Kumho-Shod Bowlers complete maiden rally raid

All four of the Bowler Nemesis 4x4s entered for last month’s uncompromising Baja Italia completed the event – the maiden one for the vehicle and Kumho’s new 18in rally raid tyre.

The Nemesis – the type of specialist thundering V8-powered rally raid 4x4 featured on Kumho’s stand at January’s Autosport International Show – was due to make its debut on the Lisbon-Dakar Rally earlier this year, but the event was cancelled at the last minute, due to terrorist threats.

Four such Bowlers were entered for the Baja Italia (March 14-16), an uncompromising rally centered around the dried river beds above Venice. They included the Kumho-liveried vehicle of Richard Hayward and Alex Cole, the second British entry of Greg Macleod and Oliver Ford, the French one of Thierry Charbonnier and Quin Evans and the Belgian one of Joost Van Cauwenberge and Marc Devos.

Kumho has stolen a march on its competitors with the 275/65R18 tyre, which is the only one of its type in this rally raid series. It employs the ultra-tough synthetic fibre ‘aramid’ (short for aromatic polyamide) in its construction, for optimum weight and strength.

A variety of problems on the first day dropped the Bowler team down the running order – a position from which they could never fully recover. However, all four vehicles were running well at the end and the Kumho tyres had proved themselves more than up to task.

Said the Managing Director of Kumho’s European Technical Centre, Roger Jenkins, “We were delighted with the performance of the new tyre. Its construction is sufficiently robust and the few punctures sustained were more likely caused by over-enthusiastic driving than any weakness in the tyres themselves. The cut and chip damage was also more than acceptable for this type of event and the tread pattern maintained its depth and sharp profile throughout.

“We established that we could do with more tread performance for certain conditions and are looking to produce an additional version of the cover soon. In summary, we were very happy with the tyre’s first outing.”

The Baja Italia was won by Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and Tina Thorner in a BMW X3CC. The next event for the Kumho-shod Bowlers will be Rallye International de Tunisie.

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