Silverstone [United Rubber (PVT) Ltd.]
National Motorsport Week, which will run between 25 June and 3 July, will receive the backing of UK motorsport tyre manufacturer Dunlop, the company has announced. The initiative is led by the Motor Sports Association and the Motorsport Industry Association and is intended to encourage more people to participate in motorsport and reaffirm the country’s dominant position internationally.
Casey Stoner completed an excellent victory in very wet conditions at the British MotoGP Grand Prix at Silverstone, ascending in the process to top the World Championship. Heavy rain left standing water on the circuit, testing Bridgestone’s wet tyres, while spray reduced visibility at the first fully-wet race since the Malaysian Grand Prix at the end of 2009. Ben Spies, Jorge Lorenzo and Marco Simoncelli all crashed out whilst running towards the front, while Colin Edwards completed a remarkable recovery, finishing third after breaking his collarbone nine days earlier during the opening day of the Catalunya Grand Prix.
In addition to the MotoGP World Championship, Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya will also see the fifth round of the 2011 Moto2 Championship, on 3-5 June during which tyre supplier Dunlop will debut its dual compound rear tyre. Dunlop will bring the dual compound W919 as the main specification rear tyre with the three series 3868 as a softer second option. For the front, it will supply the 753 medium and 717 hard compound. Dunlop believes the recent Formula One Spanish Grand Prix could represent a new challenge, with the large amount of rubber compound deposited on track from Pirelli’s PZero F1 tyres representing an additional variable.
Students from St Matthias Primary School in Malvern, Worcestershire were given an “alternative learning” experience through motorsport when they were visited by the Cooper Tires British F3 series. The visit was part of an initiative to introduce the youngest generation to motorsport. The project was initiated by teacher Emma Rowe, who enlisted the help of the F3 championship promoter, the SRO Motorsports Group, to help bring motorsport to life for the pupils, asking them to design a “racing buggy”. Last Friday the primary school students were treated to a visit from reigning British F3 National class champion Menasheh Idafar and the T-Sport team.
Construction on Toyo Tire & Rubber’s new factory in Malaysia is expected to begin this year and production in 2013. Japanese media organisation Nikkei reports the tyre maker will invest around 20 billion yen (£153 million) in a six million passenger car tyre per annum plant that will primarily meet demand in China, India and other emerging Asian markets. According to Nikkei the new plant, which complements the newly-acquired three million tyre per year Silverstone plant, will make Malaysia Toyo’s main Asian centre of production outside of Japan. By 2015, will produce 12.5 million units in Asia each year, Nikkei adds.
Despite a slight increase in net sales and a significant jump in operating income, during the financial year ending March 31, 2011 Toyo Tire & Rubber reported a net income significantly lower than in the previous 12-month period; its net income of 521 million yen (£3.9 million) was 2,436 million yen or 82.4 per cent lower than a year earlier. During the year net sales increased 2.2 per cent to 294,092 million yen (£2.2 billion) and operating income was up 40.6 per cent to 12,182 million yen (£92.4 million). Annual ordinary income amounted to 9,193 million yen (£69.7 million) and was 2.4 per cent higher than in the previous year.
Pro-Align has added David Haydon as the latest recruit to join its wheel alignment sales team, as field sales executive in the South West. According to the company, both Pro-Align and Haydon are “bowled over” that the ex-county cricketer has brought his proven sales track record to the wheel alignment business.
After almost half a season of sitting on the sidelines, Pirelli’s medium Formula One tyre will finally take to the track at Valencia at the end of June. Its supersoft counterpart has a much shorter wait before seeing action for the first time, however – the Italian tyre maker reports the supersoft will debut at the Monaco Grand Prix on May 26; at this, the seventh event of the 2011 championship, the supersoft tyre will be used as option and the soft as the prime tyre. This combination will also be repeated two weeks later in Montréal. July’s Silverstone-hosted British Grand Prix will see a return to the use of the hard tyre as prime and the soft as an option – just as was the case during the first five Grands Prix of the season.
Avon Tyres has announced that it will be the sole tyre supplier to the 2011 Eastern Airways British F1 Sidecar championship following the first two rounds of the 2011 season, in which teams will be allowed to use up remaining stock. The eight-round series started on the Easter Bank Holiday weekend and will conclude on 1 October, with four of the eight races alongside the UK’s premier two-wheeled series – the MCE Insurance-backed British Superbike Championship – shown live on Eurosport and ITV 4. The Avon series will also feature in an hour-long highlights show of all eight rounds during a prime-time slot on Eurosport.
Motorcyclists looking to combine a day out with helping a good cause may be interested in an event organised by the Bridgestone Biker’s Club. Scheduled for Sunday June 5, the biker meet will start from Wheelhouse Tyres in Birmingham; money raised will used to help victims of Japan’s recent earthquake and tsunami.
At present Toyo Tire & Rubber is in negotiations to acquire a 75 per cent interest in China based tyre manufacturer Shandong Silverstone Luhe Rubber & Tyre Co., Ltd. The Japanese company’s Board of Directors signed an acquisition agreement on April 12 and expects to close the acquisition deal in early June 2011. Toyo plans to begin producing Toyo brand tyres at the new subsidiary “as soon as practicable” and aims to “establish an optimal tyre supply system” both in China and in all its other overseas markets.
Cooper Tire has created a set of jewel-encrusted tyres to mark the diamond anniversary of Formula 3 racing in Britain, a series for which it is the current title sponsor. The tyres were made by London jeweller Freddie Keeble at FK Diamonds using both diamonds for the 60th anniversary and Swarovski crystals. They were unveiled at Silverstone during the launch of the 2011 Cooper Tires British F3 International Series, where they were bolted on to the race car of Carlin driver, Rupert Svendsen–Cook.
A walk around automotive industry charity BEN’s residential care centre facility – and former Victorian country house – Town Thorns in rural Warwickshire presents visitors with an inspiring vision of what the organisation has achieved since it was set up in 1905. The care home, alongside three others spanning the length of England and a day care centre in Coventry, provides shelter for the most vulnerable people with a connection to the British automotive industry, though BEN’s scope has an even greater remit, providing, in its own words, “practical, emotional or financial support” according to their needs. The charity also offers confidential welfare – including emotional in addition to financial support – providing care for the short-term as well as for the more long-term cases seen in the residential homes. BEN officers also receive back-up from “BEN Friends”, who usually keep in touch with beneficiaries. A recent survey suggests that one in ten people in the UK could be entitled to BEN support should the need arise, a number that could rise to one in three in the West Midlands.
In 2011 Dunlop continues as title sponsor of the British Touring Car Championship and this year the tyre maker’s name is attached to a series being contested by more entries than ever; the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship has confirmed a record entry list ahead of its 2011 season with the highest number of different makes and vehicle models entered for the series in the two decades it has run as an all two-litre formula.
Kumho achieved its third rally victory in as many weeks on Saturday when Andy Burton and Robin Kellard won the Malcolm Wilson Rally in their Peugeot Cosworth. The Subaru Impreza of Roger Chilman and Andrew Sankey finished second overall and the Mitsubishi Evo IX of Stephen Petch and John Richardson finished eighth, meaning Kumho-shod cars filled three of the top 10 places on this popular event. Kumho’s European Motorsport manager Steve Thompson said: “Andy is clearly on a roll and our gravel tyres once again proved to be the best rubber for the job. We will continue to look after our growing number of runners to the best of our ability and hope the season continues as successfully as it has started.”
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