Trials Car Tyres are just as important to the performance of the car as in any other form of motor sport. Even though our rules say that they need to be road tyres, and any aggressive pattern is likely not to be approved, the compound and pattern are all important. Front engined cars are allowed to run flat tyres, which is a huge advantage, although this tends to shred them somewhat so a nice tyre is still important.

All trials tyres seem to last for about three seasons, at which time the leading edges wear off - reverse them halfway through the season for better grip.

I was pretty disappointed with the Michelin MXTE and I thought I'd give these Pirelli P400s a go. My mistake. At least it reinforced my belief in the Michies. At the time I was leading in the points so if I lost a trial it wouldn't have mattered. I wasn't convinced one way or the other after the season, but I found I was 2 seconds slower than main rival Geoff Taylor in the first couple of events in the following week's Motorkhana. Fortunately I had a flat and put one of my 10yo spare Michies on. This instantly restored my performance and I pressed on later to find the MX4s.