I was glad of their deep, conventional tread on the first night I drove the RS home after its return from a few weeks' demo duty at Xtreme. There was driving rain, flood alerts and lots of standing water - no problem, though as the RS doesn't have anti-lock brakes, this wasn't the time to explore their limits of grip. Next day, however, I had a very interesting drive in the dry. The Neros have altered the feel of the Evo considerably, and for the better in day-to-day terms. They've subdued its reaction to cambers, enhanced the ride quality and slightly softened the steering response, making it an altogether much less nervous car on your average British B-road. It will be interesting to see how they fare on track.

As you've probably gathered from the photos, there's a tasty-looking set of front brakes going onto the Evo. Back at our Trackday Car of the Year feature (evo 046) the RS's standard Evo-spec brake system showed a susceptibility to fade. Brake specialists Alcon got in touch soon after, keen to develop an upgrade, and a couple of months ago their preferred project engineers, QM Engineering, took the car in for evaluation and conversion.

This month we're back at QM to see what they've come up with. I suspected that Alcon had big ideas and I was right. Take a look at the enormous single piece six-pot callipers and 343mm vented and grooved discs they've specified and tell me that brakes can't be sexy. The discs are thinner walled than those currently fitted for better heat distribution, so their faces are less likely to craze with hard use, while the mono-bloc callipers should give better feel and a greater pad area for more stopping power.

Next month we should be able to tell you how the brakes perform on the road and how they and the Pirellis cope with track work, because the Evo is booked in for the final evoactive day of the year at Snetterton in late October.