MOTORSPORT
Cooper Tyre & Rubber has announced that it intends to produce racing tyres at the company’s factory in Athens, Georgia. As a result of the decision the company plans to invest $11 million (£6 million) in the plant so it will be able to produce racing tyres in the factory that currently produces retread products. The conversion to motorsport tyres should begin immediately. Developmental tyre production will start in early 2005.
Bridgestone Motorsport has confirmed that it will be the official tyre supplier of the newly launched GP2 single-seater series when it begins in 2005.
The Bridgestone Potenza equipped Ferraris of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello successfully reclaimed the French Grand Prix crown as they claimed first and third places respectively. Fernando Alonso’s Michelin running Renault took second place.
The 2005 season will see the introduction of new regulations governing competition vehicles. The FIA has assigned experts to ensure that speeds will be reduced in the next Formula 1 season. The decision will also lead to further rules regarding tyres.
Fife sees the eighth round of the British Superbike Championship this weekend, which will be held at the Knockhill Circuit. After a disappointing seventh round, Dunlop Motorsport believes to be “well prepared for all eventualities.”
After a successful race in the Canadian Grand Prix, Bridgestone’s Motorsport teams are set to compete in the FIA Formula One World Championship.
The teams have made their way to Indianapolis, USA for round nine of the championship this Sunday.
The Aftermarket Show returns to the NEC from 13-16 January 2005. Organiser Haymarket Exhibitions says the event will give a high profile to suppliers from the tyre, wheel, accessory, consumables, parts, electrics and garage equipment sectors.
Last January’s inaugural show attracted more than 24,500 dedicated trade visitors, part of a combined total of 91,000 business and motorsport enthusiasts who visited the show and sister attraction Autosport International.
The Tyre Industry Council (TIC) will again sponsor the tyre sector of the show, which will aim to attract interest from a broad cross section of manufacturers, wholesalers, equipment and services suppliers. Dutch manufacturer Vredestein has already confirmed its return in 2005.
TIC secretary Peter Taylor said: “We are working with Haymarket to develop a number of innovative concepts that will appeal to specific sectors of the industry. The response to the first show in January was very encouraging, which makes 2005 a real opportunity to create an exhibition that delivers something new, exciting and valuable to the trade.”
The Aftermarket Show – Exhibitor Contacts: Tel: +44 (0)207 267 8300 www.theaftermarketshow.com
Bridgestone Motorsport has its sights set firmly on providing its four teams with the most competitive tyres for the European Grand Prix at the German Nürburgring circuit (28-30 May). With Monaco just a few days beforehand, all testing for the specifications to be used at round seven was done in the weeks beforehand. Located in the Eifel mountain range, the Nürburgring is likely to throw up a few weather surprises and two of the keys to success will be tactical flexibility and having competitive tyres for both dry and wet conditions – something Bridgestone is confident it can supply its teams with. “I expect the European Grand Prix to be a hotly contested race and no doubt there will be plenty of support as we arrive at what is ‘home’ grand prix for two of the Bridgestone drivers: Michael Schumacher and Nick Heidfeld. There is always a fantastic atmosphere at this race and this will help to keep the momentum going on what can be a tiring couple of weeks when you have two races back to back,” said Hiroshi Yasukawa, Bridgestone’s Director of Motorsport.
Seven days after Monaco, May 28-30 Formula One is poised to return to another of its traditional venues – Germany’s Nürburgring. Michelin is approaching the seventh race of the season in a positive frame of mind: Jarno Trulli (Renault) and Jenson Button (B·A·R-Honda) scored a memorable one-two for the company in Monaco and Ralf Schumacher (BMW WilliamsF1 Team/Michelin) won at the Nürburgring in 2003, when he led team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya across the line. “We know the Nürburgring well and have achieved some good results here in the past,” says Pierre Dupasquier, Michelin Motorsport Director. “We finalised our tyre options for this race a couple of weeks ago, because there hasn’t been time to test since our tremendous victory in Monaco last Sunday. We will have three dry-weather compounds available and these all come from the softer end of our range, because the Nürburgring isn’t especially abrasive. It is what I would call a ‘balanced’ track. The loads on the front and rear tyres cancel each other out during the course of a lap so the wear rate tends to be very even,” adds Michelin F1 Programme Manager Pascal Vasselon. “It is always vital to have a suitable tyre compound at the Nürburgring, because conditions are very changeable, and I am confident Michelin will provide us with exactly that,” comments Ralf Schumacher with regard to the tyre set-up.
The proposed radical rule changes for Formula One (this site 23.04.2004) have been agreed by team bosses at a meeting in Monaco, where FIA President Max Mosley outlined the proposals, designed to make racing cheaper and more exciting. The meeting agreed that there should be one tyre supplier only and Mosley said that having a control tyre would be safer and less expensive – if everybody had the same, levels of grip and thus cornering speed could be controlled. It was possible, he added, that, with one supplier only, slick tyres could make a come-back in place of the current grooved tyres.
A report in the Financial Times suggests that, if Formula One cars continue to develop as they are, within three years they may be too fast for many F1 circuits. As an example, Michael Schumacher’s qualifying time for the Malaysian GP was four seconds faster than last year’s pole position time. The tyre rivalry between Bridgestone and Michelin is responsible for an improvement of over a second per lap, says the article, and it warns that, if development continues, steps may have to be taken to reduce the cars’ performances.
Following on from the story “F1 Cars Too Quick For Their Own Good?”, The Times claims to have seen a document, written by the FIA, the governing body of Formula One, outlining changes to the sport’s rules in order to reduce costs and improve competitiveness. These include no power steering, no traction control and a manual gearbox with clutch instead of an automatic gearbox. Suggestions concerning tyres include narrower front wheels and tyres and increased rear tyres to give greater drag for overtaking, no tyre changes allowed during a race and only one tyre supplier, providing a control tyre. The proposals will be debated by the teams over two days in Monaco next week – a meeting which promises to be interesting, to say the least.
Bridgestone Corporation has announced plans to supply tyres to competitors in a sweeping range of motorsport events in 2004. “Bridgestone technology has helped the world’s best racing teams win in Formula One and in other motorsport series, and we are determined to help them keep winning,” declared the company’s CEO, Shigeo Watanabe.
Winning ways continued for Bridgestone in Formula One in 2003. The company’s Potenza tyres carried Michael Schumacher and Ferrari to the drivers’ and constructors’ season championships. Bridgestone tyres have now been first across the finish line in a total of 79 F1 races.
In the 2004 F1 season, Bridgestone will again supply tyres to world champions Ferrari and to three other teams. That means that eight machines will be racing on Bridgestone Potenza tyres. The 2004 season got under way on March 7 with the Australian Grand Prix. This year’s F1 calendar features 18 races, culminating in the Brazilian Grand Prix on October 24.
IndyCar control tyre
Bridgestone’s Firestone brand will again be the sole tyre brand in the IndyCar Series, formerly known as the Indy Racing League. That racing series will include the Bridgestone Indy Japan 300 Mile at Japan’s Twin Link Motegi circuit on April 17. Altogether, the 2004 IndyCar Series will comprise of 16 races.
Domestic series too
Japan’s premier open-wheel racing series, Formula Nippon, will be another showcase for Bridgestone tyres in 2004. This year’s Formula Nippon series will consist of nine events, including a race at Malaysia’s Sepang Circuit.
Teams race on tyres from multiple manufacturers in the Japan GT Championship. But competitors equipped with Bridgestone tyres won seven of the eight races in the GT500 class of that series in 2003. The 2004 Japan GT Championship series will comprise of seven races. Bridgestone will also supply tyres for other Japanese auto racing series, including the Japan Gymkhana Championship, the All Japan Dirt Trial Championship, and the All Japan Rally Championship.
And on two wheels
Motorcycle racing also remains an important emphasis in Bridgestone’s motorsports program. At the pinnacle of motorcycle racing is the MotoGP series, and Bridgestone began supplying tyres to competitors in that series in 2002. The company will concentrate its support for grand prix motorcycle racing exclusively on MotoGP competition in 2004. A Bridgestone-equipped rider mounted a MotoGP victory podium for the first time in 2003. That was when Makoto Tamada achieved a third-place finish in the 12th race of the season.
After supplying tyres on just one MotoGP works team in 2003, Bridgestone will provide tyres to three works teams in the 2004 season. Those teams will be racing a total of five machines. In motorcycle racing besides grand prix events, Bridgestone will furnish tyres for the All Japan Road Race Championship, the All Japan Motocross Championship, and the AMA Supercross/National Series.
Cooper Tire & Rubber Company plans to launch AVON Tyres USA, a new collection of performance passenger, light truck, sport truck and motorsport tyres. Completely new to the U.S. and Canadian markets, the AVON Tyres USA line is the first ever to have been designed and engineered from consumer feedback data. All data was collected and analyzed by The Tire Rack, the country’s largest independent tyre tester, through its web site, www.tirerack.com.
Consumer Association magazine, Which? put the leading UHP tyres through their paces recently with the Goodyear Eagle F1 coming top of its category
again. A convoy of cars were driven over 6,000 miles each in order to compile the results, with the spotlight turned on performance in both wet and dry conditions, ride comfort, noise creation, rolling resistance and wear. The Which? test saw the Goodyear Eagle F1 competing in the 17 inch category, a tyre that would normally be fitted on sporty versions of cars such as BMW 3 Series, Ford Mondeo and VW Golfs. The extensive testing saw the Eagle F1 given an impressive score of 70 per cent across all categories, with Which? reserving special comment for its grip in both wet and dry conditions, as well as declaring it the quietest in its section.
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.
