The new Kumho R900 is now available and will be used by all competitors on the next round of the Australian Rally Championship (ARC), the Coffs Coast Rally, on May 14-16 and throughout the remaining rounds this year.
The R900 features bigger block patterns with additional structural rigidity and stabilization of blocks for hard packed gravel as encountered on shire ad major forestry access roads or where the stages are likely to well swept and hard packed.
According to Kumho motorsport coordinator John Mills the addition of the R900 strengthens the Kumho rally arsenal and will be ideal for use on rallies such as Coffs Coast and Rally SA in June.
"The plan has always been to offer a range of tyres under the control supplier arrangement to ensure the correct tyre for the incredibly variable surfaces in the ARC.
"This means that no one will have any super special tyres that others can't obtain but instead will have the choice of two compound and three tyre types depending on the rally.
"After the success of our Kumho R800 tyre in the Forest Rally in WA recently where it helped drivers set a number of new stage record times on quite loose surfaces, the R900 will give the sort of hard surface stability that the next two rounds demand," he added.
"In addition the third tyre available is the Kumho R700 which is a wet weather tyre designed for muddy conditions," said John Mills.
Each competitor is allowed 16 tyres for each ARC round but it is likely that many of the competitors will not use all of their tyre allocation due to the excellent performance and reduced tyre wear as witnessed in the WA round. In the WA Forest Rally for instance Simon Evans used only eight of his 16 tyres.
The tyres are available in a range of sizes with the most popular 205/65 x 15 costing just $231 each with these available to any rally competitor from club level to the ARC.
"It is really a much more cost effective tyre for all competitors no matter which level they are at and will greatly benefit rally competitors from beginners to the top level," said John Mills.
Kumho has also contributed financial support to rallying which will help regrow the sport and build a stronger competition into the future.
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