Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric Wins Autocar 2007 Tyre Test
The Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric has been declared ‘Best Tyre’ by Autocar magazine, just a month after the new tyre’s domination of the Evo Magazine tyre test. Autocar tested Goodyear, Michelin, Continental, Pirelli and Bridgestone tyres on both front wheel drive and rear wheel drive cars. The Goodyear was the clear overall winner after winning in both categories. The renowned UK weekly magazine had chosen the 138bhp Mondeo TDCi and the 268bhp Mercedes C350 to give a comparison between a typical large family car and a powerful rear wheel drive sports saloon respectively.
Continue ReadingING Renault F1 Switches Support Fleet to Bridgestone
ING Renault F1 Team, 2005 and 2006 world champions, have converted their entire fleet to Bridgestone tyres. This means the Warwickshire-based tyre giants will now supply tyres for not only the team’s Formula 1 cars but also all the team’s support vehicles. Last season, Bridgestone supplied a number of F1 teams with tyres but this year saw the remaining teams also transfer to Bridgestone. As a result many team support vehicles are now following suit, converting to Bridgestone tyres from other leading brands. Truck Point dealer Tructyre fitted over 300 new tyres to the Renault F1 Team fleet mainly utilising Bridgestone’s latest generation of highway tyres encompassing the R249 steer-axle, M749 drive-axle and R168 trailer-axle. Tructyre was recently awarded Expert Level recognition by Bridgestone UK for their high levels of customer service and administration to fleets.
Continue ReadingF1 Tyre Rule Change for 2008 Rumoured
A German motor racing magazine has disclosed that Formula One decision makers may be in favour of modifying the championship’s tyre regulations for the 2008 season. Auto Motor und Sport magazine reported on July 30 that Bridgestone could be asked to offer a wider selection of tyre compounds at each grand prix – a move intended to increase the strategy options available to participating teams. The championship’s smaller teams are reportedly more strongly behind the idea, while the major players have given a lukewarm response to any such changes. Bridgestone too is said to be less than enthusiastic, as implementing the proposed changes for next year’s season would involve additional expense and preparatory work.
Continue ReadingBridgestone Confirms F1 Tyre Choices
Following three days of testing at Belgium’s recently reconfigured Spa-Francorchamps circuit Bridgestone has deemed the time right to reveal the tyre compounds to be used by competitors for the final races of the 2007 season. “Last weeks (July 10-12) test at Spa provided the final pieces of information we needed before we could confirm our choices of Bridgestone Potenza compound for the remainder of the season,” said Kees van de Grint, Bridgestone Motorsport head of Track Engineering Operations. The usual soft and medium compounds will be put into play at the Italian, Belgian and Japanese Grands Prix, while the race in Shanghai will see the use of medium and hard compound tyres. At the season finale in Brazil Bridgestone has opted to make use of the soft and super soft tyres.
Continue ReadingF1 Gives Indianapolis the Red Flag
The famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway will not resound to the screeching of Bridgestone Formula One tyres in 2008 following the decision to scrap the event after eight lukewarm years. Bernie Ecclestone’s verdict on the race was announced on July 12, a decision that the speedway’s CEO hopes will be a temporary one. “Its my sincere hope that well have the opportunity to bring it back in the not-too-distant future,” said speedway CEO Tony George. “Eight years ago, it was our intent to host this event on an annual basis. While I still hold hope for the future that we’ll be able to bring it back, its tough to have a hiatus like this, and I view it as such. I’m going to continue to work on this to try to bring it back to the best of my ability as soon as possible.” The US Grand Prix on average attracted around 125,000 spectators, which while respectable in terms of F1 attendance was smaller than any other event held at the speedway. In comparison, attendance at the Indianapolis 500 has been estimated at around 300,000 people. George believes the US Grand Prix could have drawn larger crowds had it been given the opportunity to better establish itself through sponsorship and the media.
Continue ReadingBridgestone produces snow tyres for F1
Bridgestone Motorsport has produced a special Limited Edition F1 Potenza Snow Tyre at the request of the BMW Sauber F1 Team. The team will be holding a demonstration of at the prestigious White Turf horse racing event in the Swiss resort town of St. Mortiz, and special tyres are required due to the extreme conditions in which the BMW Sauber F1.06 will run. The F1 snow tyres, produced by Bridgestone Motorsports Technical Centre in Tokyo, feature 420 studs on each of the front tyres and 588 studs on each rear tyre. It took two Bridgestone technicians over 16 hours to manually insert all 2,016 studs into the double layer of tread compound on one set of tyres alone.
Continue ReadingWhite Grooves to Differentiate F1 Tyres
Bridgestone has confirmed it will use white markings to distinguish the softer compound tyre options used in the Formula One Malaysian Grand Prix. The marking, applied to the bottom of the tyres’ second inside groove, was one of a number of options tested during practice days in Sepang following complaints about the red dots used during the Australian Grand Prix.
Continue ReadingF1 Tyre Markings too Discrete
Bridgestone is facing pressure to make alterations to the markings used for identifying the soft compound tyres used during Formula One races. During the Australian Grand Prix Bridgestone chose to distinguish the tyres with a white circle, but many have complained that these markings were so small that they became difficult to spot when the F1 cars were actually moving. Following the race Bridgestone agreed they would look at alternate forms of marking, but added that the tyres for the upcoming races in Malaysia and Bahrain had already been produced and therefore no changes could be made until the Spanish Grand Prix at the earliest.
Continue ReadingF1 Teams Have a “Good Understanding” of 2007 Tyres – Bridgestone
With the F1 Australian Grand Prix – the first of the 2007 season – taking place on March 18 drivers are getting ample opportunity to get a better feel for the Bridgestone tyres during practice sessions. The March 16 practice sessions saw Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa shine through as the best overall performers. The first practice session began on a wet circuit, which meant that Bridgestone’s wet and extreme wet tyres were given an airing. With the second session run in much drier conditions the medium and soft dry compound tyres were put into use.
Continue ReadingF1 to Employ Revised Red Tyre Rule
Bridgestone has confirmed it will visually differentiate its two specifications of dry weather F1 tyres following last-minute changes to this year’s Formula One regulations. This ruling by the Formula One Commission and the FIA World Motor Sport Council means states that the two different tyre compounds – both of which must be used in each race – must be visibly different.
Continue ReadingPirelli Proposes to Supply Tyres for F1
During an interview with Italian media Pirelli Tyre S.p.A CEO Francesco Gori disclosed that the tyremaker has approached the FIA regarding supplying tyres for Formula One racing. This admission comes only days after the FIA selected Pirelli as sole supplier for the Word Rally Championship’s 2008-2010 seasons.
Continue ReadingFour F1 Tyre Types in 2007 – Bridgestone
As Bridgestone prepares for its role as Formula One’s solitary supplier, the tyremaker has disclosed that in 2007 it will supply teams with only four different specifications of dry weather tyres – Hard, Medium, Soft, and Super Soft.
Continue ReadingGoodyear Launches Eagle F1 Asymmetric
Goodyear has launched a new tyre designed to replace the much vaunted Eagle F1 GSD3, which scored top marks in almost every test going - including Auto Express, Autocar, Max Power, Evo and Which? But while the old tyre’s symmetrical tread design was key to the product’s success, Goodyear is expecting the new product to succeed exactly because it isn’t. In addition to an asymmetrical tread design, the Eagle F1 Assymmetric features an asymmetric casing construction designed to reinforce one side and squeeze more grip from the tyre. Goodyear representatives told Tyres & Accessories they were gearing up for more award success following the introduction of the ‘Active Cornergrip Technology’ into the design of its latest tyre.
Continue ReadingF1 Drivers Lukewarm About New Tyres
Kimi Raikkonen has added his voice to that of Robert Kubica in complaining that Bridgestone’s 2007-spec Formula One tyres do not suit his driving style. BMW driver Kubica was the first driver to air his concerns about the harder Bridgestone compounds following tests last December. When Autosport asked Raikkonen at Jerez whether he thought that the tyres suited his driving style the Finn replied, No, not really. He added I think we need to work on the car to make it work for me. It is getting better all the time but it takes time to get used to (the tyres).”
Continue ReadingAnother New F1 Tyre Rule Proposed
The FIA is reportedly planning to impose an alternative to the controversial ‘red tyre rule’ during the 2007 Formula One season. Autosport magazine has reported that, in addition to the new regulation requiring drivers to race both the ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ compound tyres Bridgestone supplies for each Grand Prix event, teams could also be asked to publish their initial tyre choice.
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