Vredestein Ultrac

Vredestein and Giugiaro have teamed up for a second time to produce a stylish ultra high performance car tyre – the Ultrac. This follows the success of the Giugiaro designed Sportrac, which encouraged Vredestein to ask the Italian design studio to work with them on their first venture into the UHP segment.The result is a variation on a theme, the now familiar extended deep vee tread pattern has been touched by natural influences and now follows a sweeping pattern taken from nature, using the veining of a leaf as inspiration.

Many will wonder whether a tread pattern designed by a stylist is as effective as a tread pattern designed by a tyre technician, but by adopting the rule that form follows function, the result is a tyre which appears to perform as well as any of its UHP competitors.The real innovation though is in the compound and the building of the tyres. The Silica Silane compound turned the mixing process into a chemical reaction which had to be time and temperature controlled.

Further, the tyre building required an accuracy offered only by new tyre building lines. Vredestein invested some 50 million Euro in production facilities for the Ultrac. It is a venture which leads the Dutch manufacturer into the burgeoning UHP sector, however, MD Rob Oudshoorn told NRZ, “We don’t consider this as a growth market, we see it as another opportunity to sell tyres.