Vintage Tyres
The recently-announced partnership between the Vredestein tyre brand and the Mille Miglia classic car rally has led to the creation of a new, limited edition tyre, the Sprint Classic. The size 165 HR 15 tyre features the Mille Miglia logo on the sidewall, and was unveiled, fitted to a Porsche 356 pre-A, at the Techno Classica car show in Germany yesterday.
The Yokohama A008P was the first Yokohama Rubber tyre to gain OEM approval from Porsche. Shortly after its launch in 1989, the A008P was selected as an original equipment fitment on the Porsche 911 type 964. This initial Porsche homologation was a significant moment for Yokohama Rubber, and the Japanese manufacturer thus considers the A008P the product that “paved the way for Porsche’s steady use of Yokohama brand tyres.” Now it’s back – Yokohama Rubber announced the return of the Yokohama A008P at a press conference during this year’s Geneva Motor Show.
Dorothy Caldwell, who lives in Flagstaff, New Zealand, and is the Guinness World Record holder as the world’s oldest active rally navigator, is to take to the roads again in the New Zealand Haka Classic Rally, a 5,354 kilometre classic car competition on the North and South Islands of New Zealand. The rally starts in Auckland on October 30th and heads to Wanaka before coming back to Auckland again, ending on 25th November. 98-year old Dorothy will be navigating for her son, Alastair Caldwell in his 1963 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud III. The same team and car took part in the TransAm rally from New York to Alaska four years ago and Dorothy won the “Spirit of the Rally” award and her team came 5th overall.
Modern classics such as the Saab 900, Ford Granada and Audi 80 are rising in popularity, and many devotees of these cars strive to maintain them as true to original condition as possible. This, says Delticom portal Yourtyres.co.uk, represents an opportunity for tyre dealers and workshops.
America’s Car Museum (ACM) and the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) have announced that Boston will be the starting point of “The Drive Home II: The Heritage Run” – an 11-day, 2,150 mile winter road rally, from December 28 to January 7, concluding at the opening of the North American International Auto Show.
The Drive Home II (TDH II) will feature ACM’s 1957 Chevrolet Nomad, 1961 Chrysler 300G and 1966 Ford Mustang, all of which completed the first “The Drive Home” in early 2016, from the Museum’s headquarters in Tacoma, Washington to Detroit.
Vintage Tyres has appointed Ben Field, who joined the company last June, as its new managing director. Field takes over from longstanding MD Chris Marchant who, rather than taking full retirement, will become technical director. Ben Field brings with him 25 years’ experience in the classic vehicle industry as a restorer, road tester and journalist.
From May, owners of vintage and classic cars in Australia will once again be able to select suitable tyres from the Michelin Classic and Competition ranges. Approximately 90 product lines for vehicles manufactured between the 1930s and late 1970s will be offered, with motorsport tyre distributor Stuckey Tyre Service acting as distributor.
Preston is notable for being the birthplace of cricketer Andrew Flintoff and Wallace and Gromit creator, Nick Park, but new research suggests that the city is also the classic car capital of the UK.
A nationwide vehicle recycling specialist is calling for a three-yearly MOT for classic vehicles, after receiving over 500 disposal requests for cars registered before 1988, in the past 12 months.
The Department of Transport is currently considering changing existing MOT legislation to make any vehicle manufactured before 1988 exempt from MOT testing, instead of existing rules that state vehicles manufactured before 1960 are MOT exempt. However, Remove My Car believes that all vehicles, regardless of age should be made to undergo some sort of inspection and refers to its own statistics to demonstrate that pre-1988 vehicles are being considered dangerous by the British public, and responsibly disposed of.
Vintage is taking its usual large plot at the Beaulieu Autojumble over the weekend of the 6 and 7 of September. According to company representatives, Vintage will be offering deals on its range of tyres for cars and motorcycles, as well as giveaways for our customers.
Vintage Tyres has announced the launch of the Dunlop 145SR10 SP44 Weathermaster. According to the company, the firm had to go “right back to the drawing board and create a brand new mould to the original specification” in order to give the new product its current lease of life. The SP44 is described as the classic rally tyre for the Mini Cooper and with its rugged design was also widely used on the famous Mini Moke.
Michelin has introduced a new size in its TB5 range of road legal race tyres aimed at young classics. The 17/58-14 or 185/60VR14 is suitable for Peugeot 205GTi, VW Golf GTi, Toyota Corolla Gti, Alfa Romeo Alfasud Ti and Ford Escort XR3i. Vintage Tyres, which distributes the Michelin classic line-up, says the new TB5 fitment “will offer the ultimate in performance for both track and road on these cars.”
Although it boasts dimensions similar to those shown on recent Bridgestone and Michelin concept tyres, the latest Waymaster product released by Vintage Tyres is strictly old school. The new Waymaster Thirty features a tread pattern the classic tyre supplier describes as “recalling a bygone era”; the WM30 pattern harks back to the late 1920s, a time when tyre design moved on apace as designers sought ways to overcome the inherent instability and road noise associated with “block” tread patterns and create tyres suitable for the next generation of quality cars, such as the “Silent Sports Cars” soon to arrive from Bentley, Lagonda and Rolls Royce.
To celebrate half a century of keeping older cars on the road, Vintage Tyres has produced a car tyre fitment wall chart of British cars covering popular sizes for everything from AC to Wolseley, as well as lots of other information on tyre fitting and safety.
Pirelli’s new high performance historic rally tyre, the P7 Corsa Classic, has made its competition debut in March on the Rally de Espana Historico with a legendary name behind the wheel: two-time World Rally Champion Carlos Sainz. Driving a Porsche 911 for the first time, Sainz won the event. The product was first launched just before the 2011 Rally Legend San Marino event, joining Pirelli’s competition tyre range and reinforcing the Italian firm’s commitment to every discipline in motorsport. Pirelli believes historic rallying is “taking off, with a huge fan base,” saying this means greater involvement is warranted from all the partners and friends of the sport. In the UK, the British Historic Rally’s decision to open up tyre supply has resulted in four tyre manufacturers entering the series from 2013, including Pirelli.
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