Toyo Tires helps TV’s Jonny Smith get a grip at Carfest
Respected Japanese tyre manufacturer Toyo is no stranger to helping racers find traction for their chosen steeds, but the request from Discovery TV’s Jonny Smith, front-man for the popular ‘5th Gear’ show, proved to be one of the most random yet.
Tweeting that he urgently needed some road-legal sticky rubber for his bonkers electric drag racer, Jonny was hoping to wow the crowds at Chris Evan’s ‘Carfest’ event, raising valuable money for charity in the process. Able to help a racer AND a good cause? How could the company say no?
Jonny’s electric drag racer really is a bit special – and worthy of a press release in its own right! Dubbed ‘The Flux Capacitor’ this diminutive drag racer started life as a far more pedestrian 1974 Enfield 8000. Heralded then as the future of electric car ownership, it wasn’t the most powerful of conveyances – something addressed by Jonny over a long and thorough build process that now sees this EV pocket rocket turning out the equivalent of over 500bhp and a ground-pounding 1000lb ft of torque. In a car that weights well under a tonne, that’s a power to weight ratio that eclipses just about every supercar on the planet – a statistic borne out by The Flux Capacitor’s sub 4-second 0-60 time and 12 second quarter mile capability!
Jonny’s desire for the car has always been to keep it road legal and registered throughout its transformation into a race machine, meaning that every part of its conversion has been able to pass the current MOT test. With the recent legislational changes outlawing many semi-slick designs, the Toyo Proxes R888 seemed like the perfect solution to his tyre-burning antics at Carfest. Not only does this tyre carry an ‘E’ mark and surpass all EU labelling requirements, but it also sticks to the road like glue! Perfect when you’re trying to set a fast quarter mile time. That said, with all that power on tap, it didn’t take Jonny long to wheelspin through a couple of sets at Carfest.
Commenting on this unusual bit of product testing, Technical and Motorsport Director for Toyo UK, Alan Meaker smiled, “I’m used to fairly unusual and last minute requests in this job, but this one is up there! The level of engineering in Jonny’s Enfield really is staggering and it’s a fantastic showcase for EV technology and the traction of the Proxes range. The useful life of an R888 is usually quite a bit longer than at Jonny’s hands, but I’m all up for a bit of tyre destruction if it’s in the name of crowd pleasing!”