Hutchinson claims new Caracal Race is the 'fastest gravel tyre on the market'

Hutchinson has unveiled what it claims is the “fastest gravel tyre on the market” as a part of its new line-up of Caracal gravel tyres.

That title, it claims, goes to the Caracal Race but it is also joined in the new line-up by a standard version with added puncture protection, to strike “a more versatile balance of performance and durability”.

The release continues what has been a busy year for the French brand, having unveiled its “fastest ever” road tyre, the Blackbird, in March. It was headlined by the introduction of a range of new tech and Hutchinson has drawn on this technology once again for the Caracal Race, which has adopted the same SwiftEasy casing and Mach Tread 3.0 compound. This tech is absent from the regular Caracal which uses the Bi-Compound that has been a regular feature on its other gravel tyres, including the Touareg and Tundra.

Both tyres are available solely in a 700x40c size and a tan sidewall colour, although the regular Caracal has a black sidewall version available too.

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Hutchinson Caracal Race: Meeting “the needs of increasingly high paced elite gravel riding”

© Hutchinson

The new Hutchinson Caracal Race gravel tyre is built for speed

While the new Caracal range consists of two tyres, it is the Race that will inevitably steal the headlines.

Hutchinson says that it created the tyre with one goal in mind: “to serve their elite teams and athletes by creating the fastest gravel tyre on the market”. If its testing is anything to go by, it appears to have not only achieved that, but blown most other race tyres away. According to Hurchinson, it outperforms similar performance tyres “by up to 35%”. This figure goes up to 40% when compared to the Overide which the Caracal has superseded as Hutchinson’s top-tier gravel tyre. The French brand hasn’t actually specifically defined what “performance” is in this instance.

Either way, its performance credentials are reaffirmed by the ‘Racing Lab’ moniker that it carries. This is applied to Hutchinson’s top-performing tyres that are hand-made in France, like the recently released Blackbird. The Blackbird was significant for multiple reasons, not least because Hutchinson had been quiet on the road tyre market for a number of years, but also because it debuted a host of new technology, including SwiftEasy casing and MachTread 3.0 compound. Both of these have made a return on the Caracal Race, and they’re pivotal to delivering the tyre’s world-leading performance, Hutchinson says.

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For the SwiftEasy casing, this is to the tune of 40% less rolling resistance, compared to other semi-slick gravel tyres in Hutchinson’s line-up. This is achieved through a slightly different process to regular casing which usually overlap at the centre of the tread, with the casing instead bonded to the outer layer of the tyre.

© Hutchinson

The Caracal Race uses SwiftEasy casing and a Mach tread 3.0 compound

MachTread 3.0 delivers an array of further performance benefits, according to Hutchinson, including “75% better performance in tear tests, all without compromising on grip”.

The Caracal Race doesn’t benefit from the same level of puncture protection as other tyres, hence Hutchinson’s direction that it is “best reserved exclusively for races on hard packed gravel or for all-road performance riding”, but that extra level of protection is provided by the standard Caracal instead.

The Caracal Race tips the scales at a claimed 475g, which is reasonable, although there are plenty of tyres that undercut that figure.

Hutchinson Caracal: Performance with extra puncture protection

Unlike its cousin, the standard Caracal forgoes the newer technology, but it still shares the same race-oriented focus, only with a little extra puncture protection. In fact, Hutchinson says that it ranks above its existing tyres in its performance hierarchy, falling below only the Caracal Race.

The main similarity between the two tyres, Hutchinson says, is the “fast rolling tread pattern”. Beyond that, the standard Caracal shares more similarities with the other tyres in Hutchinson’s range, including the bi-compound. This combines flexible sidewalls with a harder central compound.

© Hutchinson

A hardskin layer provides extra puncture protection for the Caracal

Added puncture protection is delivered by the hardskin layer, which goes from bead-to-bead for complete tyre coverage. It’s technology that was originally used for mountain bike tyres but is an ever-present throughout Hutchinson’s gravel range, barring the Caracal Race.

Despite the added puncture protection, the tyre weighs the same as the Race at 475g.

The Caracal Race will cost €59.99 while the Caracal will retail for €54.99. Check out the full range on Hutchinson’s website.

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