Maxxis is keen to put the record straight following media coverage of the recent tyre test by Auto Express magazine, which used sensationalist language to brand budget tyres ‘bottom of safety league’.
“Let’s be clear, Auto Express tested the MA-Z1 Drift, which is a world beater in terms of what it is intended to do,” says Maxxis International UK’s managing director Derek McMartin.
“As a product designed specifically for the sport of drifting it has proved itself streets ahead of the competition by winning Formula D, the premier US series, and all three European drift series – the British Drift Championship, ProDrift and the European Drift Championship – last season.
The MA-Z1 Drift is certainly street legal, but it is not a general purpose high performance tyre, so is unlikely to achieve the same results as the premium brands used in the variety of road-based tests Auto Express carried out.
“We feel it is grossly unfair that some newspapers have sensationalised their coverage by suggesting that drivers are risking their lives if they buy budget tyres because not only is this concept of a ‘safety league’ totally inaccurate – the Auto Express test examined a number of different aspects, including price, which is a major consideration for some people – but the MA-Z1 Drift performed very well indeed in some areas.
“It did extremely well in the aquaplaning tests, for example, winning the straight test, and was commended for being low noise. The Maxxis results were not so far away from those of the premium brands in several areas so reports that Maxxis was ‘slammed’ in the dry handling test for poor turning are misleading. What the results show are that the MA-Z1 Drift performed in accordance with its characteristics as a drift tyre and yet it still scored 97.7%, finishing only just behind the top runner in that test.
“When Auto Express provided a thoroughly objective review, it is disappointing that some areas of the media should seize the opportunity to generalise the findings so that they can criticise manufacturers who develop quality products which perform well and offer excellent value.”
