The history of the automotive industry is amazing and diverse: it has famous pages that almost everyone knows, and there are episodes that became this very history, and never came true. However, you can find cases when the idea is promising, and even production was launched, but today no one knows about them. This is exactly what happened with the curious technology of dual tires - a promising project seems to have been implemented, but it did not receive further development, and now it has been completely forgotten.
Today, when we think of twin tires, we imagine large trucks that can only hold eight tires, not four. However, four decades ago, an enterprising racer decided to try the technology for passenger cars as well. It turned out to be a Czech businessman Jerry Johan.
Interesting fact: quite often in the sources he is called Swiss, but in fact he is Czech, and lived in Switzerland when he came up with the idea of the concept of twin tires. In addition, his full name sounds somewhat different than it is often indicated: for example, a native of Prague is called Yaroslav Vaclav Maria Johan.
Having built a rather successful racing career, where he often represented the Porsche brand in Central America, Johan eventually settled in Switzerland. There, the enterprising businessman continued his activities in the field of the automotive market: he entered into dealer contracts with Aston Martin and Lotus, and also had a common business with Colin Chapman.
It was in Switzerland that an incident occurred with a businessman, which prompted him to create twin tires for passenger cars. It was like this: in 1978, Johan was driving from Lausanne to Geneva in his Lotus Esprit Turbo car. It was raining heavily and even a professional racer found it difficult to keep the car on the wet track.
But the drivers of two Citroens of the 2CV model calmly overtook Johan, despite the weaker technical characteristics - it was all about their narrow tires. It was then that an enterprising businessman came up with the idea to put the same narrow tires on cars, only a few, so that they could withstand the load.
After the first successful test with a ride on dual tires, Johan began experimenting with various combinations of their number: for example, on his own Lotus Esprit Turbo, he managed to put four tires on the rear and three on the front.
Twin tires had a number of advantages over conventional tires: the most important is, of course, aquaplaning. In addition, tests showed that cars on such tires reacted much more calmly to throttle release in a corner. It is impossible not to note the improved performance in terms of carrying capacity.
Johan began to promote his project: he registered the company JJD - Jerry Juhan Developments, and also wanted to conclude contracts with large tire manufacturers. However, unfortunately, he failed to launch large-scale mass production - cooperation with Goodyear was limited to the release of one industrial batch, and then it was terminated, and it did not work with Michelin either, because, according to Novate.ru, potential partners - Johan and Michelin - managed to quarrel at the very first demonstration.
The concept of twin tires for passenger cars was forgotten, but it still influenced tire manufacturing practice. So, in the late eighties, Goodyear engineer Sam Lenders, based on Johan's concept, developed a rain tire with a wide and deep drainage groove in the center of the tread. This tire modification was called the Goodyear Aquatred and enjoyed considerable demand over the next decade.
In addition to the topic: any tires wear out sooner or later, but it is important to know why this happens prematurely - Top 5 Reasons Why Tires Wear Out Too Fast