It's again time for european car's editors to honor the spirit-and resulting products-of innovative thinking in the automotive aftermarket. Our "Select Gear" awards, now in their third year, were initiated to credit those parts, accessories and services which make the world of vehicle personalization so rewarding, both for us as observers of this most vital scene and for our readers as avid users of those products.
This year's recipients of the Select Gear awards begin with a new high-performance tire from one of Europe's most respected manufacturers. We're also recognizing an electronic diagnostic device that lets the driveway mechanic read codes and plan repairs just like the dealer technicians.
Kudos are extended as well to a company whose suspension systems are all high-tech custom jobs for the discriminating racer and street enthusiast. Our prime tool user, Dan Barnes, convinced us we should honor a portable air-power system that lets him take his shop on the road, and also receiving a nod from the editors is a newly designed way for auxiliary safety harnesses to be easily installed and used.
One of our favorite projects led us to another winner, a one-stop shop for quality Porsche performance and appearance componentry. And a new way to keep your alloys looking like they just came out of the showroom receives our recognition.
We also honor a firm whose lighting kits have brought top-of-the-line technology to the aftermarket, and, finally, for the first time we send out an award to a racing series, whose participants are also developers and users of high-performance products for the street.
Congratulations to all these deserving winners that enrich the automotive aftermarket.
Continental ContiSportContact2Continental is an interesting brand. Though the company isn't involved in racing, its performance tires are regarded by peers as worthy competition, even cited by competitors' engineers as examples of excellence in certain characteristics. The ContiSportContact has been original equipment on many vehicles seeking to combine excellent performance with luxury-brand ride, noise and weather-handling characteristics. These have included several all-time european car favorites, such as the BMW 330i, while being affordable enough to be seen on the Sport Compact Car side of the garage on bargain burners such as the Ford Focus SVT and Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec-V. For an all-around tire, the ContiSportContact has been tough to beat.
Now Continental has raised the ante with the ContiSportContact 2, intended to gradually replace the original. The ContiSportContact 2 offers greater dry and wet performance with less regard paid to winter capability. It was designed and built in Europe for European customers, who generally mount true winter tires during the snowy parts of the year.
When we drove them at Continental's proving grounds in Uvalde, Texas, the ContiSportContact 2s provided dry grip at least commensurate with the capabilities of the stock chassis they were mounted on. They were predictable and inspired confidence when set in a turn, with the responsiveness and quick turn-in one would expect of a maximum-performance tire. In an autocross set up on a flooded skidpad, the ContiSportContact 2 was truly astounding. Even in the deep water, one could turn off traction control in the Boxster provided and drive at a level that would be about seven-tenths in the dry. When the tires did begin to slide, breakaway was smooth and easy to recover from. We were most surprised by the ContiSportContact 2's wet braking ability, the longitudinal grooves evacuating the deep water and allowing us to brake later and harder than we had yet experienced in wet conditions.
We were impressed enough by our initial experience that we chose the ContiSportContact 2 for a plus-one upgrade to our long-term Audi A4 3.0 CVT test car, which must combine comfort and quietness with handling and take the abuse and varied opinions of rotating drivers.
Continental Tire North America Inc. * (704) 588-5895 * www.continentaltire.com