Clawing to the Top

Queensland's Brent Perrett won the 8 day Xtreme International 2004 and believes his Mickey Thompson Claws helped get him to the top.

As one of Australia’s toughest off-road events, the Xtreme International 2004 is a gruelling test for tyres. With 640 winchings by nine teams over eight days, this is truly the test of tests. The strength of the tyres and their ability to grip during every winch is crucial.

As Brent Perrett puts it, “You need a strong tyre that is less likely to puncture. And you want a good grip tyre that won’t burn the winch out or put too much strain on the vehicle.” Brent says these are the reasons he competes on Mickey Thompson 35” Baja Biased Claws.

“I’ve competed in 10 Xtreme events in three years and my Claws have not had one puncture. A rock hit a rim once but we were able to straighten the rim and the tyre was fi ne,” Brent explains. To describe the grip of his Claws, Brent discusses two hills in the eight day international competition.

“We were able to drive over two hills that were very steep and rutted. Everybody else had to winch over them,” he says. But Brent hasn’t always driven on Claws. In his fi rst year of competition, he used another popular brand mud tyre. “Once I crossed to Claws I realised that they were much better. Their sidewalls are stronger and they grip better. They are much better suited to Australian conditions. I could never go back to the other tyres,” Brent concludes.

He says he’ll be lining up for the Xtreme Winch Challenge series again.And yes, he’ll be using his Claws.