Motorsport Archives - Page 76 of 129 - Tyrepress

MOTORSPORT

Posts

McLaren Fastest in Turkey Practice

Bridgestone’s soft tyre took reigning world champion Jenson Button in his Vodafone McLaren Mercedes to the top of the time sheets in sweltering conditions on the first day of practice for the Turkish Grand Prix. Button set a 1:28.280 lap time in the afternoon session at the undulating Istanbul Park Circuit as the latest specification Formula One cars met the tough challenge of the notorious Turn Eight for the first time. Button’s Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton went fastest in the morning, using the hard compound Bridgestone Potenza.

28th May 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone Returns as NHL Official Tyre

The National Hockey League, the National Hockey League Players’ Association and the Hockey Hall of Fame have renewed a partnership with Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations and Bridgestone Canada, in which the Bridgestone brand will serve as the “Official Tire of the NHL, NHLPA and the Hockey Hall of Fame,” for the next five years, reports Tire Review. As part of the agreement, Bridgestone will return as the title sponsor of the award-winning outdoor game, the Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic. The event, which is typically the NHL's most-watched regular-season game, takes place on New Year’s Day.

27th May 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Curve Ball – Is Football a Better Sponsorship Investment Than Motorsport?

Editorial/Comment

While Michelin, Pirelli, Cooper, Kumho and – apparently – two other firms were battling it out to win the 2011 Formula 1 tyre supply deal, Continental AG was busy adding another championship to its football sponsorship portfolio. Conti’s decision to become a ‘premium’ sponsor of the DFB (German Football Association) Cup in its home market in addition to the firm’s global sponsorship of this year’s World Cup and the 2014 event in Brazil, demonstrates some typically Teutonic pragmatism.

Rather than get involved in a bidding war that presents the winner with a logistic nightmare and a huge multi-million pound/euro/dollar bill, their thinking is that investing in a variety of top level football sponsorship deals reaches just as many potential customers. And this is without the associated hassle of having to develop, custom build, test and deliver some of the most expensive tyres in the world. True there is all the associated automotive excitement that comes with F1 support, but this way there’s no chance of your tyres making an equally public spectacle of themselves either, leaving the marketing department (and the R&D department) free to concentrate on other things.

27th May 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Federal Signs as Nippon Challenge Supplier

The Nippon Challenge, described as “the nation’s premier racing series for Japanese cars”, will roll out this year with Federal’s new motorsports extreme tyre, FZ-201 semi-slick, as one of the spec tyres. The Taiwanese tyre brand will also be the title sponsor for all of the 14 races over seven weekends between April and October.

26th May 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Toyo Signs up for Goodwood with Micheldever and Protyre

Toyo Tires has announced it will again join Micheldever and Protyre at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, which the manufacturer describes as a “key event in the motorsport calendar”. Toyo declared itself proud to be associated with its partners at Goodwaood, since “Micheldever is one of the UK’s leading tyre distributors, which also has its own very successful and ever-expanding retail chain, Protyre”.

26th May 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli Chosen for F1 Tyre Supply – News Reports

The website Motorsport.com claims Italian media sources are reporting Pirelli’s selection as sole Formula One tyre supplier in 2011 and beyond. It states that Autosprint and Italiaracing say the Italian tyre maker has been selected by the teams and F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone as Bridgestone’s replacement.

26th May 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Japfast Puts Maxxis “Face to Face” with Performance Crowd

Maxxis has put its brand in front of 15,000 performance car enthusiasts this May, attending in force the first round of the Adrian Flux Auto Series “Japfest”, the UK's longest running circuit-based event for all Japanese performance cars. The brand says it took over the platinum village with its bright orange events unit with a 10m Maxxis arch. The stage hosted DJs, the infamous team of Maxxis Babes and three high specification cars to support the Maxxis brand.

25th May 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone to “pay particular attention” to Turkey F1 Preparation

Bridgestone will take its hard and soft compound Potenzas to Istanbul this weekend for the Turkish Grand Prix in the knowledge that they face one of the toughest corners for tyres on the current calendar. The toughness off the circuit makes for yet another interesting race in 2010, with only 22 points covering the top eight drivers, a recent surge from the winner of the last two Grands Prix Mark Webber having made him the joint Championship leader with team-mate Sebastian Vettel. Hirohide Hamashima, Bridgestone director of Motorsport Tyre Development, says: “Istanbul Park has caused us problems in the past so it is a circuit where we pay particular attention to every aspect of our preparation. We have reviewed the tyre strength and durability of our tyres so far this season and we have seen no problems, even though the latest cars are both heavier and faster than previously.

25th May 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

New Mustang Signature Model is Exclusively Pirelli Shod

The Steve Saleen signature line of 2011 SMS Mustang 302’s will be exclusively shod with Pirelli P Zero rubber. After the successful launch of his 2010 SMS 570 Challenger in the Spring of 2009, the 2011 SMS 302 Mustang represents the second in the trio of SMS American Supercars, the third of which will be the SMS 620 Camaro, slated for introduction later this year. To start with, two SMS 302 versions will be offered: the SMS 302 4V with a normally aspirated 5.0L engine, followed by the SMS 302 SC using the patented SMS 296 Supercharger. Both models utilize Pirelli P Zero ultra-high-performance 275/35ZR 20 tyres on 20 x 9-inch 5-spoke alloy wheels at the front and 275/40ZR 20 tyres on 20” x 10” 5-spoke alloy wheels at the rear.

24th May 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone Slicks Deliver the Goods Despite Le Mans Heat

Warm weather greeted MotoGP competitors on race day at the Grand Prix De France on May 23 – so much so that the track temperature rose to 48 degrees Celsius, safely the hottest track temperature recorded at the circuit during a MotoGP session. These conditions affected lap times slightly, yet Bridgestone reports that both specifications of its slicks proved their durability and consistent performance. The frontrunners used Bridgestone’s harder option front and asymmetric rear slicks, and it was Jorge Lorenzo of the Fiat Yamaha Team who took victory, ahead of teammate Valentino Rossi and Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso.

24th May 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Yokohama Title Sponsor of Italian WTCC Round

Races seven and eight of this year’s FIA World Touring Car Championship – better known to you and I as the WTCC – are scheduled to run at Monza on Sunday May 23, and during this round of the series Yokohama Rubber will be title sponsor. Therefore, prepare yourself for the delights of the “FIA WTCC Yokohama Race of Italy.”

20th May 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Dunlop Riders Take 11 NorthWest200 Podium Places

The International NorthWest200 came to a close on Saturday 15 May with Dunlop given particular reason to be satisfied with the performance of riders using its tyres. First places in the Superbike, Superstock and Supersport races went to McGuinness, Amor and Hutchinson, all using Dunlop rubber; in total 11 out of the 18 available podium places went to riders using the manufacturer’s products. Company representative Pat Walsh thought the weekend’s successes boded well for the rest of the season: “This impressive start puts us in a good position for the Isle of Man TT which starts in two weeks time.”

18th May 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone: Asymmetric Rear Slicks for Le Mans MotoGP

Bridgestone will provide riders at MotoGP’s French Grand Prix with an asymmetric rear option for the first time in the 2010 season. The tyre supplier says the move is made in response to calls from riders during 2009 for greater use of the multi-compound slicks; while the same asymmetric specifications are available as last year (medium, hard and extra hard), they each boast a wider temperature operating range by incorporating the company’s improved soft and medium compound rubber, which makes them suitable for a greater number of Grands Prix. The rear slick tyre option in Le Mans combines soft compound rubber in the left shoulder with medium compound rubber in the right.

18th May 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

BMW and Dunlop Win at Nurburgring

Dunlop tyres were the choice of BMW Motorsport in winning the Nurburgring 24 hour race this weekend. The classic race, held on the tortuous circuit that Sir Jackie Stewart once described as the ‘greatest and most challenging’ in the world, was won by the latest BMW M3 GT2, equipped with Dunlop Sport Maxx race tyres. The Dunlop tyres were designed, developed and manufactured in the company’s Motorsport centre at Fort Dunlop in Birmingham, England.

17th May 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Alonso Sets Pace in Monaco

Fernando Alonso made the initial practice sessions for the Monaco Grand Prix Ferrari’s as he became the only driver to tackle the prestigious street-based circuit in under 1:15. Monaco will see a first for Bridgestone, as the manufacturer has brought a non-consecutive dry tyre allocation to Monte Carlo for the 13-16 May weekend.

13th May 2010/by Tyrepress Editors