheel, rear spare wheel - Normal rear wheels, front spare wheels
funny enough, a few years back, I was driving from Maryland,USA to Kansas, USA in a Nissan Versa. just under 1300 miles ( ~2000 K) about 200 miles in i got a full tire failure. throughout the entire drive we stopped at a few times for gas and to see if we could get a tire change, we unfortunately only passed by places that had tires that would work...... after they closed..... everything else was truck tires...... so we did about 1100 miles on a spare tire, at times hitting over 100 mph on the long roads with nothing else on the road (or around the road, very flat and open areas). so I can also say they can last a bit on the back wheel non powered
once i did a chart trying to compare tourqe with size of tire ratio, to show them why some cars have less horses but more fun, i wish manufacturers start to realize that we need more cheaper less tires more fun cars, addon the idea of having soft suspension on a sport car to be more daily drivable and have some fun body roll to feel more excited. i wish your next Vid to try the idea for sport car rear wheel with soft suspension & thiner tires and enjoy
If you've thought of a mad idea you want us to try - drop it in the comments below! Also - try and find the little Easter Egg we left in there for you 😉
Skinny ROAD tires V fat ROAD tires - say a 145 V 325 The equation for grip does NOT have contact patch in it - so in theory the same compound SHOULD give the same grip no matter the tire width. ONLY less heating and less wear on the fatter tire.
I lived in New Mexico in the late 90s, and car culture was a mix of ricers and low riders. Someone tinted a damn Neon, added a fart can, and ran it on 4 "space saver" spares as a cheap way of "lowering" it. Sure was something!
Used to insist on remoulds for my Isle of Man Citroen Xantia. Squeely time cornering at pedestrian speeds, opposite lock at 30 mph, smiles per mile maxium.
Tye on board footage looks like when you pit drift tyres and suspension onto a car in need for speed heat and drive it on the road, it feels normal but you just lose so much grip when turning.
I'd love to see a return of skinny tires on appropriate wheels. Tires with better performance than the stuff on donuts, and enough tread to last more than a lap or 2.
You've hit a stride with these tire videos. Never seen your channel before, but I've caught every F1/skinny tire video, etc. I'm drawn in to the scientific comedy formula in them, and I'm sure others are.
When I tell people I have a LOT more fun on OVERINFLATED ALL-SEASON tyres, they don't believe me. But for some reason, they understand that driving on ice IS a lot of fun. Strange people...🤣 I run the tyres at the maximum pressure written on them (e.g. 3.4 atm), not the suggested pressure written on the car (e.g. 2.3 atm). The original purpose was a tiny bit of fuel saving due to less rolling resistance. But more fun (and safety!) in corners came as a side effect. The safety is increased simply because you can corner slower AND have a much better understanding of the grip limit thanks to less grip. When the tyre grips "perfectly" (best summer tyres at optimum pressure), the grip limit can be quite a shock in on-the-edge situations with the car suddenly understeering or oversteering massively when grip is lost. Obviously, I decrease the pressure for winter because all-season tyres are already slippery enough on snow and ice even with optimum pressure. 😂
Did a similar thing to this on an event day at Silverstone once. They laid out a course with some cones in the car park, and put cheap nasty tyres on the back of some Caterhams. It was the best fun
What about running motorcycle tyres on the space savers? I am not into "stance" and "camber" modification. But have thought maybe a wide motorcycle tyre would offer better grip considering the curve of the tyre, rather than loading up the inner edge of the tyre
Excellent theory, it's all about fun. I have three bikes including a 748 Ducati, but the most fun by far is the Honda Supercub with its 90mm bicycle tyres 👍🇦🇺
There should be a race class where the only restriction is tire width. Like a 155 width and no other rules, would keep cost down and make it a joy to watch drivers trying to keep them on track :D
my friend had a 90s impreza with like 100 hp, which he rwd swapped and welded the rear diff on, so it could drift all day on dirt, but was pretty much unable to spin the tires in 2nd on asphalt, he then found a pair of spare tires, and could finally go sideways on asphalt, until they popped the next day
Smart car tires fit on them check out Matt Farrah and Zero Fs Given they made a drift pickup out of a Jetta diesel wagon. Put spares with Smart car front tires on them on rear axle
As an owner of a stock, automatic brz, the tires being skinny is honestly what saves that car from being boring, in the rain and snow you can slip and slide all you want with ease
For the next one you do its worth tuning tire pressure as well. The F1 tires and double tires and even these ones seemed over-pressurized. The lighter the car the less pressure you need!
i wanted do build a pit bike shifter cart with these that look like a cyclecart with coilovers from the rear of a moped the rear axle would have yokes like on a driveshaft so it can articulate
Your series of tyre videos has to be the most elaborate way to make a Caterham tax deductable and I fully support it.
I still remember Chris Harris did this to a C63 AMG (the one with the 6.2 NA V8) about 10 years ago in CHOC. He said he practically doubled the power-to-wheel ground contact ratio of the AMG, which means double the fun haha
This was my very first thought too, Chris Harris drifting a C63 on spare tyres. I´ve been guilty of doing something very similar on my RWD 940 and having it slide on the skinniest tyres i can fit. Great, cheap fun
Another who fondly remembers Harris doing that on the Merc. That was one of my favorite videos of his back before he became famous.
DING DING DING!!! I came to the comment section to see if Chris "Monkey" Harris and his space-saver tire experiment was mentioned. I was not disappointed. Thank you!
The most bizarre aspect of that video is that Chris Harris looked more space alien than human in those days. ruclips.net/video/HPh90yNX-mY/видео.html
First thing that came to mind for me too. Still love seeing another iteration of spare tire shenanigans!
You guys have been smashing it with your videos this year. One of the best car RUclips channels
Smashing Smashing
I'd say it IS eco-friendly. These tires are plentiful at every junkyard, and gets recycled without ever being used. Better to use them for fun before recycling.
use them as drift tires
We actually bought these from a site that does exactly that, gets them from scrappers and resells them
@@CallumRaces where can I get some?
I absolutely LOVE how Scott is an extremely capable racing driver and able to explain very technical issues on his other channel, and yet he still lets his crazy side show over here. Amazing content!
I suspect the admonition to keep the speed under 50mph is more down to the very limited grip they have to overcome the inertia of the car. I would imagine one tire on a car with 3 other normal tires would make handling quite unpredictable at higher speeds for the average driver. That and/or there might be limitations on the ability of the tire sidewalls to survive extended traveling at speeds greater than 50mph. Might be they're so cheaply made that sidewall heating at speed becomes a real danger.
I'd say it's purely because of grip, if you were to take them on the highway any kind of sudden braking would probably cause that little thing to lock and throw you sideways
Speed ratings also have a lot to do with limitations of heat dissipation, pressure buildup, wheel balance, and potential issues with ABS and locking diffs when dealing with different diameters side-to-side. The important thing to know is that the rated speed isn't a "don't exceed this value" kind of number but more of a "can safely operate for about 10 minutes at this speed" kind of rating. Some of the risks of exceeding the rated speed for the rated time could be tread separation or blowout. And it can vary quite a bit between manufacturers, products, and even batches of the same product just how forgiving that might be. They're also typically not rated for more than about 50 miles of usage.
*THIS SHOULD DEFFO BE A FORMULA* 150Bhp with space saver tires would be SO MUCH FUN to watch...
Actually formula used to be like that xD
@@AlmostSickBoy So fun, everyone dies. It's like watching a Colosseum gladiator match on wheels.
@@aldrichemrys yeah well we have safety standards today and the same wrecks drivers walk away from today would leave drivers critically injured or dead back then. It wouldnt be like that today plus it would reduce top speeds as it will take forever to slow down. You also cant go through corners or exit them with the same speed so incidents would have less potential for injury.
@@aldrichemrys That's pretty fun tbh better than modern racing
@@AlmostSickBoy - YEP and lets be honest - no one cares if the cars are doing 50mph or 150pmh, its the overtaking, the slides, the drifts etc that make it fun to watch.
I can confirm scotts Formular for fun. When i had Michelin energysaver, i where on the Grip Limit 40 kph earier than with the pilot sports. It was fun because you did not drive fast to enjoy the Limit. On the pilot sports i dont drive fast anymore. For some reason there is alsway urine when i try to reach the Limit.
🤢😁
Its funny i buy continental extreme contacts for everyday driving and then i slap cheap tires for track day
Also a great way to learn car control and how to generate grip without carrying as much speed/danger. Looked like fun, but not the cleanest lap.
Spare tyres are actually a really soft tyre compound, not made to last or hold up to UV rays but they seem hard because they are inflated to very high pressures, sometimes up to 90 psi!
I think having 4 spare tyres fitted on is driveable as the grip is equal all around the car. Try 3 normal tyres and a spare, or the other way around. According to Scott's formula, that can be a lot of fun :)
@@kurtlamprecht93 Believe in JESUS today, confess and repent of your sins. No one goes to heaven for doing good but by believing in JESUS who died for our sins. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.(John 3:16)🥳❤️😗❤️😘❤️
This car is now the very definition of skipping leg day
Believe in JESUS today, confess and repent of your sins. No one goes to heaven for doing good but by believing in JESUS who died for our sins. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.(John 3:16)🥳❤️😗❤️😘❤️
you are telling me, these lasted 45 minutes on dry asphalt before showing wire like that? Hell I think they got the perfect slow drift car , no weight no grip, just missing a front angle kit and done.
Put some motorcycle tyres on the spare wheels next :)
PUSH bike tyres ;)
Ah man, space savers always look like there going to buckle under the strain with regular driving, let alone all your madness! 😂👍👍👍
Believe in JESUS today, confess and repent of your sins. No one goes to heaven for doing good but by believing in JESUS who died for our sins. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.(John 3:16)🥳❤️😗❤️😘❤️
Reminds me of the old school racers with their thin tires.
Car "enthusiasts" always shoot down the idea that driving fast isn't always fun its about driving around a track at the limit of the car while also being at your limit at the same time.
thats true
I found a 1967 Porsche 911s in a barn once. It was on blocks. I used 4 spar tires with a close-enough bolt pattern to get it through the forest to my truck. It looked so funny! Wish I could have driven it like that!
"We can get to 100, but can we get back to 0"
Yes. It always ends at 0. 😂
So nice to see someone emphasizing fun over speed. I wanted to create a channel just to finding out which affordable used cars, focusing first on sedans, are the most fun. Turns out I'm rubbish on camera, so keep it up guys.
Early Grand Prix cars also used narrow tires. And they took a lot of skill and talent to drive. Remember Tazio Nuvolari, 4-wheel drift. 😉👍
Brilliant. I used to put spacesavers on the rear of my fiesta for auto solos or put 60psi in the rear tyres. Loads of fun
I'd like to see this as a racing series. I think to encourage a tire company to participate their goal is to make a low grip tire that make it several races have a number of tires per season limit. boom shenanigans racing series.
Call it "Formula Fun"
@@alecjones4135 f UN
give them unlimited tyres but 8 lug wheels and only hand tools
It was called the 2020 Turkish Grand Prix and it was hilarious.
Somewhat similar concept to skid plate racing, where all cars must have FWD and rear tires are banned (replaced by flat metal plates welded in place)
I wonder what would happen if they went with the narrowest regular set of tyres they can find. Same outer diameter (or close) as the stock tyres and XL rated if possible.
Your content this year has been amazing!!!
Absolutely love watching you guys. Really reminds me about the Top Gear of old. Keep going!
One of the most entertaining drives I've had was in a manual Nissan Micra K13 1.2L manual, on super skinny tyres, in the wet, on a twisty mountain road. It was sliding at 30km/h but you had a week to think about how to control the slide. Just a riot of fun. Chuck it into every corner and laugh as you slide around on the way out!
The best cars for fun are slow cars that make you feel like you're going fast, rather than fast cars that make you feel like you're going slow......!
Driving a slow FWD car in thick powder snow is kind of like that. Grip is crap, but you have lots of time to correct your errors due to the slow speeds involved.
For fun we used to get:
- 2x McDonald's plastic serving trays
- Put them under the rear wheels of our FWD's
- Pull the handbrake on
-The send it "drifting" around the car park
Best part was it didn't waste tyres or petrol. So much fun!!
@@kurtlamprecht93 because since it's fwd, you don't need to rev hard to lose traction. You just the trays to get rid of the rear grip.
You still lose petrol to gain fun, but not as much as you do with rwd drifting
"It's stupid but... I just want to see what happens". I think this is the perfect summary of the these videos.
Why does this remind me of when I used to put tape on my scaleltrx car tires as a kid? 😂
I have been wanting to do this myself for ages. And proves that I was right! Mind you, I do have an 86 which I have deliberately kept the standard width tires on, because less grip is fun!
🤘🤣🤘
I was restoring a 1991 Chrysler LeBaron convertable (I have no idea why) and put a set of these on it during the build. I left them on it when returning it from the paint shop and discovered how much giggle factor they rated. Everyone should try them sometime on an abandoned piece of pavement somewhere.
bruh, as my 8 year old son says.. full send. this is awesome..keep it up
not to repeat others or diminish anything YOU have done, but this gives OG Top Gear vibes and it's EPIC.
the banter, the craziness... keep it up and dial it to 11.
*WOW - I REQUESTED THIS* I'm assuming it was my request that triggered the video as it makes me happy to believe this :-D
I remember this! We saw your comment after we shot this, and was like 😬
@@OVERDRIVE.studios - Im still believing it was my request - I just bent space-time. Can you PLEASE do Skinny ROAD tires V fat ROAD tires - say a 145 V 325
The equation for grip does NOT have contact patch size in it - so in theory the same compound SHOULD give the same grip no matter the tire width.
I am dying to find out if you really do get the same grip in the real world as you do in the mathematical world. In theory, they should be the same - but the thin tire will heat up more and wear out a lot faster.
@@piccalillipit9211 Wider tires have more grip if not the car is very light or the surface is very slippery. As a rule wider tires have more grip only if the pressure to the road is enough to create grip. (on snow/ice you want skinny tires to dig into the road to create some grip on tarmac you generally want wider to make use of all the grip thats avalible). A ligther car corners faster then a heavy car. This is true becuase of the stresses that is put on a tire is more on a heavy car. But with wider tires a heavy car can keep up alot better. (becuase the Pressure once again is lower, so the stresses on the tire is lower). sry for bad english
they honestly look really really cool on that car. like some old-school 1920's racer.
Or a 1920s regular car. This it's probably how much grip they had back in the day
I downsized the tyres on my Seven for exactly the same reason. Much more fun at legal speeds with 185's
I’m very tempted to buy 4 of the tiny beige space savers that come with the NA MX5s to try this out myself.
this stuff is honestly better than anything top gear has done since the departure of the three lol
Today on Bottom Gear we ruin the reputation of a good show
@@vu3aym Believe in JESUS today, confess and repent of your sins. No one goes to heaven for doing good but by believing in JESUS who died for our sins. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.(John 3:16)🥳❤️😗❤️😘❤️
There is an old video here on RUclips where Chris Harris puts those space saver spare wheels on a C63 AMG Mercedes
I know it is more fun, I've had 20year old winter tires that were basically semi-slick on an VW Polo 6N with 8 valve 1.6, the thing had torque to spin the wheels on third on dry asphalt also it was lift-off oversteery as hell, much more fun than high horsepower, only rear wheel drive was missing.
This is incredibly dumb. I love it and want more. What happens with mismatched tyres? Would it slide *more* if the front tyres are fat and grippy and the rear tyres belong on a bicycle?
@blacknester Porsche from the factory comes fitted on their halo car. Let alone these here were equal diameter while Porsche mismatch theirs.
Looks like a great way to become a better driver
135/85R15 or 165/85R15 on about a 4inch wide rim... Like old VW tires... Are still available. Are commonly used on the front of drag cars and hotrods.
If you want to make them grippy, (on dry pavement only!!) Soak rags in diesel and wrap the tread with them, then cover with shrink-wrap(like for pallets) for about a week... But don't get them wet, traction goes from good to *zero*!
But spares are $10/ea at most yards, and they got lots of them.... Buy a pile of them and I bet you get the price down to $5/ea
I love seeing these experiments, I also love the caterham. It’s my dream achievable track car
Grippy normal tyres on the front and space savers on the bak may have been even more fun something ive always wanted to try myself good video
Way ahead of you guys. Been making cars more fun and able to drive through puddles at ###mph with impunity since I put the 145x12 on my Hillman Imp back in the 70s. I have had problems with tyre fade in Glen Shiel on a sunny day but apart from that it's been a positive experience. (Persuading tyre fitters to try to fit a 185 on a 7" rim can be hard though.)
love the increase in horseshittery per video. keep it up!!!
Many years ago I won a trophy at a grass autotest. I had a 65bhp diesel. It was so much fun and the lag of grip was a huge leveller between cars with different amounts of power.
I wish I could write off a Caterham as a business expense! haha great video, guys!
Interesting video. I have one of these spares in my car and have wondered how it would behave if I had to do a sudden manoeuvre whilst using it. I'm guessing that the ESP would be earning its keep.
This is why it's a really bad idea to put a space saver spare on the front.
Still cant belive the mighty citronen xantia activa still holds the mosse test record i had one always wished they did a 4 wheel drive and 4 wheel steer version torsen diffs 4x4 was available on its sister car the peugeot 405, the standard xantia was great fun off road and over jumps really miss them
I would also like to know how those skinny tyres effect the fuel economy.
(Ok, wrong channel, I’ll let myself out).
They'd theoretically would have less rolling resistance and air resistance.
@@Appletank8 Yep, I know. I’d be interested how much more efficient they’d be. I’m just curious.
Me and my buddies used to get tons of spare tires from the wrecking yards for a used pos car we would all go in on together, then we would destroy that car over the summer on a huge property. Only one car survived and it was a chevy sprint. That damn thing just wouldn't die even with its body bent like a banana and dragging across the ground.
Honestly with DRS being the main way to pass in F1, seeing them reduce the tire size and grip with a single set for the race would make things really fun to watch.
Spare tyres are usually rated to 120 or 130km/h .
The sticker to 50Mph has several reasons.
For one it's usually smaller and thereby more weight on it but also more rotations.
Which leads to the next problem.
Stability control going haywire and your diff doesn't like that difference in rotational speed for a long time and the faster the worse.
Lastly these are usually underinflated as nobody takes care until you need it.
Toyota agree with the formula for fun. There's a reason the GT86 came with Prius tyres.
I see many folks resorting to motorcycle tires for those narrow spare wheels, as it's often easier to find than the proper spare tire. On a sidenote, with so many heavy machinery using normal truck tires, yet exceeding the load rated for the usage on trucks, seems like the same reasoning could apply to motorcycle tires as a spare tire for a car. Well, maybe a Hayabusa tire could make sense in a featherweight sports car like that Caterham?
Next idea: put the normal front tires on and the soaked for rears. Imagine the drifting then
Haha
The 13 inch tires on my old 85 camry were probably its most redeeming quality. Was super fun to use a predictable amount of understeer and skid to nose in to some bendies on the backroads.
Was some good slowcar fast times for sure.
Since you want to improve lap time, a way to do that is aero. You could stick a huge wing to the rollcage and see how it helps
They're not trying to improve lap time here lol
Keep up the great content!
Here are some suggestions:
- Spare Tire vs Cold F1 Tire Race
- 8 Tires vs Warm F1 Tire Race
- Normal front wheel, rear spare wheel
- Normal rear wheels, front spare wheels
Has vw golf mk1 with skinny 15' winter tires and that thing, in snow, was a blast....mind you, fwd.
Without watching your video (yet) this remembers me off a guy who made “the case against grip” based on his experience with racing Miata’s.
Every BMW I have owned I have swapped the rears for the fronts and perfected the handling.
It’s science.
funny enough, a few years back, I was driving from Maryland,USA to Kansas, USA in a Nissan Versa. just under 1300 miles ( ~2000 K) about 200 miles in i got a full tire failure. throughout the entire drive we stopped at a few times for gas and to see if we could get a tire change, we unfortunately only passed by places that had tires that would work...... after they closed..... everything else was truck tires...... so we did about 1100 miles on a spare tire, at times hitting over 100 mph on the long roads with nothing else on the road (or around the road, very flat and open areas). so I can also say they can last a bit on the back wheel non powered
@@kurtlamprecht93 so is road rage but you see it every day
I've always wanted to do this, knew it would be a blast
once i did a chart trying to compare tourqe with size of tire ratio, to show them why some cars have less horses but more fun,
i wish manufacturers start to realize that we need more cheaper less tires more fun cars, addon the idea of having soft suspension on a sport car to be more daily drivable and have some fun body roll to feel more excited.
i wish your next Vid to try the idea for sport car rear wheel with soft suspension & thiner tires and enjoy
Might not be a good look to have a car to have 30% worse braking distance, though.
We've all thought about doing this haven't we? Loving the madness !
If you've thought of a mad idea you want us to try - drop it in the comments below!
Also - try and find the little Easter Egg we left in there for you 😉
Putting skinny tyres on an F1 car
Skinny ROAD tires V fat ROAD tires - say a 145 V 325
The equation for grip does NOT have contact patch in it - so in theory the same compound SHOULD give the same grip no matter the tire width.
ONLY less heating and less wear on the fatter tire.
Hmm we had air less, F1 and skinny tires. What's next? Omnidirectional!!
Motorcycle tyres, they're thin, but grippy.
you could try square wheels don't know if the car will survive though
I lived in New Mexico in the late 90s, and car culture was a mix of ricers and low riders.
Someone tinted a damn Neon, added a fart can, and ran it on 4 "space saver" spares as a cheap way of "lowering" it. Sure was something!
Used to insist on remoulds for my Isle of Man Citroen Xantia. Squeely time cornering at pedestrian speeds, opposite lock at 30 mph, smiles per mile maxium.
Tread pattern is P's stacked (P for Pirelli). Nice!
Tye on board footage looks like when you pit drift tyres and suspension onto a car in need for speed heat and drive it on the road, it feels normal but you just lose so much grip when turning.
I'd love to see a return of skinny tires on appropriate wheels. Tires with better performance than the stuff on donuts, and enough tread to last more than a lap or 2.
Before doing donuts: "This is a dumb idea."
After doing donuts: "I LOVE IT!"
You've hit a stride with these tire videos.
Never seen your channel before, but I've caught every F1/skinny tire video, etc. I'm drawn in to the scientific comedy formula in them, and I'm sure others are.
Whoever was first to put the coloured line on the screen during an ad should get a Nobel prize
Very old school Top Gear’esque, please keep it up!🙌🏽
When I tell people I have a LOT more fun on OVERINFLATED ALL-SEASON tyres, they don't believe me. But for some reason, they understand that driving on ice IS a lot of fun. Strange people...🤣 I run the tyres at the maximum pressure written on them (e.g. 3.4 atm), not the suggested pressure written on the car (e.g. 2.3 atm). The original purpose was a tiny bit of fuel saving due to less rolling resistance. But more fun (and safety!) in corners came as a side effect. The safety is increased simply because you can corner slower AND have a much better understanding of the grip limit thanks to less grip. When the tyre grips "perfectly" (best summer tyres at optimum pressure), the grip limit can be quite a shock in on-the-edge situations with the car suddenly understeering or oversteering massively when grip is lost. Obviously, I decrease the pressure for winter because all-season tyres are already slippery enough on snow and ice even with optimum pressure. 😂
Great stuff. Chris Harris did this a decade ago with a c63 on skinnier tires.
Man I can’t rave enough about how much I’m enjoying your content. Gives me serious early top gear vibes. Keep it up
Did a similar thing to this on an event day at Silverstone once. They laid out a course with some cones in the car park, and put cheap nasty tyres on the back of some Caterhams. It was the best fun
That lap might have been slower but it looked a hell of a lot more fun 😂
What about running motorcycle tyres on the space savers?
I am not into "stance" and "camber" modification. But have thought maybe a wide motorcycle tyre would offer better grip considering the curve of the tyre, rather than loading up the inner edge of the tyre
Excellent theory, it's all about fun. I have three bikes including a 748 Ducati, but the most fun by far is the Honda Supercub with its 90mm bicycle tyres 👍🇦🇺
There should be a race class where the only restriction is tire width. Like a 155 width and no other rules, would keep cost down and make it a joy to watch drivers trying to keep them on track :D
@@petertroep9085 you did watch the video I hope?
my friend had a 90s impreza with like 100 hp, which he rwd swapped and welded the rear diff on, so it could drift all day on dirt, but was pretty much unable to spin the tires in 2nd on asphalt, he then found a pair of spare tires, and could finally go sideways on asphalt, until they popped the next day
Smart car tires fit on them check out Matt Farrah and Zero Fs Given they made a drift pickup out of a Jetta diesel wagon. Put spares with Smart car front tires on them on rear axle
You guys should customize your car like paint it and add Chanel sponsors decals on it! That would be cool! Your own personalized race car
I mean the caterham but a car would be cool as well
As an owner of a stock, automatic brz, the tires being skinny is honestly what saves that car from being boring, in the rain and snow you can slip and slide all you want with ease
Scot used to be so serious and now its like old top gear. Love it
For the next one you do its worth tuning tire pressure as well. The F1 tires and double tires and even these ones seemed over-pressurized. The lighter the car the less pressure you need!
This video should be an advertisement for full sized spare wheels
Ok, where is the segment of Will drifting?
Did that M5 burnout eat Will’s tires?
Fun video, guys!!
i wanted do build a pit bike shifter cart with these that look like a cyclecart with coilovers from the rear of a moped the rear axle would have yokes like on a driveshaft so it can articulate
Returned the Caterham to the original Lotus 7 look. I like it!
I used to do this on my Mx5 Miata years before Chris Harris tried it.
Great fun!!
@@kurtlamprecht93 you're correct for the first time in your life.
I had a kit car with 155s on it was way more fun than a later version with 185s on .
Chris Harris done this with an c63 back a while back as well. Great content folks 👏 👌
I loved the look of the F1 tires but 0 grip is the reason my home state of Alaska has Ice racing.
Reminds me of the Japanese kei car drifting where they wrap the rear tyre in PVC and leave the handbrake on.