Rugby tyre firm wins Bridgestone event
TW Tyres from Rugby has won the national final of Bridgestone’s First Stop Karting event held at Daytona Milton Keynes. The team claimed the prize after almost three hours of intense racing in the pouring rain at the famous outdoor circuit, beating 15 other teams in the process.
Continue ReadingSix Dunlop championships in one weekend
Six major motorsport championship titles were won this weekend in cars fitted with Dunlop tyres. In the penultimate round of the American Le Mans Series at Laguna Seca, California, another podium finish for Joey Hand and Dirk Mueller in BMW’s Rahal Letterman Lanigan (RLL) Racing Team Dunlop equipped BMW M3 GT meant the drivers, team and tyre manufacturer achieved their championship ambitions with one race still to run this season.
Continue ReadingDunlop previews Intercontinental Le Mans Cup at Silverstone
“Compared with previous tracks such as Imola and Spa, Silverstone is very different because it has a lot of high speed corners requiring high downforce settings on the cars,” says Jean-Felix Bazelin, Dunlop Motorsport’s general manager. The brand is hoping for an advantage in its home leg of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup at Silverstone for its fifth round on 9-11 September. The Silverstone 6 Hours takes place just over an hour away from the brand’s Birmingham base where tyres for all forms of two and four wheel motorsport around the world are produced.
Continue ReadingKumho signs up for three more Masters of F3 years
Kumho has furthered its long standing support for European F3 by extending its sponsorship of the annual Masters of F3 meeting by three years. The agreement was ratified during an official signing ceremony that followed this year’s event at Zandvoort on 13-14 August.
Continue Reading“Bigger and Wider”: Hankook reveals Ventus tyre for 2012 DTM season
Hankook is approaching the final quarter of the 2011 DTM season, its first as exclusive tyre partner of the German touring car series, with events in Oschersleben, Valencia and at the famous Hockenheimring at Baden-Württemberg to conclude this year’s series. The manufacturer took the opportunity to set out its tyre development for the 2012 season during the UK leg at Brands Hatch, and the most striking feature of the new Ventus tyre will be its increased dimensions – a development that Hankook says will help bring down lap times next year.
Continue ReadingMarangoni shod Hill Climb European champions
Marangoni tyres helped Simone Faggioli rout the field at Ilirska Bistrica in Slovenia to record the best time in both heats of the race, winning the FIA Hill Climb European Championship with one race still remaining. Faggioli drove his Osella FA30-Zytek with Marangoni Zeta Linea racing tyres to a fourth championship victory, making him one of the legends of the sport. Marangoni said Faggioli’s victory and domination of hill climb races over recent years is “confirmation of the exceptional work done by the engineers and technicians at the Italian company’s research & development department”.
Continue ReadingBridgestone fits Ecopia tyres to Nissan GreenSource Team in e-Miglia rally
The first 100 per cent electric car, Nissan’s Leaf signed Bridgestone to provide its Ecopia EP150 tyres as original equipment earlier in the year. Now the tyre manufacturer has helped to cement its relationship with the 2011 European Car of the Year with fitment on the Leaf of Nissan GreenSource Team Holland in the e-Miglia rally across the Alps on 5 August.
Continue ReadingMWS gains European Truck Race forged aluminium fitment
Motor Wheel Service has come a step closer to achieving its goal of moving European Truck Race teams onto forged aluminium wheels alone after leading outfit Team Allgäuer changed its set-up at the recent Nürburgring meeting. Having received permission by the FIA Truck Commission, two units ran with forged aluminium on the outside of the rear axle, with steel rims inside, to see if the wheels can withstand the rigours and collisions involved with the sport.
Continue ReadingThree times the Avon at Spa 24 Hours
Avon has announced that three cars will race on its tyres in this year’s Spa 24 Hours, tripling the brand’s presence. One of three McLaren MP4-12C GT3 race cars will compete on the manufacturer’s tyres, as well as an independent Aston Martin DBRS9 and a Mercedes SLS. Considering its heritage as a motorsport brand, it comes as something of a surprise that last year’s Spa 24 Hours was its debut. Then, the Trackspeed Racing Porsche 997 RSR entry suffered mechanical problems after a competitive start, finishing in eleventh place. This year Avon hopes to prove the ability of its rubber over the entire duration.
Continue ReadingMaxxis, Falken in action in British Drift Championship
The British Drift Championship’s third round at the Teesside Autodrome saw two major drifting tyre brands competing for top spots in the championship standings. Title sponsors of the series Maxxis supported third-placed drifter Paul Smith, moving him up to fifth in the Super Professional Championship, while the Falken brand supported Matt Carter claimed his third consecutive second place podium position to maintain his lead at the top, and Team Green Falken’s domination of the Team Championship.
Continue ReadingYokohama highlights motorsport diversity in July
Yokohama’s commitment to motorsport in its many different forms has been illustrated in a busy July schedule that included touring cars, rallying and endurance racing. The brand is the official supplier to the FIA World Touring Car Championship, which visited Donington on 16-17 July for its UK leg. Yokohama supplied drivers at the recent FIA European Touring Car Cup in Salzburg, Austria, on 23-24 July, where Fabrizio Giovanardi clinched the title with a victory and a second-place finish in the Austrian rain.
Continue ReadingApollo partners Mahindra & Mahindra in Monsoon Challenge 2011
Apollo Tyres partnered with vehicle manufacturer Mahindra & Mahindra for the first time in Monsoon Challenge 2011, one of the biggest rallies on the Indian off-roading scene. Beginning on Friday, 22 July from the western Indian city of Nasik with more than 50 participating teams, the rally covered 1,500 kilometres in three days, going via Aurangabad and Kolhapur to the beaches of Goa on Sunday, 24 July. The winning team of Somdev Chanda and Nirav Mehta, riding on a Mahindra Stinger, took home a cash prize of Rs 800,000, a sum Apollo says is the largest cash award ever given in any Indian off-roading adventure.
Continue ReadingPirelli renews WSBK supply agreement
Pirelli’s tyre supply to the FIM Superbike World Championship will continue for a further three years. Infront Motor Sports has announced that the tyre maker’s current contract for the championship has been extended from 2013 through to the end of 2015. The agreement, as has been the case since the start of the collaboration between the two companies in 2004, will also include the exclusive supply of tyres for the FIM Supersport World Championship, the Superstock 1000 FIM Cup and the UEM Superstock 600 European Championship.
Continue ReadingZircotec supports 10 teams at Formula Student
Coatings specialist Zircotec supported 10 teams at Formula Student 2011, which was held at Silverstone last weekend. The firm’s ceramic coatings were used by a number of the participants including University of Hertfordshire, Coventry University and Cambridge, the latter adopting Zircotec’s patented carbon composite coating to protect a composite bulkhead. “Zircotec believes that Formula Student is an extremely worthwhile activity, helping participants to understand and implement the technologies of today’s contemporary race cars,” says Zircotec’s managing director Terry Graham.
Continue ReadingDunlop double in ALMS a sign of “relentless development”
American Le Mans Series drivers on Dunlop tyres took two victories from pole position at Lime Rock this weekend in the Le Mans Prototype (LMP) class and the GT category in the gruelling 2h45m race. Sanjay Khanna, managing director, Dunlop Brand EMEA, stated: “Dunlop focuses on endurance racing to build longer lasting tyres for road performance.
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