Power means nothing unless you can put it to the ground. Every racing fan and driving enthusiast knows this, and if you spend the winter months driving on snowy roads, you know there’s absolutely no substitute for dedicated snow tyres. If you’re tooling around in a modest hatchback or SUV that’s no big deal, but hard-edged sports cars like a Porsche 911 are sharpened even further by a good set of high-performance tyres. Compromising that sharpness for better winter grip is just a fact-of-life for those in the snowy north, right? Fortunately, Tyre Reviews on YouTube has a fresh video to address this very question.

Admittedly, not many people will be trolling snow-covered neighbourhoods with supercars. However, the 911 has a well-deserved reputation as being an everyday supercar, and beyond that, there are plenty of less-expensive machines that are seriously fun in the dry. As such, this video explores the performance limits of snow tyres not just in snow, but in dry conditions as well.

Gallery: Porsche 911 winter tyre track performance

Features like sipes and small tread blocks that make winter tyres so good in snow also make them rather jiggly in dry conditions. Ultra-high-performance winter tyres do exist, and they claim to offer a good combination of snow traction and firmness on asphalt. But are they really that good when the snow isn’t flying? Outfitted with a set of Michelin Pilot Alpins, this 911 embarks on a road trip from England to the Swiss Alps that coincidently includes a stop at a small race track.

We’ll let the video explain how the tyres did overall, but the 911 does make a good showing against some hot hatchbacks at the track before climbing snow-covered roads into the Switzerland stratosphere. Perhaps you can have the best of both worlds.