Having ordered a set of Toyo's latest Proxes T1-S for the Brunette's Prodrive Impreza I asked Dave Carson, Toyo's then marketing manager, whether anyone had tried a set on a 355. To his knowledge, they hadn't; the problem was that Toyo didn't make the right size rears, but Dave consulted his charts and suggested I tried an extra centimetre width all round, so I took the plunge, ending up with 235/40 Z18s on the front and 275/40 Z18s on the back.

The new tyres appeared fatter on the rims, the fronts in particular looking almost tractor-like, but I was confident they were safe at Ferrari speeds as TVR had recently announced Toyos as OE fitment on Tuscans and Cerberas. However, I know that 355s are very sensitive to tyre pressures so I've started with the Bridgestone settings of 36psi front, 32psi rear and will continue to experiment.

On the few fast road miles I've covered so far, I can report that the Proxes definitely have far higher lateral grip limits than the S-01s, so much so that I have yet to experience their behaviour when slipping. I was therefore looking forward to trying them properly at the first evoactive track day of the year on the Brands Hatch GP circuit.

However, even the best tyres in the world cannot compensate for driver error and on my second 'sighting' lap, attempting to relearn the circuit, I misjudged the approach and braking for the blind right-hander just before Dingle Dell and ended up beached on the gravel, my face redder than Schumacher's company car. The marshals came to my aid but what should have been a two-minute annoyance then became a major saga as the bodyshop that repainted the front bumper had wrongly refitted the shims, blocking the towing eye attachment hole. I was furious, but not half as angry as the chief steward who upon my sheepish return to the pits was forced to black-flag me for the day. Many apologies if you were one of those other drivers inconvenienced.

Looks like I'll have to wait for another track opportunity to explore the outer handling envelope of those Toyos...