SPACE-SAVERS ON A CATERHAM 270R IS MORE FUN THAN IT SHOULD BE.

For this one, the crew sourced a bunch of those space-saver spare tyres that we all do our best never to remove from the boot. More often than not, these wheels are made from steel, and not very thick steel either, which makes sense that when combined with tyres that look more along the lines of bike tyres, they’re rated at a mere 80km/h (50 mph). While this is their ‘safe’ operating speed, I know that when I’ve had them fitted 80 feels way too fast, and that’s in a straight line. I imagine these poor steel discs to take ridiculous G-forces on bends and can picture them folding under the car. That said, on a daily basis I see young ones driving at highway speeds on these things oblivious to the danger.

Watching this video does give one a little more trust in the skinny tyres and rims, they did take more abuse than we gave them credit for. On the burnout front, they do damn well and we know this thanks to first-hand experience. Well, this here writer does, back in 1996 local brothers Ernst and Marc Schoemaker used to fit these to their nitrous-fed dailies, a 1.8-litre 16-valve Mk2 GTi and an Opel Kadett Superboss, and shred them up and down the road until it was metal on tar. Now at least I know they can handle corners, albeit on a lightweight Caterham. Either way, these cheap skinny tyres seem to provide way more entertainment than their price tag suggests.  Have you ever done this? Do you have pics or videos? Let’s see that stuff yo!