Tyres

[Niels Jonassen]

At the current Aurelia exhibition in Turin Pirelli is promoting the Cinturato tyre for the Aurelia, and in recent advertisements Longstone is talking about the Cinturato as more sporting than the Michelin X. As far as I have found out Lancia stuck to Michelin. Does anyone have any experience with the two tyres? I'd be interested to know if there is any difference and if so which.

[Dikappa]

I've just finished re-reading Guido Rosani's excellent book on the Sports cars, and he states somewhere that they initilly used Michelin tyres, but after a lot of testing switched to Pirelli tyres, and that this was a difficult decision due to the very good relationsip Lancia always had with Michelin....

Of course this says nothing on the production side, put it is the same period....

[impaw]

Niels, I was impressed by Longstone tyres knowledge, he seemed to know what he was talking about.

Here is the ad by the way.
https://youtu.be/WKoB8s31lvQ

[Niels Jonassen]

This is an interesting topic. Fortunately I have Rosani's excellent book. It is true that on page 72 he tells that initially the team behind the D20 favoured Michelin X, but after tests they switched to Pirelli. But, he says that they switched to a traditional and stiff Pirelli tyre. That can only mean a diagonal tyre!! If you look at photos of Aurelias in racing you'll see that the Corsas from 1952 used Michelin X, and that the B20 winning the Rally Del Sestriere in 1954 also used Michelin X. More information? And preferably also information from people who have experienced the two tyres.

[GG]

A very distant memory from many years ago was that the Michelins were a bit harder compound, lasted longer. The Pirellis were just a bit softer, more controllable on the drifting, where the Michelins had a sharper breakaway.

[Niels Jonassen]

Last year I took part in a test session at a test centre run by a Danish motoring organization. Usually they use it to hold driving courses for members, but last summer they organized something for owners of classic cars. My experience may be of interest to others. There were a number of Porsche 911s and one Porsche 357, a few Triumphs and some more which I do not remember. Much time was spent on very slippery surfaces, and one of these was on a downhill slope where we were asked to drive slalom between pylons. After the first gate all the 911s spun all the way down the slope, and so did all the other cars apart from the Porsche 356 and my Aurelia B20. I just steered from gate to gate with no problem at all. Afterwards the instructor came up to me in disbelief to examine the tyres. He had never heard of Michelin X, but he was much impressed. And so was I. This experience means that now I am much more confident in the rain.

[DavidLaver]

What tyres would Aurelias have been on for the 1951 and '52 Mille Miglias?

[lancialulu]

I remember well back in the late 60's Michelin had a reputation for being long lasting which folk took to mean hard rubber. Well it may have been hard but the ingenious pattern design was still excellent in the wet, and in the dry they "sang" round corners like no other tyre! They were too expensive for me but friends used to buy S/H cars with them fitted so a lot of singing was done! I have them on my B12 (Michelin re manufacture) and I can get them singing too on certain roundabouts in the dry. Pirellis were known for more outright grip but higher wear rate on "normal" driving. I think Niels' experience in his Aurelia on the downhill says it all....

[frankxhv773t]

I like your description of the tyres on the second hand cars "singing". Back in the day we used to say "If the tyres ain't cryin' then you ain't tryin'". Oh the joys of a mis spent motoring youth.

[chriswgawne]

That phrase of Tim's brought back memories for me too, particularly lunchtimes at school in Hammersmith when those lucky enough to have cars would chase up and down the A40 from Hammersmith  Broadway to what was the Cherry Blossom roundabout by the Fuller Brewery against the clock.
Apart from the squealing tyres, my abiding memory of these time trials was being a front seat passenger in a Cortina 1500 which failed to take a corner by some road works and which ended up under the road works barrier with the front wheels down the trench. We were all good strong boys though so we simply lifted the car back by the front wings and returned to school for afternoon lessons none the worse for wear.

[Niels Jonassen]

David. The Aurelias taking part in the Mille Miglia 1951 and 1952 were on Michelin X. As late as 1954 factory cars taking part in competition were on Michelin X. As far as I can see Lancia continued with X tyres on the Aurelias as long as they had factory teams with Aurelias in motor sport. The D20 began with Michelin X but was later fitted with Pirelli Stelvio.

[chriswgawne]

I hope I haven't given too bad an impression of my 6th form days - we were all Senior Prefects ( allowed out at lunchtime) and most lunchtimes for me were spent rowing training.
The Cortina driver is still my best mate , he was my best man and also introduced me to Mrs Gawne 48 years ago.
Happy days.
Chris