Heebeegeetee
9 Jul 2003, 18:53
I don't come here too often, but having a catch up read I noticed a couple of queries re tyres. To give my experience, FWIW, I've pasted an amalgamation of a couple of replies I've made, over the past two years, on an MG site, and re-edited it again. If it doesn't make total sense, that's why!
"I've been a great fan of Colway tyres since for a couple of years or more. I road rally a MG Maestro efi and a '67 MGB GT in historic events.
My B had Dunlop SP7's on when I bought it. I found that the front wheels would lock too easily under braking on poor surfaces, and I suffered a number of sidewall punctures. Using Colways has removed both those problems. I've never had a puncture since, and I've only used their road tyres, not one of their many rally compounds. I've also done a number of track days in the B, including 118 miles around Castle Combe in one day, without any problems.
With the Maestro we've been competing in the East Midlands road rally championship. This involves belting around tiny little lanes, in deepest countryside between the hours of midnight and 6am. I have to honestly say I thrash the living daylights out of the poor car, and I also lay claim to a moment of glory against an Impreza, over one very long moorland lane. We absolutely go like stink. It's always been on Colway CMV3A 's. They cost £28 each all in. Done some 7-8,000 miles on them, and will probably last the year out.
I can honestly swear that in wet, dry, deep snow, (in Derbyshire, one Saturday night in Feb. last year) standing water, mud, sh*t, you name it, they've been bloody brilliant. If I've one criticism, Colway sell them too cheaply; people have trouble taking them seriously at some of their prices. They'd rather pay more for Nankang, Woosung, or other total garbage.
We took part in the HRCR classic trophy in June, in the B, starting in Belgium, finishing in Alsace, France. 1200 miles, mostly at a leisurely pace, but with some speed tests and a fast night section. On the tests I was never less than 3rd quickest, I believe, against some tasty classic cars. On the night section, I pumped the tyres up to 36 psi all round, and they were just brilliant. Only problem - I got passed by a '65 Ferrari 330 GT. Yes, I'm serious, it was a big car, and I fancied my chances against it down the lanes, but I was wrong. Being behind it though, in the dark, watching flame spitting out of all four exhaust pipes was great fun! It was driven by Alistair Caldwell, former MacLaren team engineer during the Fittipaldi/Hunt days. A great memory.
Have a look at www.cars.u-net.com their site shows sizes, prices, pictures etc.
Since I posted that, we have done the HRCR Classic Trophy again. This year it had a longer night section, a good long thrash in the French Alps. Boy, does my B know its way around hairpins! Again, the car and tyres were great - in fact the tyres weren't really an issue, they did just what I wanted from them. No under or oversteer, no problem under braking, not even when going downhill as fast as I dare. Braking hard into downhill gravelly hairpins must be as good a test as any, and both car and tyres were just great. We arrived at one control with heavy smoke pouring from the front brakes, and two other crews had punctures that night, but tyrewise, I had no problems at all.
The premises of CARS, of the above website, is in a lovely little village in Derbyshire. The proprietor, Les Twigg, is a smashing chap, and he has very amenable opening hours. Even though it's a 40 mile drive there for me, I go there because a) it's a lovely drive anyway, and b) 'cos going there is such a nice change from the normal tyre purchasing experience - no fag smoking knuckle draggers get to work on my car!
I'm not going to tell you what I paid for the B tyres, 'cos it's embarrasing.
BTW we're not rallying the Maestro at the mo 'cos my navigator has been found to have a detatched retina, but on our last two events we did we were suffering from buckled rims, but still the tyres weren't puncturing. On these events, we often go belting down farm tracks, etc., and you get these enormous great potholes suddenly appearing before you, and you hit these with a hell of a BANG! – like driving up a kerb. To be honest, an under 10k miles wear rate is fine by me, ‘cos I wouldn’t want to keep any tyre on longer than that, ‘cos of the punishment they get.
The Porsche 924 championship uses/was using Colways as the control tyre, and don’t laugh – one of them was at that track day at Castle Combe, a proper stripped out racer, and jeez, was it quick. Quicker than most of the Caterhams.
I'm a real fan of Colway tyres. I have absolutely no connection with either company I've mentioned, other than as a very satisfied and happy customer - and how often do you hear that these days?
Heebee
"I've been a great fan of Colway tyres since for a couple of years or more. I road rally a MG Maestro efi and a '67 MGB GT in historic events.
My B had Dunlop SP7's on when I bought it. I found that the front wheels would lock too easily under braking on poor surfaces, and I suffered a number of sidewall punctures. Using Colways has removed both those problems. I've never had a puncture since, and I've only used their road tyres, not one of their many rally compounds. I've also done a number of track days in the B, including 118 miles around Castle Combe in one day, without any problems.
With the Maestro we've been competing in the East Midlands road rally championship. This involves belting around tiny little lanes, in deepest countryside between the hours of midnight and 6am. I have to honestly say I thrash the living daylights out of the poor car, and I also lay claim to a moment of glory against an Impreza, over one very long moorland lane. We absolutely go like stink. It's always been on Colway CMV3A 's. They cost £28 each all in. Done some 7-8,000 miles on them, and will probably last the year out.
I can honestly swear that in wet, dry, deep snow, (in Derbyshire, one Saturday night in Feb. last year) standing water, mud, sh*t, you name it, they've been bloody brilliant. If I've one criticism, Colway sell them too cheaply; people have trouble taking them seriously at some of their prices. They'd rather pay more for Nankang, Woosung, or other total garbage.
We took part in the HRCR classic trophy in June, in the B, starting in Belgium, finishing in Alsace, France. 1200 miles, mostly at a leisurely pace, but with some speed tests and a fast night section. On the tests I was never less than 3rd quickest, I believe, against some tasty classic cars. On the night section, I pumped the tyres up to 36 psi all round, and they were just brilliant. Only problem - I got passed by a '65 Ferrari 330 GT. Yes, I'm serious, it was a big car, and I fancied my chances against it down the lanes, but I was wrong. Being behind it though, in the dark, watching flame spitting out of all four exhaust pipes was great fun! It was driven by Alistair Caldwell, former MacLaren team engineer during the Fittipaldi/Hunt days. A great memory.
Have a look at www.cars.u-net.com their site shows sizes, prices, pictures etc.
Since I posted that, we have done the HRCR Classic Trophy again. This year it had a longer night section, a good long thrash in the French Alps. Boy, does my B know its way around hairpins! Again, the car and tyres were great - in fact the tyres weren't really an issue, they did just what I wanted from them. No under or oversteer, no problem under braking, not even when going downhill as fast as I dare. Braking hard into downhill gravelly hairpins must be as good a test as any, and both car and tyres were just great. We arrived at one control with heavy smoke pouring from the front brakes, and two other crews had punctures that night, but tyrewise, I had no problems at all.
The premises of CARS, of the above website, is in a lovely little village in Derbyshire. The proprietor, Les Twigg, is a smashing chap, and he has very amenable opening hours. Even though it's a 40 mile drive there for me, I go there because a) it's a lovely drive anyway, and b) 'cos going there is such a nice change from the normal tyre purchasing experience - no fag smoking knuckle draggers get to work on my car!
I'm not going to tell you what I paid for the B tyres, 'cos it's embarrasing.
BTW we're not rallying the Maestro at the mo 'cos my navigator has been found to have a detatched retina, but on our last two events we did we were suffering from buckled rims, but still the tyres weren't puncturing. On these events, we often go belting down farm tracks, etc., and you get these enormous great potholes suddenly appearing before you, and you hit these with a hell of a BANG! – like driving up a kerb. To be honest, an under 10k miles wear rate is fine by me, ‘cos I wouldn’t want to keep any tyre on longer than that, ‘cos of the punishment they get.
The Porsche 924 championship uses/was using Colways as the control tyre, and don’t laugh – one of them was at that track day at Castle Combe, a proper stripped out racer, and jeez, was it quick. Quicker than most of the Caterhams.
I'm a real fan of Colway tyres. I have absolutely no connection with either company I've mentioned, other than as a very satisfied and happy customer - and how often do you hear that these days?
Heebee
