We were invited to test drive the brand new Bridgestone Adrenalin POTENZA RE003 at Calder Park in Melbourne, and what an awesome day out it was. The day ran as smoothly as it gets, all the instructors and tyre tech guys on the day were truly awesome guys, we were in great hands. We also had a huge fleet of brand new WRX’s and Golf GTI’s to play with. There’s nothing quite like thrashing someone else’s car on the circuit!
The Bridgestone Adrenalin POTENZA RE003 is an amazing street tyre. I had a set of RE001’s on my DC2R, it was THE tyre back in the day. At some stage the Toyo T1R took over as an alternative that was good in the wet and cheaper, the Neova had it’s day as a dual duty race track and street tyre. Achilles are having their day now with a tyre that performs well but costs way less than it’s competitors. I can only hope that the RE003 has it’s turn in the spotlight once more as the ultimate “control freak” on the street tyre market.
Enjoy the following photos, with commentary. Look out for the RE003 at your local tyre dealers soon. Register your interest for the new Potenza HERE and receive information as it becomes available!
PS: Yes. I had to buy a set of RE003’s for my Golf. I’m almost down to the canvas and have been meaning to get new tyres for ages. I’m really looking forward to getting these babies on my car ASAP!
I had very little sleep (3-4hrs) but was feeling AOK. In the morning we caught up with Jared from Downshift (QLD) who landed at midnight last night.
Mix Master Alain at it again, this time en route to Calder Park.
Calder Park has to be one of the most run down circuits I’ve ever seen. Mad Max comes to mind. Post Apocalyptic!
We were greeted by the cars we were going to be driving. WRX’s and Golf GTI’s on the new Bridgestone Adrenalin POTENZA RE003’s as well as competitor tyres.
Still don’t like this car. It’s just so stylistically awkward.
I was so looking forward to driving the GTI.
Lightning bolts! Love the tread pattern and square semi-slick like sidewall.
Into the WRX I get, and boom! The Fox!
Patina.
Our group hit the wet slalom first. Whilst the competitor tyre was fun as I managed to get the car to lose traction and get into a four wheel drift, this wasn’t what we were here for. The Potenza was the clear winner with much more direct steering and much smaller steering input (much smaller steering wheel adjustments).
The next test was dry slalom where we got up to much higher speeds. The competitor tyre was awesome, and predicable, but it scrubbed off speed on each direction change whereas the RE003 didn’t. Both winners on this test I thought, though the RE003 definitely won the test (and had the WRX showing off much more body roll due to more grip).
The last test involved a fast 80km lane change which made for some pretty crazy sideways action with the competitor tyre (smashing cones down like bowling pins!). The RE003 smashed the competitor tyre in this test. Definitely the biggest difference out of all 3 tests on the day, and definitely the most fun too. Check: Supercheap Catalogue.
We were asked not to use our driving skills to avoid hitting cones, and instead hit 80km/hr and literally yank the wheel as hard as we could, thus simulating avoiding kids running across the road for example. After this we were treated to some heated track battles on the full circuit between the competitor tyre and the RE003. This had everyone on the day truly appreciating how awesome the RE003 was, and also how amazing the Golf GTI was. The MK7 just feels so fast, fun, playful and light (IE: It shat all over the WRX).
We wrapped up the day with some filming, and at the carpark we spotted this amazing Honda Beat owned by Grant from Gripshiftslide.
So good!
As wide as 3 license plates. Check the lines on the ground, that’s a standard car park space!
So rad, and still a work in progress.
We smashed a few drinks with the Fullboost boys, then we were off for more drinks at the airport.
Landed in Sydney. Having just gotten back from Sweden a day before, I’m SO over planes! We almost missed this one, getting in trouble with the people at security check for being so late and literally running our asses off onto the tarmac to board the plane (lol!).