To make life easier for the track day enthusiast and club racers, Metzeler has introduced the new Racetec TD Slick. The advantage of the Metzeler Racetec TD Slick is that the use of tyre warmers is optional. Metzeler also says that riders will not have to make any extraordinary setup changes to use the TD Slick.
The Racetec TD Slick offers consistent high performance over multiple sessions, versatility on different asphalt types and operating temperatures, high abrasion resistance, and the possibility of reversing the rear tyre between sessions if the circuit wears a tyre more on one side. The ability to reverse the tyre is due to its symmetrical design.
Quick warmup is another feature of the Metzeler TD Slick. The tyre uses polymers that have a lower operating temperature, and that gives them cold-tearing resistance. The latest resins allow the TD Slick to provide consistent performance over multiple sessions.
The Metzeler TD Slick was the result of racing experience at the Isle of Man. Tourist Trophy racing requires a tyre that is effective at a wide range of temperatures and on various pavement conditions during a single session. To achieve this, Metzeler uses polymers with a low glass-transition temperature, high melting-temperature resins, plus carbon black. These combined features also give the TD Slick the ability to heat up quickly on the track.
The rear TD Slick uses a single-ply rayon structure, which is used for DOT-legal supersport tyres. This makes the feel of the tyre familiar to street riders, and the motorcycle does not demand extensive chassis tuning to adapt.
Metzeler worked on making the Racetec TD Slick a tyre that enables precise riding. To get there, Metzeler uses zero-degree steel belts with plenty of structural flexibility to give the rider the feel they need.
If your riding style prefers a sharp profile, the Metzeler TD Slick will immediately feel comfortable. Metzeler worked for a large contact patch when cornering, and that is best achieved when using the front and rear TD Slick as a matched pair.
Genuine sizes
Genuine rear sizes allow a smoother transition from OE tyres geometries to professional racing tyres, and helps the rider skip some of the setup variables a professional racer is required to manage.
Performing since the first corner
RACETEC™ TD SLICK features extremely quick warm-up, and allows riders to approach a track without concerns about thermal issues into the first corner.
Single Ply, pure radial structure
The tyre structure is similar to the OE one, so it is easy to find the correct bike set-up to maximise your track day experience.
Reusable along several sessions
Great performance consistency
Uniform thermal and mechanical behaviour of RACETEC™ TD SLICK reduces significantly the thermal decay, allowing RACETEC™ TD SLICK to retain its chemical properties through various laps and thermic cycles.
Abrasion and cold tearing resistance
The wide contact patch on full throttle corner exits, the quick warm-up and the effectiveness at wide range of temperature let the RACETEC™ TD SLICK tread compound to operate within the correct working range avoiding cold tearing or other uneven wear phenomena.
Reversible rear tyre
Symmetric rear structure
RACETEC™ TD SLICK rear sizes feature a symmetric structure and seamless construction layers avoiding the junctions, which are sensitive to the stress direction.
Exploit the last patch of rubber
RACETEC™ TD SLICK rear is fully reversible, offering the rider the chance to fully use the tyre, when riding at tracks featuring a predominant leaning side, which exploit just one side of the tyre.
THE TYRE IN DETAIL
The compound
RACETEC™ TD SLICK features a racing compound that includes polymers with a low glass transition temperature, carbon black and high melting temperature resins. This combination has numerous advantages: first of all the ability of the tyre to get up to temperature very quickly, and even without the use of tyre warmers.
Strengthened by the experience accumulated in road racing such as the Tourist Trophy on the Isle of Man, used as a testing ground to test the versatility of its products, METZELER engineers have designed a compound capable of operating in a wide range of temperatures and asphalt conditions, in order to offer consistency in performance and resistance to cold tearing.
The exclusive patented CCM process – Compound Continuous Mixing process – maximizes the homogeneity of the components in the polymetric matrix and allows the tire to consistently offer high performances, from the first to the last lap, even if divided between several thermal cycles.
The structure
The carcass of the RACETEC™ TD SLICK rear tyre is characterised by a classic radial single-ply rayon structure, similar to that used in supersport road tyres, and represents a plug & play solution that allows riders to make the bike track ready while maintaining the standard set-up.
The zero-degree steel belts used both on the front and on the rear tyres are a patented technological solution that allows a high degree of structural flexibility and consequently a better feeling with the tyre. All this allows the motorcyclist to be more precise in the trajectory, adjusting it when already in mid-lean or delaying the braking point when entering the corner.
The profile
The rear RACETEC™ TD SLICK features a sharp profile that improves the handling of the motorcycle and at the same time increases the contact area when cornering, resulting in a considerable increase of grip. The profile of the front tyre reflects that of the rear for a balanced and harmonious behaviour of the tyre set.