RE: Day In The Life: The Tyre Tester

RE: Day In The Life: The Tyre Tester

Wednesday 26th October 2011

Day In The Life: The Tyre Tester

Tyre-smokin' fun at the 'ring with Avon's chief development driver



Designing tyres is not a glamorous business. It involves a whole lot of number crunching, science and various other things you probably nodded off during at school. All to create something most of us buy begrudgingly and, as even the guys in the business admit, as a 'distress purchase'.

Chris Davison - Avon's man on a charge
Chris Davison - Avon's man on a charge
There is one exception in all this, and that's the job of testing. Many tyre companies have whole teams of test drivers, all specialising in one particular aspect of the tyre's performance envelope. Avon has Chris Davison. And as part of the team developing Avon's new ZZ5 performance-biased tyre he's logged over 30,000 miles, most of them at the wheel of a BMW M3 and a good proportion of those at the Nürburgring. What a rubbish sounding job that is.

Broad shouldered and possessed of that thousand yard stare you'll often encounter in those for whom life on the edge is the nine-to-five, Davison's day job typically involves rinsing the living daylights out of Avon's hard-working M3 test car at MIRA, the 'ring and various other test tracks across Europe. Much of it is deeply unglamorous, wet braking apparently especially mind numbing. The reward for all this graft though? Tooling around the Nordschleife and mixing it with the prototypes and test mules in the industry pool. And, on occasion, making mischief.


"We were waiting for the fog to clear one morning, like you do there," he chuckles. "And we had a Skoda Octavia vRS and the guys stuck bits of card over the badges to make it look like a mule. We were absolutely flying round too, people thought it was some sort of new performance prototype," he deadpans, breaking into another chuckle.

Testing at the 'ring is typically the culmination of the tyre's development programme and a chance to hone wear, durability and resistance to heat and other extremes once the more worthy stuff like noise and brake testing have been completed. For Chris this means 20-odd laps a day of the Nordschleife in five-lap blocks with breaks for analysis of how the tyre is coping.


Now hitting the market, the initial batch of ZZ5 sizing doesn't actually include M3-friendly widths and ratios so for the launch Avon has put Chris in an Audi S5 and a couple of laps of Monteblanco circuit in Spain reveal just how hard he pushes. Hard enough to have the S5 spluttering into limp mode after a couple of laps in 30-degree heat and whimpering back into the pitlane, brakes smouldering. The tyres look OK though!

Makes you wonder what kind of state the M3 test hack is in after 30,000+ miles in Chris's hands! "It's brilliant that thing, hasn't missed a beat," he says. "Just keeps going and going, it's a perfect test car."

Although clearly just a little bit unhinged, Chris's ability to make cool assessments of tyre performance while pumping in consistent eight-minute laps of the 'ring is what separates the men from the boys. "It's funny because it's quite boring in a way because you're just doing exactly the same thing again and again and again," he reflects, as if describing some mind numbingly robotic production line job. And for some in the business it's almost that, Michelin apparently even painting a line on the test track, GT5 tuition mode style, to ensure consistency whoever is driving. But then he lets slip another anecdote about tussling with AMG test drivers shaking down C63 coupes and you realise why he loves his job so much.


So how do you actually go about shaking down a tyre? "We found out the benchmark time for the M3 on its stock tyres from the BMW guys," he explains, "and I have to try and hit that every lap, as much as you can with the traffic and other cars out on track."

Traffic that, of course, is made up of equally hard-charging test drivers, spicing things up. "I was up against another guy in an M3 and he couldn't figure out why ours was faster down the big straight," laughs Chris. "I didn't tell him I was just leaving it in fifth - he was going mental trying to figure it out but you just learn how to get every bit of speed when you're doing lap after lap."


There have been other test cars too, a mildly tweaked Evo VII held in obvious affection by the Avon boys. "That thing was mad," says Chris. "Big flames when you lifted. Subaru were out testing at the same time and I really had to nail it to get past them and all the Japanese engineers were crowding round the Evo when we got back in wanting to know what we'd done to it."

Crashes at the 'ring are, on public days at least, big news recently. So what about in the industry pool? "People do go off, yeah," says Chris. "Tends to be in the last hour on a Friday afternoon for some reason. I don't know, maybe people are thinking about home time or something." Another chuckle.


Back at the presentation for the ZZ5 we're back to dozing off at the back of class as the talk turns to two-ply rayon casings, intelligent asymmetric tread design and tri-arc mould profiles. At least one daydreamer made good though, Chris Davison's special brand of scientifically measured hoonage bringing just a glimmer of charisma and personality to those unglamorous but undeniably vital bits of rubber hanging off each corner of your car. All of which takes a little of the sting out of that painfully expensive business of having to replace them from time to time.

Author
Discussion

CliveM

Original Poster:

525 posts

184 months

Wednesday 26th October 2011
quotequote all
An interesting (maybe?) unbiased comparison of reliability?
Always wondered how the stats would change for a car that is well cared for and used hard vs one that is never checked but driven like Miss Daisy.

frankthetank2

625 posts

183 months

Wednesday 26th October 2011
quotequote all
fancy a job swap?

Dagnut

3,515 posts

192 months

Wednesday 26th October 2011
quotequote all
CliveM said:
An interesting (maybe?) unbiased comparison of reliability?
Always wondered how the stats would change for a car that is well cared for and used hard vs one that is never checked but driven like Miss Daisy.
Yeah very interesting

dave stew

1,502 posts

166 months

Wednesday 26th October 2011
quotequote all
I like the sideways Audi S5 pics!

WCZ

10,483 posts

193 months

Wednesday 26th October 2011
quotequote all
"chuckle"

ArosaMike

4,187 posts

210 months

Wednesday 26th October 2011
quotequote all
I was incredibly lucky to land a job earlier this year developing Stability Control (DSC, ABS, Traction Control etc) and am lucky enough to have been to the ice lakes in Sweden and a handful of test tracks in Germany and Spain. Since starting though, the 'Ring has been the one I've been looking forward to the most. Currently we're due to head out that way in April, and I can't wait! Plenty of similar stories about famous drivers in EVOs and unbelievably committed diesel saloons from my colleagues as well.

As Chris says, it's not all mindless fun by any stretch and you can easily get caught up in what you're doing and get 'fed up' with doing straight line braking, but I try to make sure I remind myself every day that what I'm doing is unusual and incredibly jammy :P

All I can say is, I always wanted to do something like this, but never genuinely thought it's possible! Fantastic to read someone elses experience of a similar job smile

Edited by ArosaMike on Friday 4th November 11:37

Stevem5

120 posts

204 months

Wednesday 26th October 2011
quotequote all
I have been lucky enough to go to Nürburgring under Chris's instruction and can say that this guy know his stuff!

The figures talk for themselves, anyone that can get round in 8mins and 9 seconds knows what they are doing!

Anyone seriously looking to improve thier skills at the Nürburgring, should get Chris in the passenger seat to coach you round. But remember to take a clean pair of pants if you let him sit in the drivers seat!!

www.ringtours.co.uk

Oh, and his "Chuckle" is his trademark.

Steve

UltimaCH

3,155 posts

188 months

Wednesday 26th October 2011
quotequote all
A boring job? "Chuckle", I prefer going round in circles than sitting behind a desk!

The Jolly Todger

2,742 posts

179 months

Wednesday 26th October 2011
quotequote all
I think I just heard BMW's PR department making a mess in the front of their underwear and at the same time a noise not unlike Audi's making a mess in the back.

treetops

1,177 posts

157 months

Wednesday 26th October 2011
quotequote all
And when it comes to recommending tyres we all say.... "avoid Avons they are a bit mid-range you'd be better off with a premium brand xyz..."

Now we know the truth.

4x4disco

83 posts

164 months

Wednesday 26th October 2011
quotequote all
Couple of years back I was looking for some winter tyres, I was a little concerned about them overheating on the motorway so I called Avon.

Got the normal ‘he’s not available’ so I thought that was that.

Much to my surprise they called me back and we had a very frank and sensible conversation (no overheating issues), end result we purchase a set of Avon Ice tyres and have been very pleased.

Must be something to do with Avon staff having their feet on the ground.

K50 DEL

9,223 posts

227 months

Wednesday 26th October 2011
quotequote all
I used to be pals with another one of their tyre guys... a chap by the name of Trevor... he always had interesting tales to tell..

Nice insight into a side of the business we don't often get to hear about.

jon-

16,492 posts

215 months

Thursday 27th October 2011
quotequote all
He gets the good parts of tyre testing. I've heard the oe testing for marque specific tweaks can be rather dull for certain brands!

dave stew

1,502 posts

166 months

Thursday 27th October 2011
quotequote all
I have bought Falkens for a few years but will be investigating Avon on the back of this.

Lucky Eddie

15 posts

165 months

Thursday 27th October 2011
quotequote all
I wouldn't want to spend my day lapping the 'ring in the wet - one day, something bad will happen and there's nowhere to hide.

ArosaMike

4,187 posts

210 months

Thursday 27th October 2011
quotequote all
Lucky Eddie said:
I wouldn't want to spend my day lapping the 'ring in the wet - one day, something bad will happen and there's nowhere to hide.
That's why we do our testing in fireproofs, a HANS device and a full cage/race seat. Accidents do happen yes, but if you're correctly trained and experienced and take a sensible approach to testing, then you can minimize the risk greatly. You're not necessarily going flat out for a whole lap to try and get a lap time (actually timing during industry pool days isn't really allowed), so you only maybe use a few corners over the lap to go over limit and you choose those based on risk!

gordon17

21 posts

179 months

Thursday 27th October 2011
quotequote all
Good write up. I know Chris, used to race with him in the Westfield championship for a couple of years. I knew he tested for Avon but didn't realise how much testing he did; No wonder he destroyed me on the track!

jamespink

1,218 posts

203 months

Thursday 27th October 2011
quotequote all
Has anyone tried Avon ZZ3 tyres? I bought some for my M5 after using Goodyear F1s and it has transformed the car. In a bad way! I have been used to utterly stable handling with the F1'S but with the ZZ3's. Its fidgety and it wanders with many more heart in mouth moments. The tyres just feel "blocky" and squirmy. I understand they are new (2000 miles so far) but they are not at all confidence inspiring! Also the traction control light is on FAR more often. That just did not happen anything like as much with the F1s. Not Good, NOT GOOD AT ALL!

jon-

16,492 posts

215 months

Thursday 27th October 2011
quotequote all
jamespink said:
Has anyone tried Avon ZZ3 tyres? I bought some for my M5 after using Goodyear F1s and it has transformed the car. In a bad way! I have been used to utterly stable handling with the F1'S but with the ZZ3's. Its fidgety and it wanders with many more heart in mouth moments. The tyres just feel "blocky" and squirmy. I understand they are new (2000 miles so far) but they are not at all confidence inspiring! Also the traction control light is on FAR more often. That just did not happen anything like as much with the F1s. Not Good, NOT GOOD AT ALL!
The ZZ3 will never match something like an F1A, but I'm sure you knew that from the price!

Try another 1.5 psi per tyre to see if that helps the stability issues - I had the same thing when going from Bridgestones to Falkens on a 350z, a few extra psi helped a bit.

HDM

340 posts

190 months

Thursday 27th October 2011
quotequote all
ArosaMike said:
That's why we do our testing in fireproofs, a HANS device and a full cage/race seat. Accidents do happen yes, but if you're correctly trained and experienced and take a sensible approach to testing, then you can minimize the risk greatly. You're not necessarily going flat out for a whole lap to try and get a lap time (actually timing during industry pool days isn't really allowed), so you only maybe use a few corners over the lap to go over limit and you choose those based on risk!
That's interesting, and a good point, I must admit (naively in hindsight) that you guys would be dressed in civvies, much like the testers you seen in car magazines, but I guess, just like any person in a high risk job, be it a fireman, high rise construction worker, etc, you'll be kitted out in safety gear suitable for the job. What training did you get especially, or is this just your motorsport experiences?

Cheers