The Z BTO back in action
After the short break on asphalt in Germany (which harvested further success for the Michelin FP N), it`s back to business in Wales for the celebrated Michelin Z BTO which took six straight wins in the hands of Sébastien Loeb following its introduction last April in New Zealand. The regulations permit the use of two different tread types for the British round, but all Michelin runners have chosen to run the Michelin Z BTO only.

Tyre loads
September 12th: the deadline for Priority 1 drivers to register their personal quotas of 70 tyres for Rally GB. A maximum of 40 tyres from individual quotas may be used during the weekend. Seven tyre-changes are programmed in the course of the event.

The soft compound Z8
For the Welsh forests, the soft compound BTO Z8 is expected to be the most commonly used option. However, should the good weather hold, Michelin drivers will also have a joker card in the form of the hard compound Z9, while the very soft Z8- will be available in case of particularly cold weather. For the record, it was the soft compound Michelin BTO Z8 that won last July`s Rally Argentina.

Plastic surgery
Plastic surgery is fashionable in rallying too where it takes the form of re-cutting the tyres` tread pattern by hand. Following restrictions concerning the number of patterns that may be used, the FIA regulations demand increasingly polyvalent tyres and the technique of re- cutting enables their tread to be fine-tuned by Michelin`s skilled fitters to match the terrain . Different types of blade are employed for this work, including different blade widths (2, 4 and 8 mm) and different shapes (`V`- shaped, U`- shaped) according to the type of surface (e.g., how deep the mud is, etc.) and drivers` individual preferences.


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