SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1519409
WHY OFF-ROAD TIRES ARE SO IMPORTANT Every year, SCORE Journal covers the off-road tire market, showcasing the latest rubber and talking to manufacturers who tout their products. So the question is why is this so important to us and you? If you look at tire technology, things like puncture resistance, traction, sizing, rubber hardness, and more, these improvements come from testing in Baja racing. When racers first began to challenge themselves across the Baja Peninsula, there were no such things as off-road specific tires. Even after companies like BF Goodrich Tires began making tires specifically for off-road use, the designs and components added to them improved to the point where today, not many racers have tire issues. Compare the amount of flats racers had from the late 70’s to the 1990s and you’ll find many races were lost because of flats and other tire issues. Today, flats still happen but overall, they are very few. What’s amazing to me personally, having dual purpose off-road vehicles that are used both on the street and off-road, the technology has come so far that an aggressive Mud Terrain tire can easily see 500-700 miles of hard highway use without any issues. Then that same tire can gain enough grip to pull my truck over a rock, or get through deep mud or silt with little effort. All that comes from what tire manufacturers learn from Baja racing, and seeing the effects on our own vehicles is what makes this sport so unique and fun. Now, after every race, teams always end up thanking their tire manufacturer for making such a good product, many noting they finished without a single flat tire. So for the average SCORE fan who has an off-road truck or SUV, selecting the right tire is a direct connection to what has been happening in Baja for more than 50-years. We spoke with several tire manufacturers for this issue, BF Goodrich Tires, Toyo Tires, Maxxis, and Tensor Tires, who gave us insight into what’s new and their involvement in SCORE racing. Next month we’ll follow-up with the latest tires available in our 2024 Guide. The editor’s 4x4 Ford Ranger equipped with BF Goodrich Mud Terrain T/A KM3’s