Motorsport RFID tyre tags: Sumitomo Rubber Industries partners with Avery Dennison

Sumitomo Rubber Industries Motorsport Department has selected Avery Dennison’s AD Maxdura tyre tag for use by endurance racing teams on Falken tyres. Teams will benefit from new data to help them prepare and improve race performance. With a unique RFID transponder implanted in each tyre, information can be read automatically and used to identify precisely which tyres are in use from the pit to the track. To further boost control, as well as stock and performance management, the Avery Dennison Maxdura Tire Tag enables teams to optimize real-time inventory and logistics. In addition, providing a unique ID for each tyre is intended to “improve reuse and recycling processes after the race to make events more environmentally sustainable.”

Produced at Avery Dennison’s dedicated facility in Germany, the Maxdura Tire Tag is purportedly one of the most advanced embedded UHF RFID tags on the market. It was selected after “a series of rigorous technical tests carried out by Sumitomo Rubber Industries Motorsport Department under tough racing conditions”.

Nicolas Aubourg, Head of Performance and Chassis R&D, Federation Internationale De L’Automobile (FIA), says: “The unique demands of endurance racing are the perfect showcase of tyre durability and the need for RFID tagging across the automotive sector. It comes at a time where the FIA, the world governing body for motorsport, is urging teams to use tyres embedded with RFID transponders for environmental and cost reasons.”

Lauri Hyytinen, Market Development Manager for Automotive, Avery Dennison Smartrac, added: “RFID technology is the perfect fit for the fast-moving automotive sector. It ensures quick and reliable identification of each tyre used in a competition, a key requirement in a world where the need for speed, accuracy and reliable tracking continually gathers pace.”

Yoshikazu Ishikawa, general manager, Sumitomo Rubber Industries, concluded: “Implementing Avery Dennison’s leading RFID technology is essential to ensuring the evolution of the tyre industry. Having a reliable, tested and qualified solution from a trusted and highly experienced partner allows us to shift gears and drive forward our innovation ambitions.”