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England-German Rivalry Results in HiQ Breakfast Wager

For everyone in HiQ’s head office in Birmingham, the prospect of England beating Germany on Sunday afternoon is too mouth watering to contemplate. Almost everyone, that is. HiQ’s German retail director Juergen Titz is so confident that his countrymen will beat England on Sunday that he has promised to buy full English breakfasts for all of his employees if they lose. The 15 members of the HiQ team expected at the Goodyear Dunlop headquarters in Tyre Fort, Erdington are reportedly finalising their breakfast orders for Monday morning. One representative of the retail chain said the bet could hit Juergen just where it hurts most – his pocket.

25th June 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Comma Painting Aided by Avon-Shod Caterham, F2 Car

Using the tyres of a 6-tonne racing truck, an Avon-shod Formula Two single seater, race bike and a Caterham as his paintbrushes, artist Ian Cook – famous for using radio controlled cars in much the same style – has created a unique 50 square metre work of art. The painting was commissioned by oil and car care company, Comma, to launch a £2 million motorsport giveaway at the company’s website.

24th June 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Gives 1,000 Stoke Workers World Cup Coverage

Michelin’s Stoke-on-Trent facility is taking a flexible approach to its employees’ wish to watch the World Cup match with Slovenia this afternoon. The manufacturer stated that, while it was impossible to allow its workforce to leave the site en masse, line managers have been given the discretion to allow their staff to watch the game on televisions placed around the Campbell Road location.

23rd June 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear Donates Lifeboat from First Blimp to Smithsonian

An interesting diversion to our regular industry related news comes courtesy of Goodyear, who reports its gifting to the Smithsonian of a century-old lifeboat that saw service on the very first airship built by the company. Constructed by one S.E. Saunders of East Cowes on the Isle of Wight in 1910, the boat is made primarily of wood, measures 27 feet long with a 6 foot beam and weighs over 500 pounds – that’s 8.2 metres long and 225 kilograms for those of you reading this in metric.

9th June 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

HiQ Employee Brings Cartoon Hero to Life

HiQ reports that one of its employees has become animated about Cars. Stuart Harris, who works at the fast fitter’s West End centre in Bodmin, is said to have become the talk of the town after transforming his treasured car into an iconic children's cartoon hero. Harris has brought hotshot rookie racing car Lightning McQueen from the Disney/Pixar film to life, following an imaginative redesign of his prized Subaru Impreza.

20th May 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Tyre Killer Film Screens at Cannes

International News, News

You may remember a February report from tyrepress.com drawing your attention to a new serial killer movie named Rubber, and starring a sentient tyre as its antagonist (see ‘Mr Oizo Returns with Slasher Flick Starring Tyre’, or click the Related News link below). While tyrepress.com then described the chance of it appearing on British screens as “unlikely”, the film has garnered enough support to be shown in the Critic’s Choice programme of the world’s most (in-)famous film festival in Cannes, France. You can see the (beautifully photographed) trailer below the full version of this story in the subscriber area.

20th May 2010/by Andrew

Wynonna Judd Working in a Tyre Shop?

Career Tracks, News, UK News

The erratic ongoing career of singer Wynonna Judd may have led to her being called a country retread, but you could be forgiven for thinking that is a close as she has been to a set of tyres. And you'd be half right. Last night (19 May 2010) American television network CBS broadcast its latest episode of “I Get That a Lot” – a programme which sees celebrities squirm in real-world jobs as customers question where they have seen them before – which saw Judd exchange country ballads for worn treads and wet traction.

20th May 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Motorcyclists to PM: Get on Your Bike – Cause You’re Not Getting on Ours

Latest polls indicate Gordon Brown is more than six points ahead – in the vote for Britain’s least desirable pillion passenger, that is. According to a survey carried out by Bridgestone, the current UK Prime Minister is the person motorcycle riders would least want sitting behind them. A total of 33.8 per cent of the more than 1,000 motorcycle riders Bridgestone approached voted for Mr. Brown, pushing Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson into second place. Clarkson, a man seemingly capable of polarising the opinions of an entire nation, is a pillion passenger no-no for 27.4 per cent of respondents. Third-place getter Katie Price raised no eyebrows by making an appearance in this rogues’ gallery of the motorcycling world – 17.8 per cent of those polled by Bridgestone would not share a seat the celebrity formerly known as Jordan.

9th April 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Shifting Tyres Blamed Upon Garage Ghost

Readers of the Telegraph and other daily papers may already be familiar with the plight of Nick White, the garage mechanic tormented by a restless soul from the 1940s. As reported in a telegraph.co.uk article published on Easter Monday, White’s Doncaster based workplace has received several visits from the spectre, whose alleged activities include moving piles of tyres around during the night when the garage is locked.

7th April 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Rinspeed Offers a New Definition of Commuter Car

International News, News

Rinspeed, the company that created the Squba, a car that works underwater, has unveiled its latest concept vehicle; the UC? Making its debut at Geneva, the UC? is all-electric, has two seats and a unique ‘train loading’ system that allows the car to easily fix into a train carriage for longer, inter-city journeys. It’s more than that, though – Rinspeed calls it a ‘new mobility concept’. The idea of the tiny car is to make emissions-free journeying as easy as possible, regardless of distance. The car itself only has a 65-mile range, which is enough for day-to-day commuting but not much else, so there’s an internet connection that allows drivers to book the car onto a train to cover city-to-city distances.

16th February 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Mr Oizo Returns with Slasher Flick Starring Tyre

Movie deaths involving cars are nothing unusual. Be it driving into a canyon ('Thelma and Louise'), driving into other cars carrying sassy ladies (Quentin Tarantino’s quite horrible 'Death Proof'), or enjoying a crash a bit too much (David Cronenberg’s infamous twist on auto-erotica, 'Crash'), motoring fatalities have become a large and varied part of film history. But Quentin Dupieux, otherwise known as the French dance music producer behind ‘Flat Beat’ and its accompanying puppet Flat Eric, has filmed a twist we never saw coming: a slasher film in which the serial killer is – wait for it – a tyre. Named Robert.

8th February 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Nokian Gets Behind Snow Soccer

Nokian Tyres’ dedication to grip in the snow goes beyond its tyre products, as was witnessed at the Nokian Tyres Snow Soccer World Championships in Finland on 6 – 7 February 2010. The sporting event, which Nokian describes as “very crazy, but so cheerful”, involves 1,000 players and 70 teams competing on a playing surface covered by 50 centimetres of snow. This new snow sport, adds the Finnish tyre maker, is extreme fun: exhausting, difficult and adventurous, and the players with the most grip and skill will prove to be the winners.

8th February 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Kwik-Fit Workers Discover Hash Farm Above Tyre Depot

Staff at a Kwik-Fit centre in York recently discovered they had been working under a cannabis growing factory. Unbeknownst to them 387 cannabis plants with a street value of up to £46,000 had been growing in the space above the branch in York. According to a report in the Yorkshire Post, workers only made the surprising discovery when water leaked through the ceiling and they went up to investigate the damage. The news made the papers today (29 January) after Vietnamese illegal immigrant Duc Van Tran, an illegal immigrant from Vietnam admitted conspiracy to produce cannabis in a case at Leeds Crown Court. Tran has been jailed for 20 months.

29th January 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Administrative Charges Filed Against Tyre Deflating Judge

Last August we brought news on the American judge who passed sentence on the rear tyre of the car belonging to courtroom cleaner Jean Washington. Judge Robert C. Nalley, as tyrepress.com reported on August 13, deflated the tyre of the car allegedly parked in his “space” as “notes on the windscreen didn’t work.” Following nationwide media coverage, the tyre-deflating judge resigned from his post as Circuit Court chief administrator days later. Now Maryland's judicial commission has filed administrative charges against him.

18th January 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

From Hi-Viz to High Fashion

The high visibility vest, once the preserve of rail workers and those engaged in emergency services, has become ubiquitous. In his book ‘Pies and Prejudice’, Stuart Maconie refers to the reflective tabard, along with Greggs' pasties, as a new emblem of the North. And he has a point – people from all walks of life can be found wearing the high visibility tabard for workplace duties, changing a tyre or simply walking their similarly attired dog. And this army of fluorescent vest wearers are united by one common bond – they all look equally unfashionable.

15th December 2009/by Tyrepress Editors