Why Sports Car Enthusiasts Will Love Bridgestone's Adrenalin Tyres

Tyre launches get a bad rap in motoring journalism circles; you drive a variety of cars in a variety of conditions with your main focus targeted on that thin little circle of rubber separating your beastly machine from the tarmac below.

However, when you delve a little deeper, you begin to realise just how important tyres (or 'tires' if you're of the American variety) can be in extracting maximum performance from your car. So when Bridgestone notified us of their new Adrenalin RE002 range for urban, sporty vehicles, we packed our bags and flew out to Spain.

The setting for our rubber testing would be the famous Ascari Race Resort in Southern Spain. This hotel is a motor enthusiast's Mecca; complete with private track, expensive supercar garage and swimming pool overlooking the pit lane. It's no wonder membership costs £110,000 per year.

Whilst the Adrenalin RE002 has been designed to show dry handling prowess, we were treated to the most unsavoury of atmospheric conditions... cue rain, storms and enough standing water to sink the Titanic. Or at least it felt that way when we ventured out onto a mini-track to drive Volkswagen's new Mark VII Golf fitted with both Adrenalin and Turanza products. And here's where it got interesting.

Start rolling in a Golf shod with Adrenalins, and you'll instantly realise why people pay a premium for good rubber on all four corners - there's less tyre roar and road noise and also a noticeable sense of performance that's waiting to be extracted.

Under harsh acceleration, fast cornering and tight slalom runs, even on the lake Bridgestone called a track, the Adrenalin tyre improved steering response and allowed us to maintain accuracy and precision through the course. And the effects were measurable in metres - not only did the Turanza allow Germany's best hatchback to slip wide of the apex, but there was noticeably less control and feel in the comparison tyre.

So what's Bridgestone's secret? Speaking to the PR Team: "Adrenalin's 'pulse' groove and deflector technology breaks the water film faster in front of the footprint and deflects it away from under the tyre, increasing resistance to hydroplaning."

However, where the Adrenalin product really shone was in the slalom runs, fitted to a 2.0-litre Audi TT with DSG gearbox. With 220bhp on tap, there's more power which needs to be put down. On a now dry track, the progressive nature of the RE002s was realised; sure they take a while to warm up to reach the grip levels needed to tame such a slalom, but once worn in, the tyres allowed your humble racing pro to shave seconds off his course time thanks in part to a slightly higher profile sidewall.

All of this shouldn't be a surprise to those familiar with Bridgestone - they're still the largest tyre manufacturer by sales volume (Lego quips aside) and early consumer reviews of the RE002 show why they're considered a true, premium product.

Which brings me to my conclusion: tyres might not be sexy, and testing the same tyre on a variety of cars might not sound like your dream launch. But at £100 per corner, spending a bit more cash on good rubber might transform your mean machine from a loose daily driver to a more honed street performer.

Full video:

Skip to 0:45 to watch Bridgestone's brief interview with me, post-tyre testing.