Maxxis British Motocross Championship Starts Sunday
The Maxxis ACU British Motocross Championship will begin on Sunday 28 February at Little Silver near Exeter, when a host of GP stars and top British riders will contest the spoils.
The Maxxis ACU British Motocross Championship will begin on Sunday 28 February at Little Silver near Exeter, when a host of GP stars and top British riders will contest the spoils.
Testing and manufacturing equipment made available following Yokohama Rubber’s decision to withdraw from the aircraft tyre from the aircraft business has been acquired by Dunlop Aircraft Tyres. The Birmingham based manufacturer has signed an agreement to purchase several pieces of radial and crossply tyre manufacturing equipment including an additional dynamometer. These products should enable Dunlop Aircraft Tyres to expand manufacturing capacity and enable the company to offer new products, such as radial main tyres for the Boeing 777.
Cooper Tire & Rubber has announced a quarterly dividend of 10.5 cents per share on common stock, payable March 31, 2010, to stockholders of record at the close of business March 2, 2010. This will mark the 152nd consecutive quarterly dividend paid by Cooper Tire & Rubber Company.
Last year Continental made the decision to begin importing industrial and earthmover tyres manufactured by joint venture partner Simex into the UK and Ireland. The range available in this sector has now been expanded through the launch of the Simex SE65, a product designed for the construction industry.
Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development manager Tohru Ubukata has declared himself “very confident” in the new MotoGP rear medium compound tyre supplied by the series’ tyre provider for testing at Sepang, Malaysia. The manufacturer also tried out a developmental specification hard front slick over the two day testing period – the results of which will go towards determining the future direction of Bridgestone’s tyre technology, according to the company.
Continental’s Industrial Tyres business unit has released its successor to the IC80 and ConRad HT tyres. Called the ContiRT20 Performance, the pneumatic radial is designed to move extremely heavy loads at speeds of up to 40 km/h (25 mph).
Pirelli has served as sole tyre supplier to the Superbike World Championship since 2004 and now the Italian marque has announced several performance awards it says will act as additional incentives for a “faster and more spectacular environment.” Three new types of awards have thus been added to the total prize pool: Pirelli “Best Lap”, Pirelli “Best Jump Forward”, and “Best Lap Winner 2010: Fastest Rider of the Year”.
When Tyres & Accessories last visited Van den Ban Autobanden in April 2008, the company’s new warehouse facility was arising from a 24.000 square metre greenfield site on outskirts of the Dutch town of Hellevoetsluis. Even then the scale of the project, intended to consolidate the wholesaler’s two storage facilities into a single location, was evident. A key component of the project remained under wraps at this time, however, and therefore a second visit to the completed warehouse was necessary. What T&A saw upon its return to Van den Ban in Hellevoetsluis early in 2010 was impressive, to say the least.
Extended OEM shutdowns and downturns in its core markets led US company Titan International to a $300 million sales fall-off in 2009, reports Tire Review. Titan posted 2009 sales of $727.6 million, as compared to $1,036.7 million in 2008. Net loss for the year was $24.6 million, compared to net income of $13.3 million in 2008.
SEMA has opened up spots on its Select Committees, and is now taking nominations, reports Tire Review. “Historically, nominations for Select Committee seats were only accepted from members of the individual council or committee,” SEMA said. “This year, the nominations process is open to all SEMA member company representatives, regardless of any council or committee affiliation.”
Indian manufacturer Apollo Tyres has completed its second Vehicle Dynamics Workshop in the southern Indian city of Chennai. Apollo began the Workshop two years ago as a biannual platform for auto and tyre-makers, tyre testing authorities and homologation bodies to discuss vehicle dynamics, its facets, complexities, issues being faced and ways and means of addressing them. The company says the Workshop comes at a time when regulations across the world are being tightened, and both car and tyre makers are actively seeking ways to bring out products, which meet customer needs of safety, fuel efficiency, price and comfort while applying environmentally safe options.
Sportservice Lorinser has developed a reputation for its Mercedes Benz turning accessories, and the German firm has presented its latest aluminium wheel for the three-pointed star marque. Lorinser says the new wheel, called the RS9, has been designed to meet the stylistic and technical requirements of the current Mercedes model range. The wheel is available in a ‘polished silver’ finish for in 18 to 21-inch sizes.
Bridgestone’s 4×4 run-flat (RFT) tyre, the Dueler H/P Sport RFT, has proved a popular choice with 4×4 vehicle manufacturers and has a number original equipment fitments including recent fitments on the BMW X5M and X6M, according to the tyre manufacturer.
Micheldever Tyre Services (MTS) and its Southam specialist 4×4 division reports that it distributed more than three quarters of a million 4×4 tyres in the UK tyre market during the course of 2009. According to company representatives, this means Micheldever is “probably the largest distributor of 4×4 tyres in Europe.” From MTS’ perspective, the largest ongoing growth sector remains mid-range 4×4 product (see “Was Winter of Discontent Good News for 4×4 Market?” elsewhere in this feature for more discussion on this subject), with General, BFGoodrich, Kumho, Falken and Toyo said to be leading the way.
Vintage and classic specialist Longstone Tyres is saying benvenuto to Italian customers, and to cater for car enthusiasts from this part of the world the South Yorkshire based company has launched an Italian language website. Longstone worked with a translation company in Sheffield to prepare the www.longstonegomme.it site, and proprietor Doug Cawley states the website has already been a "great success" and obtained good search results from Google.it and frequent Italian traffic.
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