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Bridgestone Previews Singapore Grand Prix

Following recent revelations about last year’s inaugural Singapore night race, the spectacle of Formula One’s visit to the country has been somewhat tarnished retrospectively. This weekend will see the sport return to the site of Nelsen Piquet Jr.’s act of, allegedly forced, hara-kiri with undoubtedly a similar sense of occasion. Hopefully this year, the drivers will live up to the show put on by the organisers, whose number includes Bridgestone, the Championship’s official tyre supplier, which will bring its soft and super soft Potenza tyres.

24th September 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Avon equips Italian GT Hillclimb Championship Winner

Avon Tyres has added the Italian GT Hillclimb title to its impressive array of European championships. Italian Ferrari 430 GT2 driver Denny Zardo, 32, clinched the title with a round still to go, by winning the GT class of last weekend’s round at Pedavena-Croce D’Aune. He was tenth overall, four seconds ahead of chief rival and fellow Ferrari driver, Leonardo Isolani.

24th September 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

TSR Racing Expands UK Alloy Wheels Range

Three new wheel styles have been added to TSR Racing’s range of replacement alloys, available exclusively through Yokohama HPT on the UK market. The styles are named Druids, Rivazza and Parabolica and attempt to further the TSR Racing name within the aftermarket.

22nd September 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Wolfrace Unleashes Pro-Lite Alloy for Road, Track Use

Wolfrace, a leading UK brand of alloy wheels, has announced its new range of Pro-Lite wheels suitable for road and track use. With a wide and successful range of what it terms the ‘mainstream’ car enthusiast and modified car market with Wolfrace alloy wheels, exhausts and performance air filters, the Wolfrace Eurosport range now features the company’s first lightweight wheel suitable for road and track use.

17th September 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Yokohama HPT Exclusive UK Distributor for Advanti Alloy Wheels

The UK distributor for Yokohama tyres and TSW and MAK alloy wheels, Yokohama HPT has announced that it has been selected as the sole British distributor for Advanti replacement alloy wheels. While the name Advanti may be a new one to the UK replacement wheel market, the company is already well known in one of the harshest motorsport environments, Formula One, where the Torro Rosso team uses the company's products on its F1 cars. Yokohama HPT says that this F1 technology and know-how is available for the UK wheel replacement market as it will be stocking a range of Advanti alloys.

16th September 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Kumho Shows Laser Tread Etching Kit in Frankfurt

Kumho has been exhibiting examples of its brand new laser etching process at the Frankfurt Motor Show (15-27 September). In the future Kumho plans to avoid compromising functionality and aesthetics, as every tyre maker has had to do up till now, by producing tyres in two stages. The idea is to produce functional requirement by moulding in the normal way. However, any additional attributes or design features will then be etched onto the surface as required, making an attractive design, without compromising on functionality.

Said Roger Jenkins, managing director of Kumho’s Birmingham-based European Technical Centre: “The new laser technology will allow us far more freedom at the design stage and the ability to experiment with any number of patterns and surface finishes. In the future, the process could also provide production tyres with a variety of short-term gains – such as special surfaces for use in motorsport or driving on low friction surfaces etc.”

16th September 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Barichello to Push Button for Championship following Monza Victory

The leader of Formula One’s Drivers Championship since the beginning of the season, Jensen Button looks to be in for a fight to stay at the top of the rankings until the season is over, following victory for his Brawn GP teammate, Rubens Barrichello at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza.

14th September 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Marangoni King of the Hill

Marangoni is celebrating the success of its hill climbing champion, Simone Faggioli, who recently won European Hill Climb Championship for the second time. Faggioli, who drives an Osella FA30 with Zytek 3000-V8 engine and Marangoni Zeta Linea Racing tyres, achieved the feat one race from the end of the 2009 series. The Marangoni sponsored driver last won this European title in 2005, in a similar car again fitted with the Italian company’s race tyres.

Faggioli took the 2009 title after winning six of the eleven stages which make up the European Hill Climb Championship. A slow puncture meant that Faggioli could only manage third place on the fearsome Italian Trento-Bondone stage, but this was won by his Marangoni teammate Davide Baldi.

14th September 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Cooper Tire to Cut Melksham Workforce by 20%

Cooper Tire & Rubber Company has announced manufacturing “realignment” plans that will see the company’s Melksham plant reduce its workforce by 20 per cent. According to a statement, the decision to realign production at the Melksham facility is a result of the company’s focus on its “strategic objective to create a sustainable and competitive cost position.” Company managers say the move is designed to enhance the company’s long-term performance, “while helping to mitigate the effects of the current economic downturn and the increases in its cost base.”

This means over the next year, the company will transfer some US tyre production to Melksham and other Melksham production to its Chinese production plants. It is this part of the realignment that will result in the reduction of the current work schedule. It appears that the bulk of the changes are taking place in the passenger car tyre manufacturing departments. A company spokes person told Tyres & Accessories/tyrepress.com that Cooper Tires does not know exactly which products will be affected, but will be communicating more information on this in due course. However, motorcycle and motorsport products are apparently not included in the changes and will continue to be manufactured in Melksham.

14th September 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Success For Toyo Off-Road Drivers

In the USA, Team Toyo Off-Road drivers had a huge weekend during the 40th Anniversary BorgWarner World Championship Off-Road Races at Crandon International Off-Road Raceway recently. More than 40,000 fans at the Raceway, and thousands more watching the live broadcast by ABC television, saw Toyo-sponsored drivers set new track records in Pro 2WD and Pro 4X4, as well as winning the headline events including the BorgWarner World Championship for Pro 2WD and the BorgWarner Cup, which carried a prize of $40,000. In fact, Toyo-sponsored drivers scored a 1,2,3 in the prestigious Pro 4×4 race.

10th September 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone Prepares Medium GP2 Compound for “Fastest Track”

The penultimate round of the 2009 Bridgestone-supported GP2 Series will be held at Monza on 11-13 September as part of the Italian Grand Prix weekend, where the medium compound GP2 tyres will be used. The circuit is one of only three on this year’s GP2 calendar that remains with the same compound of slick tyres as in 2008. Known as the ‘Autodromo Nazionale di Monza’ the circuit is the fastest that GP2 drivers experience during the year. Maintaining tyre durability and employing more aerodynamically efficient car set-ups will be the key to a successful weekend.

8th September 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Maxxis-backed Japspeed Sweeps Podium at Norfolk Arena

Round Four of the British Drift Championship belonged firmly to Team Japspeed as its drivers, Danny Eyles, Shane Lynch and Steve Biagioni took to the podium having drifted successfully around the Norfolk Arena.

8th September 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli’s Scorpion Graces Australia in WRC Round

Rally Australia is back on a new route after two years of absence from the WRC calendar, and it looks like being one of the most interesting events of the 2009 Championship.

4th September 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Dunlop Pioneers BTCC RFID First

All tyres on HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) cars are now automatically scanned as the cars drive into the pit lane, in what tyremaker Dunlop says is a world first. This technology ensures that each car is using the correct and allocated tyres at all times.

The scanning is achieved by a miniature Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag embedded inside every tyre allocated to every car. The tag – just one centimetre in length – enables officials from computer systems firm Datalinx, which has been central to the development of the technology, to track every tyre from production and allocation to each team right back to their return to Dunlop for recycling.

4th September 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone Favours Hard Slicks for San Marino MotoGP

Hot, humid conditions in San Marino on the first day of its Grand Prix have produced a favourable reaction to the hard compound Bridgestone slicks amongst the field. Whilst both options were used during the free practice session to get a feeling for the available grip and balance from each, it was on the harder slicks that the best times were recorded.

4th September 2009/by Tyrepress Editors