Taking it to the limit: Jeremy McWilliams puts the Bridgestone T32 to the test on the Misano MotoGP track!

A sports touring tyre has to fulfill many needs. It needs to provide great handling, feedback, grip and combine all that with mileage. By using the same T32 tyre in riding the Ruta De La Plata and in setting the world touring record, we reached almost 8.000 km on the same tyre. To finish this T32 challenge, we decided to test grip and handling. And found an original way to do that…

Misano

We chose the MotoGP track of Misano and put the T32-equiped MV Agusta Turismo Veloce in the capable hands of ex-Grand Prix winner Jeremy McWilliams. Suddenly the fastest guy on the track was on a touring bike, using Bridgestone’s T32 sports touring tyre. What a test!

“I had fun with the T32”, McWilliams recalls. “My favorite type of tyre is the one that warms up quickly. Well, the T32 has a very short start up time. I was hardly out of the pitlane when I could get on the gas. I noticed that I got to the limits of brakes and suspension before I reached the limits of the tyres. The T32 performed quite well. It reached an optimal temperature in less than a lap.”

Trusting the Bridgestone T32

The T32 is renowned for warming up quite easily and with the nice weather, there was no issue at all to get the tyres at the perfect temperature. “I felt I could depend on the tyres, even though it was a surprise that they never started to fade. I must admit, I was a bit worried about that. I knew the bike and the tyre had done almost 8.000 km and I expected a square tyre. But it wasn’t. The wear was nice and even. That took away all my worries. And to be honest, when I reached limits, they were on the bike, not on the tyres. We tried some different suspension settings and that made a difference. But still, it was good to know that when I reached the limits of the suspension, I could still trust on the T32 to perform exactly as expected.”

Unchanged grip

Even when I pushed for a full session, the grip remained unchanged. The handling of the front tyre was impressive. We just went down on the tyre pressure a little bit, to cope with the higher temperatures of track riding. But that was it. I rode the bike with the same settings as used for breaking the touring world record. The lap times got even better after the security kindly asked me to take off the paniers. It was a nice touch to have those in the pictures, but, true, it’s not very safe to be on a racetrack with paniers. So, we took them off and went a little bit faster after that. I did quite a few laps and inspected the tyres after every session. There was no graining, no special wear, no degradation. And I kept going. The durability on track and after all these miles ridden on the road, was impressive. We had a blast!”

The Track

The Misano Circuit was founded in 1969 but got a radical make over in 2006. The track was lengthened to 4180 meters and de riding direction was inverted. Since 2006 you ride clockwise on the Misano track, before it was counterclockwise. This means some corners shut down instead of opening up. This is only one of the few things that make the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli one of the most special circuits in the world.

The Tyre

The T32 was our partner in crime for some serious challenges in 2022. We used it to ride the beautiful Ruta De La Plata, crossing Spain from North to South. After that we rode the MV Agusta to the Czech Republic and on the way back crossed 13 countries in one day. That was (and is) a world record but it also meant we put almost 8.000 km on the T32 front and rear tyre before attacking the Misano track. The tyre was still in good shape. After the Misano track day, we did a road rally in rainy conditions. Really. Then we replaced it.