Road exerts racetrack and rollercoaster forces on tyres and drivers – at 30mph

The B3081 is officially the bendiest road in Britain according to a technical study published today by Continental Tyres. 

Continental commissioned the research to find out which of Britain’s 6,300 classified roads sets the toughest task for car tyres.  At a steady 30mph, a one mile stretch of the B3081 between Cann Common in Dorset and Tollard Royal in Wiltshire exerted lateral forces of a magnitude a car would experience on a racetrack like Brands Hatch.

Researchers tested a shortlist of ten roads – nominated by the readers of a leading car magazine – the length and breadth of mainland Britain.  A standard Vauxhall Astra 1.4 with Continental ContiSportContact2 tyres was fitted with state of the art measuring equipment and an on-board computer to record forward speed and lateral acceleration.  Four runs, two in each direction, at a constant 30 mph, allowed the researchers to calculate the bendiest one mile section of the road, measured by the average lateral force impulse, calculated in kiloNewton seconds (kNs). 

The data revealed that some of the tighter corners resulted in a forces exerted on the driver approaching one positive G – a force more usually associated with rollercoasters than British B roads. 

Many of the top 10 bendiest roads are in hilly areas of the country: the B3081 winds its way through the Cranbourne Chase on the Wiltshire-Dorset border; the 2^nd placed A686 leads to the and the once notorious 3^rd placed A537 lies in the Peak District. But the surprise entry in the top ten is the 6^th placed A157, in predominantly flat .

Tracey Hyem of Continental Tyres said, “At 30 mph in an average family hatchback some British roads are so bendy they exert the kind of forces you would expect on a racetrack. This revealing study illustrates the importance of ensuring tyres are maintained properly to give optimum performance and safety – on any road and in any car.”