Pirelli Angel Gt

PIRELLI ANGEL GT

IGNITION

NEWS

MORE GRIP, BETTER WEAR

Ben Spies Burns Rubber At Indianapolis

They drag race Diavels, don't they?

If Jeff Nash of Advanced Motorsports Ducati in Dallas has his way, this 170hp hot rod he built for MotoCP rider Ben Spies could lead to replicas that may point more Diavel owners toward the 'strip. The Rizoma-accessorized original, signed by Spies, will be auctioned at the AIMExpo, October

That minuscule contact patch under your tires is a miracle worker, considering the grip it provides for acceleration, cornering and braking. And grip in cold, wet conditions is an even tougher task, one that Pirelli’s new Angel GT sport-touring radial seeks to address, while maintaining good durability.

As Pirelli explains, most wear occurs as the working surface slows under compression and then accelerates while rotating away from the road.

Since physics can’t be changed, the company revised its tire construction to

widen and shorten the contact patch for improved wear characteristics.

Grip is a function of the tire carcass conforming to the road surface and the rubber compound’s ability to cling to it. An improved profile providing a linear transition from straight up to full lean, as well as a grippier compound on the shoulders, is said to provide good cornering grip.

The Angel GT is targeted at nakedbike, sport-touring, sportbike and touring riders who want multi-season traction and durability.

Hence, bikes such as a Kawasaki

Versys, Yamaha YZF-R1 and BMW R1200RT greeted us at Porsche’s Nardo Technical Centre, whose 3.8-mile road course provided fast sweeping corners, hairpins, undulating pavement, esses and even a 170-mph straight. We tried the new Pirelli Angel GT on five different motorcycles and found it provided uniformly excellent feel and a high degree of confidence and stability. The testing proved it’s a racetrack-capable sport-touring tire that also appears well suited for the road. -John L. Stein