Report by Rod
Eime.
If you want know how to destroy a set of tyres, just ask Steve Corney of Tumbi Tyres.
Steve’s not your average road user. In fact, Steve’s not much of a fan of modern, smooth asphalt. He’d sooner be tearing through the bush along some feint hint of a track somewhere between Bourke and Boorooloola in his 1966 Bedford school bus, or launching himself ten feet into thin air in his modified Mitsubishi 200 Ute.
“Some tyres hold up better than others,” remarks Steve, making something of an understatement “others tend to pop when you land hard!”
Talking to Steve, his relaxed confidence is palpable. The sort of quiet, understated bloke you just know is dangerous when the chips are down.
In between winning Australian and NSW State Off Road Racing titles, Steve and navigator Dave Watson, regularly compete in both national and regional Variety Club bashes – just for fun!
In the last two Bashes, Steve and Dave racked up nearly 15,000 miles on outback roads designed to destroy cars and tyres - and raising over $40,000 in the process. While other competitors were throwing away their shredded rubber, Steve was casually checking the tyre pressures on the forty year old bus.
“We put Yokohama RY208 truck tyres on the front and TY228s on the rear, “says Steve, the corner of his mouth betraying the hint of a smile, “you’d be going pretty hard to drill a hole in them!”
Not only has Steve never had a flat, he’s barely had to put air in them.
As 2003 “Yokohama Dealer
of the Year” Steve’s dealership, Tumbi Tyres on the NSW Central
Coast, stocks all brands of tyres. So for a bloke who has every conceivable
brand and type of tyre at his disposal, what does he choose for riding,
racing and recreation? Yokohama, of course.
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