On 14 February 2014 Brian Smith unofficially broke the production car land speed record with a 270.49mph run on Florida’s Space Shuttle landing runway, according to Top Gear magazine. Before now the fastest was the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, which managed 269.86mph on the Ehra-Lessien test track in 2010.
UK automotive and cycling services retailer, Halfords Group has appointed Andy Randall as managing director of its garage servicing and auto repair business, Halfords Autocentres. Randall joins the business in March.
The Independent Automotive Aftermarket Federation (IAAF) has announced that Wendy Williamson will become the new chief executive, taking over from Brian Spratt in July this year. Williamson held several positions in the Unipart Group of companies including that of director & general manager at Truck & Trailer Components (TTC), a Unipart subsidiary. More recently, she has been running the aftermarket section of the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders (SMMT).
Goodyear Tire & Rubber will pay a quarterly dividend of US$0.05 per share of common stock, the tyre maker reported on 15 January. This will be paid on 3 March to shareholders who are of record as of 31 January 2014. The payout represents an annual rate of 20 cents per share.
The Board of Directors of Titan International has approved a quarterly cash dividend of US$.005 (one half cent) per common share for the fourth quarter of 2013. The cash dividend is payable 15 January 2014, to stockholders of record on 31 December 2013.
The NTDA has appointed Stefan Hay as its new director, succeeding Richard Edy who is retiring after 25 years in the post. The changeover will officially take place at the end of January.
The Tire Industry Association has reached a membership milestone in 2013 – a first in its 93-year history – adding 1,000 members this year.
“It is great to know that we have had a record number of new members join TIA this year,” said Roy Littlefield, TIA executive vice president.
On 6 November, Titan International completed the previously announced redemption of the outstanding US$137,681,000 aggregate principal in its ‘7.875% Senior Secured Notes due 2017’. The company redeemed the notes at a price of $1,059.06 for each $1,000 principal amount, or approximately $145.8 million in total, plus approximately $1.1 million of unpaid interest accrued to the redemption date. Titan says it did not incur any early termination penalties in connection with the redemption of the notes beyond the premium reflected in the redemption price, as described above.
In 2012-13 record numbers of visitors to Tyrepress have been accessing the site via tablets and smartphones, and with this trend continuing to grow the relaunched Tyrepress website will offer readers an improved user experience through responsive design. The chief benefit of responsive design will be to resize and rearrange elements of the site automatically to present it in a format better suited to smaller screens – whether this is a 10” iPad, a 7” Nexus 7 or a 4” smartphone – making it easier to read and navigate.
On 28 September 2013, the directors of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company declared a quarterly dividend of 73.44 cents per share of mandatory convertible preferred stock. The US-based tyre manufacturer reports that the dividend is payable 1 October 2013, to shareholders of record on 13 September 2013. The payout represents an annual rate of $2.9375 per share.
Between 6 and 13 October, the World Solar Challenge 2013 will take place in Australia, and Bridgestone has signed up as title sponsor. This will be the 12th time the competition has taken place since 1987, and the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge 2013 will see a record 45 teams from 26 countries compete in a 3000-kilometre cross-country race using only solar energy to power the vehicles. The event will feature three separate classes – Adventure Class, which will showcase cars built for previous events; Cruiser Class, which will be judged by design practicality, and Challenger Class, which will compete for the title of the world's most efficient solar car.
In July Dominique Aegerter broke the Moto2 lap record for the Mireval circuit by nine-tenths of second. According to the company, Dunlop carried out extensive analysis on data from the tyre test and continued work on the Moto2 range including work on tyre stress and a new rear tyre specification for 2014, or possibly during the remaining races in 2013, with Aegerter from Moto2 riding in addition to the Dunlop test team with Stefan Nebel and two riders from the IDM championship. The tyre has previously been tested by Rabat and Terol in Argentina.
The Lotus Festival will be staged at Brands Hatch later this month, and following its signing of an exclusive three-year deal with the Lotus on Track Racing Drivers’ Club (LoTRDC) last year Avon Tyres will supply its track-oriented, road legal ZZR to a host of Lotus competitors. As part of the deal Avon is supplying ZZRs to competitors across its burgeoning race championships, including the Lotus Elise Trophy and Lotus Cup Europe, as well as the Lotus Cup UK.
Cooper Tire & Rubber has announced payment of its 166th consecutive quarterly dividend to shareholders. A dividend of 10.5 cents per share will be paid on common stock, payable 30 September 2013 to stockholders of record at the close of business 5 September 2013.
Porsche set a world record at the Silverstone Classic, as more than 1,000 911s took to the track in a parade to celebrate the model’s 50th anniversary. Pirelli sponsored the parade, as part of its Porsche Club Great Britain partnership agreement signed earlier this year, which stipulated that Pirelli will support Porsche Club GB financially and with tyres and on-event expertise. 1,208 Porsche 911s, which included an array of Carrera, GT, RS, RSR, Speedster, Targa and turbo variants, took part in the parade, which helped raise funds for national cancer charity, Hope for Tomorrow.
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