Tyres can’t function without this critical raw material. Whether its natural or synthetic rubber you are interested in, articles bearing this tag feature this indispensable polymer.
Tyre industry carbon black supplier Cabot Corporation has announced a net income of US$54 million for the first quarter of 2007. This is almost double their net income for the same fiscal period a year ago, in which a net income of US$24 million was achieved.
Pirelli’s new P Zero has been selected as the OE tyre for the soon to be released Audi R8. The new mid-engine Audi flagship is the company’s first serious competitor for the likes for the Porsche 911, and therefore Pirelli are understandably pleased to be chosen as the company that, so to speak, will make the rubber hit the road.
The inclement mid-January weather was just a coincidence, but Avon clearly wanted to attract attention at last month’s Trade Expo when it exhibited the Storm-ST, the successor to the acclaimed Azaro-ST. In fact it was pretty much the only thing on the spacious stand as the company wanted to focus attention squarely on its new flagship Sport Touring offering. Avon’s decision to promote the Storm-ST at Expo runs in parallel to the launch of the Viper Xtreme trackday tyre and follows a 12 per cent increase in Avon motorcycle tyre sales in 2006.
Detroit’s “Big Three” carmakers are casting an eye on the contract signed between Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and the United Steelworkers union at the end of last year as a potential model to emulate. Of particular interest is the trust fund the company set up to separate themselves from the responsibility of future retiree health costs.
As the World Economic Forum got underway in the Swiss resort town of Davos, Swiss globalisation opponents held their own ‘Public Eye’ awards, in which companies they have identified as being environmentally or socially irresponsible were given an “award” in recognition. This year tyremaker Bridgestone was the recipient of one such award.
Maxxis – Taking Motorcycling to the Supermaxx
“Although the new Supermaxx will feature the same tread and will look much the same as the existing product, radical improvements to the carcass and compound mean it will offer superior traction and drive,” says Derek McMartin, managing director of Maxxis International UK.
North Yorkshire company Riverside Waste Machinery, a major national player in the provision of equipment to tackle industrial waste in an environmentally friendly manner, recently supplied a second tyre shredder to Ling Industrial Services, the Kent-based specialists in demolition and waste management which helps dispose of a “good proportion” of the 40-million waste tyres generated each year across the UK.
After weathering some tough times of late US tyremakers have seen a rise in their shares during the last six months as natural rubber and oil prices lower and the threat of industrial unrest in the sector begins to fade. Previous increases in raw material costs have also been, according to one analyst, absorbed by price rises that appear to have been accepted by consumers.
Hankook Tire Co., South Korea’s largest tyremaker, posted a 22 per cent drop in full-year profit, citing higher materials costs and a stronger South Korean won as the primary reasons.
Despite Bridgestone’s support of the idea, it appears that red tyres are unlikely to be a part of the 2007 Formula One season. It now seems all but inevitable that the different rubber compounds required by Article 77c of the FIA Sporting Regulations will hit the racetrack without any accompanying visual identifier.
A Cornish farmer owns what he believes to be the oldest set of original tyres on a working tractor. John Sweet, from St Austell, uses his 1957 Ferguson FE35 daily on his 20-acre market garden, which sports the original Firestone ‘Champion Ground Grip’ tyres it came from the dealers with half a century ago. The tyres have never been punctured and the air used to inflate them when new is still inside.
Michelin has announced that it is ceasing tyre production at its factory in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. The tyremaker informed the Nigerian government of its decision on January 16 and, according to Michelin, both parties have agreed to work together to find a buyer.
Two senior citizens owe their lives to some lateral thinking and a stack of burning tyres after becoming trapped in a blizzard. Monique Sylvestre, aged 68, and her husband were driving across Wollaston Lake in the central Canadian province of Saskatchewan when the engine of their truck cut out, leaving them stranded. As the engine spluttered and then fell silent in the –40 C weather, the couple, who were on their way to visit an unwell relative, feared the worst.
While most people visit motor shows to admire the latest and greatest from the world’s carmakers, those whose taste extends to tyres can also catch a glimpse of where the tyre world is heading. For example, observant onlookers admiring Jaguar’s C-XF concept vehicle at the Detroit show may notice that the spectacular mid-sized saloon does not just sit on any old rubber – the Jaguar’s large diameter wheels are complemented by 21-inch monsters from Pirelli.
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Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. has agreed to pay out US$925,000 in compensation to women who were denied employment as tyre makers at the company’s factory in Virginia. Details of this payment were made by the US Labor Department on January 16, after an administrative law judge approved a consent decree to resolve a lawsuit filed by approximately 800 women denied jobs at the Danville, Virginia plant in the late 1990s.
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