MOTORSPORT
The FIA and all eleven competing Formula One teams have agreed upon the introduction of the so-called ‘red tyre rule’ for the 2007 season. This rule, strongly advocated by Bridgestone, will see the teams using both hard and soft compound tyres.
Formula One driver Jarno Trulli believes that racing will not become any closer in 2007 despite all the teams using the same tyres.
Following the conclusion of the initial three Formula One winters tests at the Jerez de la Frontera test circuit Bridgestone has shown signs of satisfaction with the way the ten teams (the Spyker team did not test) have adapted to the 2007 tyres.
Bridgestone Motorsport’s technical manager Hisao Suganuma commented that “Our initial impressions of the first three winter tests are very positive and I would like to thank the teams for their co-operation and hard work in their efforts to learn about the new Bridgestone Potenza tyres.”
Michelin celebrated their 2006 Formula One success in their hometown of Clermont-Ferrand on December 12. As a grand finale to the season Renault’s Heikki Kovaleinen conducted a demonstration run, the last organised appearance of a Formula One car fitted with Michelin tyres.
29 managers have lost their jobs at Goodyear Dunlop UK. The job losses are part of a restructuring programme, which will cut around 100 jobs in total. The management cuts will almost exclusively be from positions at the company’s TyreFort headquarters in Birmingham, with about 69 job losses coming from non office-based staff. However, at least some of the jobs lost at Hi-Q and TruckForce depots are a question of administration, with employment simply transferring to the various holders of the new franchise agreement instead of Goodyear Dunlop itself.
A1GP World Cup of Motorsport has significantly expanded its television reach by signing an exclusive broadcast deal with Channel Five in the UK. Across the UK, Sky Sports’ live race coverage will now be supported by a Channel Five highlights package, scheduled to be shown mid-week after each event. The partnership with the free-to-air terrestrial channel will mean that over 90 per cent of UK households can now support their national race team in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport. The announcement is likely to please Cooper bosses who have put significant funding into the race series through its position of control tyre supplier.
Dunlop broke new ground – and shifted plenty of water – at the Paul Ricard circuit near Marseille, France last week, with a first-ever dedicated wet test bringing together top teams from MotoGP, Superbike and Endurance for a two day programme at which multi-compound wet – weather tyres made their track debut.
The tests brought the title-winning French SERT (Suzuki Endurance Racing Team) alongside the Tech 3 Yamaha MotoGP team and the Airwaves Ducati British Superbike squad – all lining up for the full spray treatment at the multi-million dollar Paul Ricard HTTT (High Tech Test Track) facility more usually dedicated to F1 and Le Mans race cars.
Hankook is set to join forces with former British Rally Champion David Higgins on the final round of the China Rally Championship and of the World Rally Championship. The Welsh-based Manxman worked with Hankook earlier this year when he drove to third overall in the Lurgan Park Rally and the parties say they are delighted to be reunited on these two key events. Hankook Motorsport manager Mike Patterson said that Hankook would be supporting David’s efforts in the China Rally this month, which is the final round of the China Championship and the Asia Pacific Championship, together with his entry in Wales Rally GB.
Between 1985 and 1993, legendary French driver Alain Prost won four Formula One World Championships, (all of them using Goodyear tyres). Thirteen years later, the Prost name tops an international podium again with Alain’s son, Nicolas Prost, winning the Formula Three event at Montmelo, Spain last weekend, the penultimate round of the Spanish F3 Championship. Prost used Birmingham-built Dunlop tyres to carry him to this landmark first win.
In 2007 the Caterham Superlight Challenge, will receive headline sponsorship from Avon Tyres in 2007. The championship – styled The Avon Tyres Caterham Superlight Challenge – will once again enjoy key support event status at rounds of the British Formula 3 International Series and the Avon Tyres British GT Championship.
The car batteries of the future will have to be small, light, and considerably more powerful, says Düsseldorf-based Degussa AG. The company is developing novel materials for lithium-ion batteries that make possible a new generation of starter batteries weighing only 2.5 kg. The new batteries are now being used — under the demanding conditions of motorsport — in a Lotus-manufactured racing car.
“This is an extremely light and highly efficient battery,” says Klaus Hedrich, head of Degussa’s Automotive Industry Team. One of the most important aims in motorsport is to keep the racing cars as light as possible. In comparison with conventional starter batteries, which weigh between 15 and 20 kg, this design results in unprecedented low weight.
When Pro-Align moved to its new premises near Silverstone at the beginning of this year its signalled something of a step change for the growing business. With plush new offices and technical/training areas the company has invested in quality premises with a view to long-term growth. Since then, Pro-Align’s management report that this year’s sales have grown, with a significant number of the company’s recently expanded range of tyre changers and wheel balancers being sold to tyre specialists rather than to bodyshops or general service garages. However, when Tyres & Accessories made the trip to motorsport’s historic heartland to meet with managing director, Paul Beurain, the spotlight was on the Hunter SmartWeight balancing system Pro-Align is currently marketing.
Ever wanted to save money on workshop consumables like balancing weights? Judging by the number of people who said they wanted to bend the rules when European regulations banned lead weights earlier this year – quite a few of you! The good news is that, according to Hunter and Pro-Align, the SmartWeight balancing system claims to save tyre specialists as much as £3000 a year on zinc balancing weights by employing a new balancing algorithm. The clever thing is that this calculation claims to do a better job of balancing a wheel assemblies’ static and couple forces than traditional balancers do at the moment.
It does this by measuring and correcting both forces, looking at each one individually, effectively using each to balance the other, while keeping both well within vehicle manufacturer guideline tolerances. This development represents quite a leap forward as far as balancing calculations are concerned because, prior to Hunter’s development of the SmartWeight algorithm, most balancers are workeding in the same way – exclusively measuring the static and dynamic forces and applying the same tolerance to both.forces and trying to resolve the problem this way. In short SmartWeight’s mathematical cleverness means less weights, which costs dealers less money.
As I suggested earlier, the idea of saving money on the cost of balancing weights is particularly appealing following this year’s lead weight ban. The price of the mostly zinc replacement weights has proved to be more than a little eratic in the last 12 months. Of course this isn’t the weight manufacturers’ fault but rather the fluctuating zinc trading market price. Either way, the net result is the same for anyone balancing a lot wheels – it only means more expense. Consequently any balancing kit that can reduce the amount that needs to be spent on weights must be a welcome development.
According to the case studies that T&A has seen, a retailer balancing 150 wheels a week, using an average of 55 grams of balancing weights that cost £12 per kilo could save 35 per cent (£1802) on weights by the end of the year. A larger operation balancing 200 wheels a week, using weights that cost the same could save £2402 (35 per cent). At this rate the larger shop could find its machine paying for itself by the beginning of the second year of usage (based on a zinc price increase of 20 per cent).
So far Hunter is the only manufacturer producing a commercially available system capable of balancing by first viewing static and dynamic forces individually, ahead of selecting balance weights and location to bring both forces to within tolerance both the dynamic and couple forces. But if the equipment proves to be as successful as Hunter says it is, it is unlikely to be long before the other wheel balancing equipment manufacturers are producing their own versions.
A question of balance
The Hunter GSP9200 and GSP9700 balancers Pro-Align distributes both incorporate the patented SmartWeight software, but can also operate using traditional calculations so users can compare the results. The machines are pitched at the mid-range to premium customer and are priced accordingly. However, according to Pro-Align managing director, Paul Beaurain the machines earn back their price tags surprisingly quickly. In addition to the weight (and therefore cost) savings detailed above, Beaurain claims the machines make the task of balancing a wheel up to 30 per cent quicker.
Based on a field test of over 7000 tyre/wheel assemblies, Hunter researchers found that clip-weight corrections were an average of 20 per cent quicker, while clip-tape and tape-tape corrections were completed 30 and 35 per cent faster respectively. In practice some satisfied customers found that their tyre fitters were bypassing their traditional machine in favour of the SmartWeight enable balancer.
One of the most interesting features of both the GSP9200 and GSP9700 balancers is that they feature a data screen, detailing information about the balancing spins the machine has done. What the information stored here seems to reveal is that these machines are particular effective at saving weight on 15-17 and 18-20-inch sizes. As these sizes often feature the most expensive and attractive alloy wheels, using fewer weights has real aesthetic benefits. And a good looking wheel is another plus-point worth paying for, from the end-consumer’s perspective.
Pro-Align’s premium balancing option is the GSP9700. In addition to the weight saving features described above the 9700 goes “far beyond the traditional functions of a wheel balancer” and includes a rolling “road force measurement system” designed to identify radial force vibration and pull problems. As a result the Hunter vibration control unit is apparently installed at every Bentley dealer in the UK. On hearing about this premium balancer, five PorscheBentley dealers even went as far as ordering units ahead of official approvalrequirement from the German owned manufacturer to do so.
The GSP9200 is aimed at those tyre dealerships that aren’t quite at the level of your average Bentley dealer. It features all the same SmartWeight balancing software, with a few less of the premium extras – namely the rolling road. However, the GSP9200 still includes useful features like automatic weight mode detection (this is automatically selected depending on the place the operator puts the machine’s dataset positioning arm), adhesive weight placement laser and servo stop and servo push drive control, to name a few.
Tyre changers
In addition to innovative range of wheel balancers, Pro-Align also sells tyre changers such as the Hunter TCX 550 and TCX 525 models and the GA 220 budget tyre changer. The TCX 525 is designed for high volume work and has an inside clamping capability of 13-24 inches. Outside clamping stretches from 11-22 inches. On top of these standard features, a BPS Bbead Ppress Ssystem, wheel lift and PAX kit can be added as options. The TCX 550 premium tyre changer offers tabletop clamping from 12 to 28-inch rims, interchangeable quick release tool heads, and a two-speed motor.
The 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix marked the end of an era as Michelin bowed out of Formula One for the second time in the company’s history. However, the possibility of a future return to motor racing’s premier series has not been ruled out. In fact, reading between the lines, it seems that this is the manufacturer’s intention if the sport’s rules are changed.
The Clermont-Ferrand-based company has competed in 216 world championship grand prix, initially from 1977-1984 and more recently from 2001-2006. During that time it scored 102 victories with seven teams and 20 drivers en route to amassing five drivers championship titles and constructors titles. And, according to Michelin, this is the reason for leaving Formula 1. “Michelin…believes that competition improves the breed,” the company said in a press statement.
Michelin has had a considerable impact on Formula One since its returned in 2001 – so much so that it was supplying 70 per cent of the field by 2005 and had other potential clients queuing up. The same year the manufacturer confirmed that 2006 would be its final campaign in F1.
Michelin considers it performance during its second run in Formula 1 to have been a great success, despite the embarrassment of the US Grand Prix disaster in 2005. Michelin puts its low points down to “the changing nature of the sport,” indirectly commenting that the tyre regulations were altered at the end of 2004 and again one year later, but adding: each time Michelin “responded effectively”. Renault proved as much by sweeping to a championship double in 2005 and repeating that feat during the season just past.
The final straw for Michelin was FIA’s decision to have a single tyre supplier from 2008 – a decision that Michelin said “dilutes an element of the cutting-edge competition the sport is supposed to represent.” Michelin thus opted to pull out at the end of the 2006 campaign.
As Michelin’s motorsport director Frédéric Henry-Biabaud says: “F1 is supposed to be competition in its purest form and you eliminate a key part of that if you remove the rivalry between tyre manufacturers. I don’t see the appeal in participating in a series on those terms. We compete in F1 to prove we are able to give our partner teams a performance edge. If you are in the sport on your own, people will talk about tyres only if some kind of problem arises. As Edouard Michelin used to say: ‘In an arena where its motorsport products finish simultaneously first and last, there is no marketing value.”
The effort that goes into a sport like Formula 1 is truly phenomenal. Nick Shorrock, a 30-year Michelin veteran and recent F1 programme director, has overseen 27 race victories since becoming the company’s Formula One director at the beginning of the 2005 season.
“Throughout the whole of 2005 we ran two different types of front casing and five rears during race weekends. This year, as we have tried to meet teams’ individual needs, we have used six front casings and 15 rears and have tested about 150 different compounds and 65 casings. We’ve also brought more than 60 compounds to the 18 races, about twice as many as we used in 2005. I think those figures reflect our more focused approach,” Shorrock explained, commenting: “This has been a fantastic, competitive season – and very rewarding for the company as a whole. Tyres contribute an awful lot to an F1 car’s overall performance and that has been very apparent throughout another successful, title-winning campaign.”
Michelin scored its first F1 victory on January 29 1978 when Carlos Reutemann dominated the Brazilian GP in Rio de Janeiro. The 102nd and most recent fell to Fernando Alonso and Renault in Japan, more than 28 years later. Michelin might be bowing out of F1 but it will remain fiercely committed to other forms of motorsport. Will the Bibendum logo grace grand prix racing ever again? Not in the foreseeable future, perhaps, but this isn’t an industry in which one says “never.”
Michelin happy with new MotoGP rules
Despite Michelin’s dissatisfaction with F1 rules, the manufacturer says new regulations aimed at maintaining competition between tyre manufacturers in the MotoGP World Championship have received its backing. The rules, concerning tyres and testing, come into effect on January 1 2007 and the tyre regulations were formulated following discussions among the three tyre manufacturers involved in MotoGP.
Despite the fact that these represent the first restrictions to be introduced to Grand Prix motorcycle racing, Michelin welcomes their introduction. Says Nicolas Goubert, director of motorcycle racing: “We are happy with the new rules”. Bearing in mind Michelin’s recent refusal to submit a tender for a single tyre supply contract for Formula 1, Goubert makes it plain what Michelin’s attitude is towards competition, saying: “The tyre agreement is a very good agreement, especially if you look at what is happening in other major Motorsport championships, particularly in Formula One switching to a single tyre maker rule.”
“The most important aspect of the new rules is that they ensure we will be able to continue competing with other tyre companies. Carmelo Ezpeleta (CEO of Dorna, the MotoGP rights holders) played a major role in this, he asked the tyre companies to come up with a compromise that would be acceptable to all of us because he wanted different tyre brands to continue fighting on the racetrack.”
Wales Rally GB is set to be a fitting finale for the debut season of the SJR Hankook team in the British Rally Championship. And as an added incentive, the team boasts Wales’ top rally drivers Gwyndaf Evans and Stuart Jones who will likely receive tremendous home support on the Cardiff-based rally – also the final round of the World Rally Championship.
“2006 has been an amazing season for Hankook…raising its profile in the British motorsport world and by working with Gwyndaf and with Stuart we have been able to make a real impact,” said Hankook motorsport manager Mike Patterson. “We were at Wales Rally GB last year supporting three cars and we are delighted to be back on the world stage again with Gwyndaf and Stuart, and looking forward to an impressive end of season event.”
Compomotive has launched a new 8 x 18 CXT motorsport wheel, available in 3, 4 & 5 lug fitments in a variety of offsets. The new wheel comes in white, silver, grey, gold, and black finishes and has seven double spokes for a sporty and stylish appearance
If you would like the latest news from the Chinese tyre industry in Chinese, visit our partner site TyrepressChina.com. Or click below to continue on Tyrepress.
