Kumho Scientists Seeing Red…and Blue

(Akron/Tire Review) Kumho Tire USA has introduced a specially designed tyre that produces red smoke, developed for drift competitions. The Kumho Ecsta MX-C made its debut with Enjuku Racing at the Formula Drift event at Road Atlanta last weekend.

“When we saw the red smoke boiling off the rear tyres, we just stood there and stared in awe,” said Enjuku lead driver and team captain Matt Vassallo. “I think people will be blown away when they see this.”

The Ecsta MX-C was developed at the Kumho Technical Center in Akron, with the basic idea coming from watching a drift event video. “At a product meeting here late last summer, several people were talking about the sport of drifting,” said Guy Edington, manager of the technical centre. “While watching a drifting video, someone opined that it would be cool if the tyre smoke coming off the cars was colored.”

Kumho scientists developed the right mix of chemicals and now have a patent pending for the special compound, which can produce red or blue tyre smoke.

However, Kumho said it does not plan to sell the Ecsta MX-C to the general public.