I exaggerate a little. Maybe a little more than that I would say. And I give myself a lot of credit by saying that I became a good pilot. On the other hand, it is true that the Michelin Track Connect can help me to improve myself. And he can do it with everyone who is passionate about performance driving.
Let’s present the facts right away: the Track Connect is a set of sensors and software that can only be applied to one type of tire, the Michelin Sport Cup 2. And still, not all the Michelin Sport Cup 2, but those who are equipped accordingly, which requires a small additional expense.
If you do not have this type of performance tires, for the moment, this little technological gadget does not concern you. If, on the other hand, you have equipped your high-performance vehicle with these unique profile tires, keep reading, this promised to be of great interest.
A little bit of technique
In simple words, the Track Connect is a set of four sensors, a black box and a smartphone application. Each of the sensors fits in a kind of small rubber hole lodged inside the sole of the tire (yes yes, inside). The black box is housed in the glove compartment, and the smart phone firmly attached to the dashboard.
The sensors will accurately read the air pressure in the tires. Nothing new will you. The great nuance, however, comes from all the information that can be drawn from it. The application will tell you in real time not only the current pressure, but also the ideal pressure and can even be used as a pressure gauge to adjust it.
It is also designed to react to the slightest variation. Specifically, this allows you to see live if you overuse the tires in this or that turn, if you perform oversteer or understeer, and even records your lap times that you consult see right out of the track.
In other words, you are entitled to a digital instructor who infiltrates your phone, and gives you real-time guidance to improve your driving.
The experience
The launch of this system, whose selling price should be around $ 700 (knowing that the sensors can obviously be used when you change your tires), took place at the Icar circuit in Mirabel. For the test, there was, on the track, an Audi R8, a Corvette Z06, a Ford Mustang GT and a Mercedes-Benz AMG GT.
When I was asked to take the wheel of one of the vehicles, my eyes turned to the R8, which I already had the opportunity to drive with a little insistence on different circuits. Small downside this time however, my instructor, visibly nervous, used to accompany people without any experience of dynamic driving. Little precision: the track was filled with tire representatives, not journalists.
I have never been able to push the car to its entrenchments (or mine). Which, I admit, prevented me to appreciate the subtleties and support of the Track Connect system, too busy that I was reassuring my instructor by braking when he got too nervous. I could still get a glimpse, just enough to know that my trajectory was almost blameless (normal, at this speed), that my tires had the right pressure, and that my lap time was enough to make me blush of embarrassment. But I promised myself to take another test one day.
The Michelin Track Connect is available within a few weeks in Canada.
