With a raft of racy new rubber introduced in 2015, it’s been a big year for Michelin.
Two of the new introductions to the range in 2015 are the Michelin Power Supersport Evo and Power Cup Evo, which were recently tested by a group of avid journalists at the fantastic Mugello circuit. Riders had a wide choice of the latest superbikes to choose from, including the BMW S1000RR HP4, Aprilia RSV4 RF, and the latest YZF-R1 from Yamaha.
The Power Supersport Evo is designed for fast road and occasional track day riding. With improved stability provided by the latest in Active Casing Technology, and new formula compounds developed by Michelin’s chemists, the new tyre was around 2 seconds faster in testing at Jerez, when compared with it’s predecessor.
“At Mugello, the new tyre shone” say the team at tyrereviews.co.uk. “It was warm enough to push in under a lap, which bodes well for fast road riding, and offered plenty of both straight line, and cornering stability, with only the powerful 1299 and R1 really giving the rear something to moan about out of 3rd gear corners. Braking was strong and stable, and extreme lean angles felt very good for a road bias tyre. It also took a morning of hard laps extremely well, and while the wear was visible no one reported the tyre to be overheating / falling apart which can be a common complaint of road bias tyres on track. In short, Michelin have delivered exactly what they’ve promised with the SuperSport EVO.”
The Power Cup Evo is a Supersport and Superstock treaded race tyre, and although road legal, it is very much at home on circuit. Michelin have simplified the range of compounds, reducing it from three options to just one, which has a much wider operating range. Whilst this may seem like something of a step backwards from Michelin, the new Power Cup Evo actually beat all three of it’s predecessors in their intended conditions of use.
Tyrereviews.co.uk commented following their testing:
“On track the PowerCup EVO impressed, offering even more stability and performance than the SuperSport EVO, and with most riders improving their laptimes by around 3 seconds, if you’re after the ultimate road legal speed, the PowerCup EVO is the tyre for you.”
Find out more about how Active Casing Technology works in this latest video from Michelin 2-wheel:
Here’s Michelin’s very own combined development figures for the two new Evo products:
- 2,800 – The number of development hours during the project
- 15 – The number of months taken from the initial prototype to market
- 15 – The number of tracks used for testing, including Mugello, Misano, Jerez, and Portimao.
- 25 – The number of racers who tested the new tyres on track, including Kenny Noyes
- 50 – The number of test sessions
- 500 – The number of tyres tested on track
- 10,000 – The weight in kilograms of the rubber compounds tested
- 14,000 – The distance in kilometres covered at different circuits during testing
- 300 – The number of knee-sliders used during test sessions
Find out more about the Michelin Power Supersport Evo and Power Cup Evo, both available to the UK trade from Cambrian Tyres!
