A team of YouTube bloggers from DrivenMedia decided to see whether Formula One tires would enhance handling on a street-legal Caterham 270R. Long story short, the opposite was found to be true.
Formula tires usually come installed on centerlock wheels, so the YouTubers had to produce a set of custom spacers to mount them on the 270R. As a result, the roadster started to resemble a Hot Wheels toy car.
The test crew had expected the large tires to improve grip like they do on Formula racecars, but the handling proved closest to that of the regular Caterham with OEM tires driven on ice. On multiple occasions, the pilots were even unable to constrain the car within the boundaries of the track.
The issues were tracked down to missing protectors and a special rubber mix that Formula One racecar builders use for their tires. This kind of tire only starts revealing its true advantages from +40 ºC (+104 ºF) onwards. The crew tried to warm it up via a burnout, but the sports car proved too lightweight to exert enough pressure on the wheels.
Furthermore, installing jumbo tires had the side effect of the car becoming too wide to fit in a standard parking pocket.