Maserati has opted to use the SportContact 7 – Continental’s most recent premium tyre offering – as original equipment on their Levante and Quattroporte vehicles. As the successor to Continental’s well-established SportContact 6, the winner of numerous comparative tests, the new SportContact 7 embodies state-of-the-art tyre engineering expertise to the fullest.
In designing the new tyre, a major objective was creating an adaptive tread capable of ideally responding to both wet and dry road conditions. The BlackChili rubber compound used was fine-tuned for optimal traction. As a result, race-track performance shot up by ten percent over that of the previous model, while wet braking distances dropped by eight percent. For braking under dry conditions, the new SportContact 7 beats its predecessor by six percent whilst also providing 17 percent greater mileage over its service life.
Another objective was a further reduction in rolling resistance, with an eye towards lowering emissions and saving fuel. Continental’s development team succeeded in lowering rolling resistance significantly compared with the series-produced tyre.
“Safely bringing the exceptional performance of Maserati’s vehicles to the road at all times calls for tyres that are a perfect match, since tyres constitute the sole means of connecting with the asphalt,” remarked Dr. Holger Lange, Head of Tyre Development for Continental’s global original equipment business, adding: “We closely collaborate with our customers right from the development phase, for only then can we fully grasp and cater to the specific needs of each vehicle, thus optimally contributing to its ultimate driving performance.”
The SportContact 7 was especially engineered for dynamic driving for high-performance passenger cars. There are numerous target vehicles and by spring 2022 a total of 42 different versions of the new tyre will be available from dealers, in sizes from 19 to 23 inches, with more to come during the course of the year.
Source: Tyretradenews
