You get all kinds of invitations, sometimes totally awesome, sometimes kind of boring. You can often see that in terms of the topic. Such a topic could be the presentation of new tires, for example.

Car tires - black, wide, strong?

Exactly. The everyday car driver often does not know the brand or the current air pressure of his tires and yet the industry wants to know that interest in their products has been aroused and of course also to convince. There is not just one tire manufacturer in the world. In my perception there are 2 big ones: Michelin , Dunlop and Pirelli. This is due to my own preference for premium sports tires and, somehow, also to motorsport.

Michelin? Well, who doesn't remember the fiasco in Formula 1 at the US GP? That was probably the French brand's biggest media meltdown of all time and yet - when it came to winter tires, my personal choice was always clear: Michelin Pilot Alpin.

Dunlop? I had it on some cars myself, but were later replaced by the cheaper Falken (at that time, Golf GTI 16V - slalom driving ...) And by the way, Dunlop's head office is in Hanau and my application as a tire tester was made at this headquarters , in my ex-school home Hanau, declined 😉 (In the next life I will stick to technology and become an engineer, instead of a businessman or a typist - then it would certainly have worked with the job as a tire tester.) 

And there is Pirelli. The new brand manufacturer and sole supplier for Formula 1 and so far no Formula 1 race had to be driven to the end in boredom just because the majority of the field was on tires that could not be used. On the contrary. In my opinion, the new tire manufacturer Pirelli bears an enormous share of responsibility for what is probably the most exciting Formula 1 season in a long time.

And now imagine being invited by a tire manufacturer to find out about new tires for classic cars? Hey Vintage tires? Please. Many motor journalists would probably cancel such an event because - let's be honest, we all only want one thing: “Speed, Power, Grip and Performance”. Who wants to drive a classic car - but wait a minute.

Chris Harris was lucky to read the invitation from Pirelli carefully, because it was somehow about “historic rally vehicles” and the Italian Alps ...

So I'm glad that Chris Harris went through it - I personally will soon be able to experience a tire from Pirelli and somehow I read something from McLaren MP4 / 12 and Lamborghini Aventador ..

More about that later - after the event 😉