Vredestein knows that Grassroots Motorsports knows a thing or two about performance tires. And they know that our readers do, too. That’s why they came to us with a simple request: Find five readers worthy of a set of Vredestein’s latest performance tires, their Ultrac Vorti and Ultrac Vorti R. Over the next six months, you’ll be seeing feedback from these readers in the form of regular blog posts on our site.
Story and Photos by Paul Kolatorowicz
Rain, rain, and more rain. To say that it has been a wet, late winter and spring in Northern Illinois would be an understatement. In fact, it is raining as I write this. While the area has gotten a reprieve in the last couple of weeks with more sun than rain, the last few months have given me a chance to test the Ultrac Vorti R in all sorts of wet conditions, both on the road and the track.
The first on-track adventure I did with the tires was a “Track Sprint” with Tri-State Sports Car Council at Autobahn Country Club South Course. (A Track Sprint is a standing start from pit exit and then running roughly 75% of the course, with the last 25% for cool down. You are timed from start to finish and SCCA Time Trials classing is used.) As you can probably guess, it rained. Going out on a track that I have never driven, in the pouring rain had me a little nervous. The only thing I had in my favor was that I had a lot of road miles in the rain on the Vredestein and I felt that I had a good understanding of what they would and wouldn’t be able to do in the rain.
Finding the rain line was a challenge for me, but the Ultrac Vorti R did a great job of keeping me on track. The feel and feedback in the pouring rain, at more “racey” speeds was great. As with most nose-heavy cars, understeer tends to be the biggest challenge in the rain. While I did have this issue on corner entry a couple of times, a quick straightening of the steering wheel brought the front grip back without any more drama. I would attribute this to the great water-channeling characteristics of the Vorti R. I’ve been in similar situations on Bridgestone RE-71Rs and BFG Rival S 1.5 and I feel they didn’t recover quite as quickly as this tire. The Vredestein felt on par with the Michelin Pilot Super Sports and Continental ExtremeContact Sports in the pouring rain, though I think they would be faster in drying conditions than the Vort R.
Daily driving continues to be great. Road noise remains as quiet as the first drive as do their handling characteristics. I wasn’t able to glean much about wear characteristics at the Track Sprint because of the rain, but after a couple thousand miles on the road I think that they will be holding up quite well to daily driving and track use. The next outing for these tires will be an Evening Track Day event with the Chicago Region SCCA.
Hopefully without rain.
I'm in the market, and actively seeking new tires. Over on the Vredestein website, it appears there aren't any locations near Indianapolis to buy their tires from. I can't get a price for the tires to be shipped here, which is disappointing. Seems like the web-site needs some of the quirks worked out if they want to sell tires to the GRM community.
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