Kumho 18-inch Nemesis Tyres Complete Maiden Rally Raid

Kumho’s new 18-inch rally raid tyre has completed its maiden event, with all four of the Bowler Nemesis 4x4s the company supplied completing the Baja Italia event. The Nemesis, a specialist V8-powered rally raid 4×4, had been due to make its debut on the Lisbon-Dakar Rally earlier this year, but the event was cancelled at the last minute, due to terrorist threats.

Four such Bowlers were entered for the Baja Italia (14-16 March), a rally centered around the dried river beds above Venice. These included the Kumho-liveried vehicle of Richard Hayward and Alex Cole; the second British entry of Greg Macleod and Oliver Ford; the French entry of Thierry Charbonnier and Quin Evans and the Belgian one of Joost Van Cauwenberge and Marc Devos.

Said the Managing Director of Kumho’s European Technical Centre, Roger Jenkins: “We were delighted with the performance of the new tyre. Its construction is sufficiently robust and the few punctures sustained were more likely caused by over-enthusiastic driving than any weakness in the tyres themselves. The cut and chip damage was also more than acceptable for this type of event and the tread pattern maintained its depth and sharp profile throughout.

The Baja Italia was won by Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and Tina Thorner in a BMW X3CC. The next event for the Kumho-shod Bowlers will be Rallye International de Tunisie.