WRC-Spec Studded Tires Are Mind-Blowing
The fact that a set of Pirelli WRC-spec studded tires are faster than a normal set of studded tires is not surprising. What is surprising is the margin by which the race tire outperforms the street tire.
The excellent Tyre Reviews YouTube channel got to test both the Sottozero WRC and the Ice Zero 2 at Pirelli's winter testing facility in northern Sweden. Fit to a Subaru Impreza WRX rally car, the WRC tire—the same spec as used in Rally Sweden 2021—clobbers the Ice Zero 2. Around a snow handling circuit, the Sottozeros set a 59.1-second lap verses 67.3 seconds for the Ice Zeros; on an ice-handling circuit, the Sottozeros ran a 33.1 compared with 51.0 for the Ice Zeros.
Just looking at the tires makes it obvious why the WRC tires are faster—the studs protrude 7mm from the treadblocks. As the Ice Zero 2 is a road-legal tire with more than 50 studs per meter, it has to pass a road-wear test in order for Pirelli to sell it to the public, so its studs only protrude 1mm from the tread. Studs do wonders for grip on snow and especially ice, but they tear up the road beneath, hence why street-legal studded tires can't have the huge studs of their racing counterparts.
For someone who tests tires for a living, as the host of this video does, it's safe to say that the WRC tires are pretty mind-blowing. That sort of improvement over a short lap is staggering.
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