With the first round of the British Rally Championship getting underway next week the Hankook SJR team is making its final preparations for its first assault on Britain’s premier rally series. Former British Rally Champion Gwyndaf Evans and new talent Stuart Jones will spearhead the team’s campaign in the Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship which beings in Carlisle on Saturday 13 May.
National car care operator, Hi-Q has said farewell to its founder, Jack Blacklock, who sadly passed away recently. Jack, who was 87, founded Tyre Services in 1949, starting the company from premises in Denton Holme, Carlisle. He leaves behind a daughter, son-in-law and grand-daughter.
Managers at Pirelli’s Carlisle facility have reportedly told unions that they want to keep workers’ annual pay increase below the rate of inflation. Pirelli’s Wolfgang Meier, who replaces previous UK industrial director John Nixon, is said to have argued that workers must accept lower pay rises to keep the site competitive. He also suggested that some manufacturing functions would have to be outsourced. However, Pirelli representatives downplayed The News & Star coverage, saying that Meier’s comments were taken out of context.
Carlisle based owner-driver Keith Simpson has just replaced the original drive axle tyres on his Volvo FH12 tractor unit after an impressive 616,000 kilometres. The Michelin 295/80 R22.5 XDE2 tyres recorded this performance during the first life of the brand new tyres, followed by a regroove, which ensured an additional 20 per cent mileage. The regrooving also extended the tyres most fuel-efficient state, in line with Michelin’s Stop Thirsty Tyres Campaign.
Pirelli has stepped back from title sponsorship of the British Rally championship in 2006. However the company will continue to sponsor the first round of the Pirelli International Rally and other motorsports events.
“Having Pirelli involved in the BRC will continue to provide the stability we all rely on,” commented Championship manager Mark Taylor as the announcement was made. “Pirelli’s support has been a vital factor in rebuilding the BRC over the last four years and the relationships that have been forged during this challenging period will be a hugely important ingredient in UK Rally’s plans for the further development of the championship. With its high profile and experience in international motorsport, and the obvious relevance of its products, Pirelli remains the ideal partner for Britain’s premier rally series.”
Pirelli UK industrial director, John Nixon, will retire at the end of December after 37 successful years with the company. Having started as a Technical Clerk in 1968 at the company’s Cummersdale factory, Nixon steadily rose through the ranks to become the industrial director, responsible for a 1000 strong workforce. Wolfgang Meier will take over as industrial director.
(Akron/Tire Review) ArvinMeritor is selling the assets of its off-highway brake business to Carlisle Braking Products, owned by Carlisle Companies Inc. The business, which includes equipment and assets from manufacturing facilities in York, SC, and South Wales, UK, was sold for approximately $39 million.
According to Chip McClure, ArvinMeritor chairman, president and CEO, the sale of the company’s off-highway brakes operation is in line with ArvinMeritor’s strategy to focus on its Light and Commercial Vehicle Systems unit.
Around £750,000 worth of rubber, destined for Pirelli’s tyre factory in Carlisle, has been destroyed in a fire. The blaze, which began yesterday and is expected to continue all day, occurred in a 100 metre square building at the former RAF 14 MU site between Rockcliffe and Cargo.
Firefighters are now using a pioneering foam to try to stop the day-old blaze that ruined 550 tonnes of rubber – enough to make 50,000 tyres.
Pirelli claims that production should be relatively unaffected, as a delivery lorry had picked up some stock from the warehouse on the day before the fire.
The board of directors of Carlisle Companies Incorporated has declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share, payable on 1 September 2005 to shareholders of record at the close of business on 19 August 2005. This marks the 29th consecutive year of dividend increases for Carlisle shareholders. Richmond McKinnish, Carlisle’s president and CEO commented, “We are pleased to be able to continue Carlisle’s long history of rewarding our shareholders by increasing Carlisle’s quarterly dividend.”
Pirelli is to build a new tyre plant in Romania, The Cumberland News has reported. The new Romanian tyre plant will reportedly be of a comparable size to the Pirelli factory at Cummersdale near Carlisle and will initially produce 4.5 million tyres a year. However, unlike the Carlisle plant, which specialises in 4×4 tyres, the Romanian plant will produce the full range of Pirelli products, the newspaper reported.
ATS Euromaster has launched a specialised industrial service that will allow customers to obtain almost any type of tyre, from wheelbarrows to forklifts to mobile cranes. Introduced in response to “customer demand”, the service will be available at 31 of its centres across the UK.
Carlisle Tire & Wheel Company has reported a 19 per cent increase in 2004 net sales, compared with the previous year. According to the company, most of the increase came from sales in commercial and consumer power equipment, lawn care products and ATV wheels and tyres.
Implement and ATV manufacturer Carlisle Tire has had its assets frozen in Trinidad. The company dismissed 400 employees from its Point Fortin plant which was closed two weeks ago after workers began protesting about what they claimed were unsafe working conditions, including exposure to harmful chemicals. Carlisle said it dismissed the workers because they had abandoned their jobs. Workers were not given severance packages. The court’s ruling allows Carlisle to spend only 4,200 US dollars in monthly operating expenses at the plant. The plant, located in a free-trade zone, manufactured 3,000 to 4,000 tires a day for export, according to court documents.
Workers at the Pirelli factory in Carlisle, UK, will enjoy a longer-than-usual break this Christmas. The plant will be closed from Christmas Eve to New Year’s Eve, instead of re-opening as planned on December 28th. Pirelli UK says that the move is in accordance with a decision by the parent company to reduce stock levels worldwide and it has been taken with the full agreement of the Unions. The Carlisle factory produces 10,000 tyres a day.
Pirelli is to spend more than 11 million Pounds on extending its factory at Carlisle in the UK to manufacture tyres for 4WD vehicles. For some time, Carlisle has been Pirelli’s “centre of excellence” for SUV tyres and the factory produced 530,000 SUV tyres last year. The new investment will see this figure rise to 1.1 million next year and eventually to 1.6 million. 80 per cent of these will be exported to Europe and the USA. Carlisle also produces high performance tyres and total unit production at the plant will reach 4.25 million units in 2002.
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