Kumho Sponsorship Puts Brand Before Performance Driving Enthusiasts

Most tire dealers have participated in at least one ride-and-drive event during their careers; the lucky ones have enjoyed many hours driving OPCs (other people’s cars) in parking lots and racetracks at high speeds with nary a cop in sight. While we all see ourselves as the next A.J. Foyt, few of us really know how to get the most out of the experience.

If you want to get good, I mean really good, you should attend a driving school and get some seat time. Many tiremakers have hooked up with driving schools and even added teen driving experiences to their credentials. Kumho Tire USA Inc. is the latest, signing a multi-year, multi-tiered tire sponsorship agreement with Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

There’s nothing really unique in that, until you consider the school itself. The Mid-Ohio School, run on the grounds of the Lexington, Ohio, race course, is probably the most comprehensive in the world. Its 15 different driving programs cover the entire driver spectrum, from defensive driving classes for teens and adults to multiple high performance driving experiences to competition-level classes. Add to that three other motorcycle courses – beginner, advanced and performance levels – and you have an 18-section program enjoyed by some 4,000 attendees over 152 class days in 2006.

Since the Mid-Ohio School took its first lap 15 years ago, 23,000 people have taken driving classes there, enjoying the instruction, encouragement (and patience) of a cadre of professional drivers.

Over the years, as the school’s reputation grew, so, too, did the range of offerings and customer base. In its early days, the Mid-Ohio School focused on competition driving. Today, a bulk of its programs target regular folks, and the school caters more to corporate clients like Hewlett Packard, American Express, Timken, KeyBank and dozens of others that have rewarded or incentivized employees and customers.

Kumho’s deal calls for the tiremaker to outfit all 56 vehicles in the school’s fleet of Honda Civic EX Coupes, Acura TSX A-Specs and Honda S2000 roadsters. Thousands of Ecsta SPT, Ecsta MX, Ecsta V710 and Solus KH16 tires will get used, with the Kumho brand name spread all around the facility, on the school and support vehicles, and on the school’s promotional materials.

Because tire dealers aren’t the only ones to enjoy the occasional OPC, a group of trade journalists were run through an abbreviated version of the school’s daylong Acura High Performance Course. It was abbreviated only in that there were 21 of us all at the same time, when normally, the class size is a bit smaller.

Still, with professional instruction, everyone got a better sense of the physics of driving and how that can be applied to gain maximum performance and safety from a passenger vehicle.

The day started with individual time trials on a long autocross layout. The trials were held even before the first bit of teaching began and gave the instructors and participants a better sense of the group’s skill level.

From there, it was chalk time in the classroom, as vehicle dynamics and performance theories were explained, a fairly nut-and-bolts look at weight shifts, turn-in points, apexes and exit speeds. We took that little bit of knowledge and began applying it behind the wheel, passing through three sections on cornering and one on vehicle control.

Noticeably more confident – and perhaps a bit quicker – it was back to the autocross course again for a team event. The hefty group was divided into three teams, and combined lap times (with a variety of penalties thrown in) were compared. Most participants, even under the pressure of a team event, showed improvement.

But, we were far from done. The full 2.3-mile, 13-turn racetrack awaited our armada of 21 Acura TSX A-Specs. Again divided into three smaller groups, we all spent the next hour playing follow the leader, applying our classroom and autocross track lessons on a larger – and faster – scale. Lead instructors showed us each brake, turn-in and apex point and went progressively faster with each lap.

While it was a spirited and fun day, the serious side of the event was the fact that tiremakers like Kumho have become more involved in teaching everyday driving skills. What was once the domain of racer wannabes is now a shared experience for parents and their kids, salespeople and management and even the occasional contest winner.