TYRES: New Zealand V8 SuperTourers racing on Hankook

This year's V8 SuperTourers series in New Zealand is being contested exclusively on Hankook tyres.

The Hankook tyres are being supplied in a three-year arrangement and are closely based on the tyres that have been supplied to the German-based DTM touring car series since 2011. However the 280/680 R18 size is slightly different, requiring the use of a purpose-made mould.

"The DTM organisers gave us a difficult brief -- produce a tyre that has very high limits of grip but does not drop off in performance over a stint," said Motor Racing Director of Hankook Tire Europe, Manfred Sandbichler.

"Prior to the start of the season we completed more than 30,000 kilometres of testing, focussing on durability, grip, cornering ability and the ability to quickly warm the tyres."

For the NZ V8 SuperTourers, Hankook needed to take into account the differences in climate, different track conditions and the fact that V8 SuperTourers are heavier and more powerful than the DTM cars.

"We had to modify the DTM tyre concept to suit the different ground temperatures in NZ and the characteristics of the V8 SuperTourers themselves," said the manager of Hankook's Racing Tyre Development Team, Yongho (Roy) Cha.

"But we have spent thousands of hours researching, developing and testing our tyre constructions and compounds across many racing series such as Le Mans and Japanese SuperGT," he added. "Being able to transfer that accumulated expertise was a great advantage on this project."

The Hankook tyres came up very well after testing at Hampton Downs near Auckland, which is known for being particularly hard on tyres -- and moreso with the 7.0-litre engines used in the V8 SuperTourers.

Hankook offers two compounds for the race tyres: "prime" and a softer "option" compound. Both are required to be used during an event.

Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at the carsales mobile site