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A multiplicity of names: alloy wheels lack brand image

It’s now been about four decades since alloy wheels began winning ground from steel passenger car wheels, and these products really came into their own in the 80s and 90s. Alloy wheels were seen as ‘the best thing since sliced bread’ and sold accordingly. This trend, which started off in the replacement sector, progressed into original equipment; initially only prestige and sport models were equipped with alloys, yet within a few years their use spread to small cars and some entry-level models. The alloy wheel industry boomed and made good money – until a number of thresholds were crossed: Suppliers found themselves with more products than demand justified; fierce competition drove prices down until aftermarket rims were cheaper than their original equipment equivalents. Exquisite accessories became commodities, interchangeable products. Everyday products.

5th April 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli announces Bahrain, Spain, Monaco GP compound selections

Pirelli has announced its tyre nominations for the next three rounds (four to six) of this year’s FIA Formula One World Championship in Bahrain, Spain and Monaco. The supplier will take the P Zero Yellow soft tyre to all three events. Accompanying it in Bahrain will be the P Zero White medium; in Spain the manufacturer breaks with its convention of keeping compounds one step apart, supplying the P Zero Silver hard tyre; in Monaco, Pirelli will use its supersoft P Zero Red compound for the first time this season, helping to rubberise the road surfaces used at one of motorsport’s most iconic events, in addition to providing greater grip on the most twisty circuit of the year.

3rd April 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

Alguersuari, Di Grassi to test Pirelli F1 tyres

Pirelli has appointed Spain’s Jaime Alguersuari and Brazilian, Lucas di Grassi as its test drivers for the 2012 season. Their joint appointment marks the first time Pirelli will have two permanent Formula One test drivers; di Grassi carried out the role single-handedly last year, and Pirelli says the addition of Alguersuari will give the company broader knowledge of the most current generation of Formula One machinery. The latter driver made seven top-10 finishes in 2011 for the Toro Rosso team, while di Grassi started 18 races for Virgin Racing in 2010.

30th March 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

Early Perez tyre change paves way for Sauber F1 podium

A first-lap stop for full wet tyres in the early driving rain of the Malaysian Grand Prix helped Sergio Perez and Bruno Senna to secure career-best positions, and valuable points for the Sauber and Williams teams, as Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso momentarily silenced the team’s critics with an important victory. Perez showed excellent pace on Pirelli’s hardest P Zero Silver compound, and could have challenged Alonso, who was around 1.5 seconds per lap slower on the medium compound P Zero White tyre than the 21-year old Mexican in the closing stages, but a mistake when in site of Alonso meant he had to follow his team’s instructions and play safe for second place.

26th March 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

Reduced compound differences yield strategic variety in Aus opener

Pirelli has consistently said the aim of its 2012 specification tyre compounds would be to create increased variety in Formula One teams’ race strategies. The Italian supplier of the championship has proposed to do this by reducing the gaps in performance between its available compounds, and in the season opening Australian Grand Prix the new versions of the P Zero Yellow soft and P Zero White medium created a difference of around half a second per lap.

19th March 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

New products, developments aplenty at Geneva show

The Geneva-based Salon International de l'Auto, better known to us as the International Motor Show, wound up yesterday. This year the show and its more than 850 vehicles on display attracted some 702,000 visitors. In addition to presentations from major and specialist vehicle manufacturers, tuners and appearances by celebrities such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, a handful of tyre makers maintained a presence in Geneva and showed off their latest products alongside up and coming technologies.

19th March 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli rear F1 tyre design reacts to new aerodynamic regulations

Pirelli will enter its second season of Formula One as exclusive tyre supplier this weekend at the Australian Grand Prix; previewing the race, the tyre manufacturer has outlined another of the ways its tyres have changed since last season, responding to new aerodynamic and technical regulations, which have had a profound impact on car design. The banishment of blown diffusers – with the exhaust outlets now having to exit the car higher, pushing the centre of pressure forwards – have resulted in reduced grip at the rear, meaning that Pirelli has had to rise to the challenge of increasing the grip given by its rear tyres.

15th March 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

Performance Wheels releases Fondmetal 7900

The sole UK distributor of Fondmetal wheels has announced details of the latest design from the Italian manufacturer: the 7900. Performance Wheels says the five-spoke rim contains construction and material technology developed by Fondmetal in its extensive original equipment manufacturer and motorsport portfolio, which extends to Formula One.

7th March 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli announces 2010 Renault as F1 test car

Pirelli has finally acquired its own Formula One test car, though the supplier is still yet to announce who will be driving it. The car in question is Renault’s 2010 R30, which Pirelli will adapt to simulate the latest technical and aerodynamic regulations, as it develops future tyres. Pirelli states that a test driver will be appointed later in March.

7th March 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

Tarox releases carbon ceramic brake range

Italian brake manufacturer Tarox has launched its carbon ceramic ultra-high performance braking range. The new discs draw on the company’s motorsport experience, which extends to Formula One. The company says the new parts are marketed as aftermarket replacements for vehicles factory fitted with carbon ceramic discs and as specialist motorsport fitments alongside Tarox callipers. The range launched with 23 fitments, covering outside diameters from 283mm to 420mm and featuring a wide range of thicknesses from 26mm to 40mm. The range starts at £2210+VAT per disc.

6th March 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

Hembery explains Pirelli’s unmarked F1 tyres

The internet was rife with theories about why some of Pirelli’s Formula One tyres at the Circuit de Catalunya appeared without the usual colour-coded sidewall markings. The favourite was that at the final test before the first Grand Prix in Australia teams would be keen to keep their testing programmes and therefore potential tyre strategies from other teams. The real reason was much less clandestine – Pirelli’s Motorsport manager, Paul Hembery explained to French magazine, Auto Plus that the tyres had been manufactured at a site other than its usual F1 manufacturing plant in Izmit. The tyres were provided as prototypes to test Pirelli’s ability to provide current F1 rubber if Turkey’s output was compromised by natural disaster.

2nd March 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

F1 tyre strategies in development at Barcelona

The final four days of practice before the second season of Pirelli’s Formula One tyre supply tenure begin tomorrow in Barcelona. The tyre manufacturer believes the session will be one of the most crucial tests of the season, with teams seeking to gain the best understanding possible of how the P Zero and Cinturato tyres work with their new cars before racing begins in Australia. In the long-term, Pirelli says that non-stop development means that the cars will change considerably as the season goes on. Additionally, an intriguing aspect of practice is the way teams will want not to show their full potential, and the desire not to tip their hands while finding the true potential of their cars on the new rubber is a key aspect of reading test times. Eight different drivers have recorded fastest times during the eight days of testing in Jerez and Barcelona underlining how difficult it can be to draw concrete conclusions.

29th February 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

Essex dealership Pirelli’s 2011 PPC of the year

Pirelli announced last month that Benfleet Jet Wheel and Tyres was its 2011 Pirelli Performance Centre of the year. The Essex-based branch was presented with the prestigious award at the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One team’s Operations Centre in Brackley on 14 February. Pirelli’s 83 Performance Centres are audited high-performance tyre dealerships, allowing Pirelli to direct owners of high performance cars in confidence.

28th February 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

BEN presents Snap-on prize to text competition winner

Throughout November 2011 automotive industry charity, BEN ran a text competition with a special edition, top of the range Snap-on McLaren Sport tool box which had been signed by Formula One's Jenson Button the star prize. 4,300 people entered, raising £4,000 for BEN. Entrants were required to text the answer to the question: ‘BEN is the official charity of which industry?' Thousands of people responded with the correct answer – automotive – and picked at random was the winner from Devon.

27th February 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

Sibur signs on as Caterham F1 partner

Russia’s largest petrochemical company, Sibur Holding JSC, may be out of the tyre business after selling OAO Sibur-Russian Tyres to a group of investors late last year – yet the firm, like many of its former tyre-making counterparts, has decided upon motorsport sponsorship as a means of promotion. On 20 February Sibur announced the signing of a deal with the Caterham F1 team, and in doing so has become the first-ever Russian Formula 1 team partner. The company also confirmed it will continue its partnership agreement with Russian driver Vitaly Petrov, who has left Renault to join the Caterham team this year. Under the current agreements, the Sibur logo will feature on Caterham’s F1 cars and on Petrov’s race suits throughout the 2012 season.

21st February 2012/by Tyrepress Editors