Twaron in pole position

How high-performance cars are leading the race to sustainability

It’s official – Michelin produces the world’s fastest tire. Inspired by more than a century of expertise in long-distance racing competitions like the 24 Hours of Le Mans, its makers have incorporated Twaron textile reinforcement to offer drivers a combination of maximum safety, speed and control. What’s more, this new tire helps make high performance driving more sustainable. We spoke to Michelin Product Category Manager Jean-François Beaupère about the Pilot Super Sport – launched just a few months ago – to find out more.

The top-tier tire

In July 2010, on the Ehra-Lessien track in Germany, a Bugatti Veyron equipped with Michelin Pilot Sport tires broke the world land speed record for production cars. Developed in collaboration with Porsche, BMW M and Ferrari, its successor, the Pilot Super Sport, is designed for even better performance both on the race track and in every-day street and highway driving. “When designing the new tire, we started from a blank sheet of paper,” Jean-François explains, ”discussing our partners’ priorities, their vision for the future of the super-sportscar market, and their specific targets and requirements for an ultra-high-performance tire.” The resulting product is suited to a broad range of powerful cars: everything from the compact Subaru WRX STI to supercars like the 1,000-plus horsepower Bugatti Veyron. While this segment of the automotive market remains a niche one, the demand for these vehicles is growing rapidly. “Between 2010 and 2015,” says Jean-François, “we estimate that the global market for ultra-highperformance cars will grow by 25%. At the same time, we predict that the tire market for such cars will grow by 30% in Europe, 43% in North America, and by five times what it is today in China.”

A belt that grips the road

Of course, record-breaking performances don’t happen by pure luck. They rely on technical innovations and advanced materials. For the Pilot Super Sport, this is where Teijin Aramid comes in. “Once we knew what our partners’ specifications were for the Pilot Super Sport,” says Jean-François, “our development team realized right away that, for the tire to withstand speeds of 350kph or even 400kph, they would need to use Twaron fiber in its construction.” Twaron is a key structural element in the Pilot Super Sport, says Jean-François. “We use it only in tires that have to face truly demanding conditions: very high speed, very high torque and major cornering forces. Thanks to this material, which is weight-for-weight five times stronger than steel, we can control the effects of those forces, which would otherwise deform the tire and undermine its ability to grip the road.” In the Pilot Super Sport, the tread is reinforced with a light-weight belt of woven Twaron fibers. This is fixed to the tire’s tread in such a way that it provides different sections of the tread with different levels of resistance. As a result, pressure is more evenly distributed, leading to a better grip on the road. Such a finely calibrated application requires highly specialized materials. ”When it comes to textile reinforcements, we work very closely with Teijin Aramid,” says Jean-François. “They develop new materials for us based on our precise needs and specifications. As we continue to work on the next generation of tires, Teijin Aramid and Twaron will help us to meet the market trends for lower weight and better grip, speed and performance.”

A road map to sustainability

But the future isn’t all about building bigger, more powerful cars. By using high-tech, lightweight materials like Twaron, car designers are able to design lighter cars that are more dynamic, with better acceleration and responsiveness – all without sacrificing safety or strength. In the past, to achieve this added dynamism, designers would simply add more horsepower to new models. The trend today is toward building cars with the best possible weight/power ratio. And there’s more. “Because of the regulation of CO2 emissions, because of the rising price of oil and because of the increased environmental awareness of drivers, we are also seeing an important trend toward greater sustainability – even in the ultra-high-performance car market. What’s most exciting is that designers and manufacturers don’t see these pressures as constraints, but as motivation for greater creativity, for building cars and components that are smarter, faster and more sustainable.” Take the question of weight, for example. “It’s well known that weight plays a key role in fuel consumption,” says Jean-François. “However, it’s less well known that the weight of your tire has a disproportionate effect on vehicle dynamics, kilo for kilo, compared with the weight of other components. This is because when a mass starts spinning, it requires more energy to make it accelerate or change direction. In short, increase the weight of a tire by 1kg, and this extra weight will demand more energy during acceleration and cornering than if you had increased the weight of the driver’s seat, or another static component of the vehicle, by the same amount.” That’s why the Pilot Super Sport’s Twaron reinforcement, with its exceptional strength-to-weight ratio, plays such an important role in the trend toward sustainable high performance.

Plug and play

When it comes to reducing the CO2 emissions of a high-performance car, even small improvements can require extensive costs in redesign and innovation. Tires, however, are purely a plug and play solution. Simply changing to a lighter, stronger, more efficient tire like the Michelin Pilot Super Sport can significantly reduce CO2 emissions. It also helps that Michelin has improved the longevity of the Pilot Super Sport by 10% over the previous generation, leading to less waste. That way, four small changes can make a big difference to a driver’s carbon footprint.

Winning the race

It may seem counter-intuitive that sustainable innovations in driving are coming from the ultra-high-performance world – but it makes perfect sense to Jean-François. “International competitions like the 24 Hours of Le Mans are an engine for innovation, and the passion for racing feeds directly into new, safer and more sustainable technologies for the entire automotive market. After all, companies like Michelin, Porsche, BMW M and Ferrari – and Teijin Aramid – are used to facing big challenges, working under pressure and struggling against the limits of what seems possible. ”Perhaps the biggest challenge facing the world today is sustainability. And the ultra high-performance car market has a key role to play in helping us to achieve it.

More technical background information is available as well.