Bridgestone dropped two new ultra-high-performance tires this week, the Potenza Sport and the Potenza RE980AS+. The former is for sports and supercars like the Maserati MC20 and Lamborghini Huracan STO, the latter is an all-season tire for more standard performance vehicles.

"The quickness in change of direction inspires confidence," said test driver Burt Frisselle as he ripped around Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama during the presentation video. After, he jumps in the same BMW with the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires. Frisselle notes that the front gives up earlier with the Michelin tire and posts both a slower lap time and a slower speed around the wet skid pad. Of course, there's an element of bias in his comments, but our interest is still piqued.

"Feel is what you're looking for, if you can't feel the limit you're in trouble," said legendary hotshoe Mario Andretti as he cruised around the same wet course. "I hit the brakes and still felt control." On the competing tires, Andretti notes that he has to use "so much more lock," which means steering angle, to go around the same turns.

The performance tire has a new mixture with a high silica compound and high stiffness. Bridgestone says it fine-tuned the tread sequencing too. It delivers a 6% better dry braking than the previous generation tire and gets a 3% better lap time on a wet track than the competing tire. It will be offered 65 sizes, which covers 81% of the sports car market, says Bridgestone.

As for the Potenza RE980AS+, the AS stands for all-season, which usually means compromises. But Bridgestone says these tires do not. Obviously we'd have to test them personally to be the judge of that, as no tire engineered for all conditions will ever be truly ideal as performance rubber.

The RE980AS+ has special 3D sipes that give extra traction and help prevent hydroplaning in wet weather. Siping is cutting little groves in a tire tread to dissipate heat and water. Bridgestone says those 3D sipes are modeled to optimize stiffness and wear. To test them, engineers do tons of acceleration and braking runs at the company's winter testing facility on snow and ice. That tire comes in 53 sizes, which covers 85% of the sports car and sedan market.

Both tires are available now.