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Created on Thursday, 10 October 2013 14:03

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• Colin Braun clocks in at 222.971 mph in the No. 14 Michael Shank Racing Ford Eco-Boost-powered DP machine to set record for fastest, single lap at Daytona.

Ft. Mill, S.C. – October 10, 2013.  For the third time in 2013, Continental Tire was involved in a record-breaking project.  In conjunction with Michael Shank Racing, Ford and Roush Yates Engines, Continental Tire gave driver Colin Braun the confidence to turn the fastest lap ever recorded at Daytona International Speedway on the oval.  Wednesday afternoon Braun clocked a single, fast-lap time of 222.971 mph (40.364 seconds) in the No. 14 Michael Shank Racing Ford EcoBoost-powered Daytona Prototype (DP) car to break the former record of 210.364 mph set by Bill Elliott during qualifying for the Daytona 500 in 1987.

“Everyone at Continental Tire is proud to be a part of this project and to be a part of history,” said Travis Roffler, director of marketing for Continental Tire.  “Our entire team worked incredibly hard to engineer a tire that would sustain the loads placed upon the tire going through a banked oval at those high speeds.  To watch Colin race by at those speeds, on our tires, was amazing.  Hats off to Jim France and his vision, and every partner who made these records possible today.”

Continental Tire engineered a tire specifically for this project. While the foundation of the tire is based off the ExtremeContactTM Race tire that the DP class raced throughout the 2013 Rolex Series season, some minor changes were made.  The tire used for the record-setting run is lighter and has less rolling resistance than the standard race tire and is a harder compound than the tire used for a typical road course race.

To prepare, Continental Tire used data from their previous experience at Daytona International Speedway on the 2.5-mile, oval portion of the road course.  Additionally, the tire was tested at expected loads of 230 mph for 10 minutes straight, to ensure the confidence Braun needed to complete his run.

“The Continental tires performed great,” said Braun immediately following the record-setting run.  “We had good grip.  Obviously it’s a balance between rolling resistance and giving up speed and the amount of grip we have.  But the Continental engineers did a great job of bringing us a tire that was not only fast and had good rolling resistance, but also had good grip to go out there and go 220 + mph around Daytona.  Hats off to those guys for a really good job.”

Braun’s lap was part of a record-breaking afternoon that also included new world speed records for 10 kilometers from a standing start and 10 miles from a standing start, subject to homologation from the Federation Internationale de I’Automobile (FIA).  Braun’s 10-km speed was 202.438 mph and the 10-mile speed was 210.018 mph.  The 10-km and 10-mile world records were held by Hans Liebold for the last 34 years, who drove a Mercedes-Benz Turbo to a 10-km speed of 199.101 mph and a 10-mile speed of 208.316 mph from a standing start in Nardo, Italy on May 5, 1979.

“Those tires, we were only running them 10 laps at a time, but we could have run 50 laps,” said Michael Shank, owner of Michael Shank Racing.  “That was the least of our problems.  I’m privileged and happy that they chose to be a part of this thing.  Of course they are great partners of ours in the Tudor United Sports Car Series, and they stepped up and did everything we asked of them.  They supported it, brought people down here, everybody was part of it and I’m lucky to have Continental in my life.”

Wednesday’s records bookend a year that saw Continental Tire help break two GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS® as well.  In May, Johan Schwartz shattered the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS® for the longest sustained drift on a set of ContiSportContactTM 5P’s in a BMW M5 Sedan and in June, it was a set of PureContactTM tires with EcoPlus technology that helped set a new GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS® achievement for the lowest fuel consumption- 48 U.S. states for a non-hybrid car, in a Volkswagen Passat.

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