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Cooper’s New Role to Control Motorsport Activities

James P Keller, has been announced as Cooper Tire and Rubber’s new vice president, competition and enthusiast products.

Based in Stow, Ohio, Mr Keller will assume his new role as of 15 August. His responsibilities will now focus on directing, administering and coordinating the company’s motorsport activities, this is to include both the Cooper-Avon racing interest in the UK and Mickey Thompson Performance Tires and Wheels based in Ohio.

“We are beginning to capitalise on the enormous global opportunities for Cooper Tire in the area of motorsports,” said Phillip D Caris, VP sales and marketing. “This newly-created position will help us continue to develop, promote, grow and maximize performance results and brand awareness from the targeted market niche of competition, performance and enthusiast products for Cooper’s North American tyre division as well as for our global motorsports activities.”

Mr Keller has held a variety of roles within his 21-year career at Cooper. Since May 2003 he has served as the plant manager for Cooper’s fluid systems manufacturing facility in Bowling Green, Ohio. Prior to this role, he served as the vice president of purchasing for three years.

4th August 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

The TIA Calls for Hall of Fame Nominees

The Tire Industry Association (TIA) has announced that it is accepting nominations for the 2004 ‘Hall of Fame’. The nominations are due 1 September and are open to individuals in the tyre industry, including manufacturers, inventors, publishers, equipment suppliers, tyre dealers, and retreaders.

20th July 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

Titan Wheel Corporation Employees see Record Summer Bonus

Employees of Titan Wheel Corporation of Illinois, a subsidiary of Titan International, Inc., will receive a record summer bonus.

The supplier of mounted wheels and tyre systems will pay out an average of approximately $2,500 per employee. A bonus of $2.20 per hour versus the previous record of $1.45 per hour paid in 1998.

Titan president and CEO Maurice Taylor Jr, stated: “I would like to congratulate all the Quincy employees – there is not a better team anywhere. Every night the talking heads on TV say that manufacturing is dead in the US, but the Quincy Titan employees have proven that hard work can build a successful company.”

6th July 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

New Renault Concept Car uses PAX

Renault has produced a concept car, which could be seen as precursor to a Laguna Coupé. The “Fluence” uses 22 inch (245-710 R560) Michelin PAX tyres. The tyres fit to wheels produced by aluminium cast wheel producer, Montupet that feature spokes designed to reduce air resistance.

24th June 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

Worker’s Strike at French Ronal Plant

Workers at Ronal’s plant in St. Avold, France, have gone on strike in a protest against restructuring plans. The aluminium cast wheel manufacturers angered employees after using redundancies as a way of cutting costs. Part of the restructuring programme would have meant producing wheels for the high-quality aftermarket segment, but would have led to decreases in annual output.

15th June 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

Kevin Kramer Joins Alcoa as President, Alcoa Cast Auto Wheels

Alcoa (NYSE:AA) announced that effective immediately Kevin B. Kramer, 44, has joined the company as president of Alcoa Cast Auto Wheels. He is responsible for the development and growth of Alcoa’s cast auto wheel business worldwide. Alcoa currently produces cast aluminium auto wheels at plants in the U.S., Canada, Venezuela and Italy. Alcoa’s cast auto wheels are found on numerous automobiles and light trucks worldwide. Kramer will be located at the Alcoa Automotive, Aerospace and Commercial Transportation office in Cleveland, Ohio.

28th May 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

Toyota Honors Hayes Lemmerz with Supplier Award

Hayes Lemmerz International received three prestigious quality awards at the Toyota Motor Europe Manufacturing supplier awards ceremonies recently held in Brussels, Belgium.

6th May 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

Bandag and Yellow Roadway end outsourcing relationship

Bandag announced that Yellow Roadway Corporation elected on April 30, 2004 not to renew the existing Bandag outsourcing agreement for Roadway Express tire and wheel services in place since 1999. Under the existing agreement Yellow Roadway is obligated, by August 1, 2004, to repurchase all tires and wheels owned by Bandag and used on the Roadway Express fleet. Bandag estimates the value of the tires and wheels to be approximately $37.0 million. The definitive purchase price is subject to an inventory and valuation pursuant to the terms of the existing agreement.

5th May 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

Name Change For International Tire Expo

The International Tire Expo–part of the SEMA Show in the USA–is changing its name to “Performance Wheels & Tires sponsored by TIA”. TIA is the Tire Industry Association and the event will still be held in conjunction with the SEMA Show. This year’s event runs from November 2 – 5 in Las Vegas.

29th April 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

One Tyre Supplier For F1 In Future?

Following on from the story “F1 Cars Too Quick For Their Own Good?”, The Times claims to have seen a document, written by the FIA, the governing body of Formula One, outlining changes to the sport’s rules in order to reduce costs and improve competitiveness. These include no power steering, no traction control and a manual gearbox with clutch instead of an automatic gearbox. Suggestions concerning tyres include narrower front wheels and tyres and increased rear tyres to give greater drag for overtaking, no tyre changes allowed during a race and only one tyre supplier, providing a control tyre. The proposals will be debated by the teams over two days in Monaco next week – a meeting which promises to be interesting, to say the least.

23rd April 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

Affordable High Performance For US Market

When it comes to the Boy Racer sector, the American model differs little from his European counterpart – both want a tyre that looks good, performs well but is affordable. To cater for this, Michelin in North America has introduced the BFGoodrich g-Force Sport. It will be available in 21 sizes for wheels up to 18″, although larger wheel sizes are planned.

13th April 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

Titan Europe admitted to trading on London’s AIM Exchange

Titan Europe Plc, previously a wholly-owned subsidiary of Titan International, has been admitted to trading on the AIM market in London. The placing shares have been priced at 125 pence, with 26,775,000 shares offered.

8th April 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone extends motorsport involvement

Bridgestone Corporation has announced plans to supply tyres to competitors in a sweeping range of motorsport events in 2004. “Bridgestone technology has helped the world’s best racing teams win in Formula One and in other motorsport series, and we are determined to help them keep winning,” declared the company’s CEO, Shigeo Watanabe.

Winning ways continued for Bridgestone in Formula One in 2003. The company’s Potenza tyres carried Michael Schumacher and Ferrari to the drivers’ and constructors’ season championships. Bridgestone tyres have now been first across the finish line in a total of 79 F1 races.

In the 2004 F1 season, Bridgestone will again supply tyres to world champions Ferrari and to three other teams. That means that eight machines will be racing on Bridgestone Potenza tyres. The 2004 season got under way on March 7 with the Australian Grand Prix. This year’s F1 calendar features 18 races, culminating in the Brazilian Grand Prix on October 24.

IndyCar control tyre

Bridgestone’s Firestone brand will again be the sole tyre brand in the IndyCar Series, formerly known as the Indy Racing League. That racing series will include the Bridgestone Indy Japan 300 Mile at Japan’s Twin Link Motegi circuit on April 17. Altogether, the 2004 IndyCar Series will comprise of 16 races.

Domestic series too

Japan’s premier open-wheel racing series, Formula Nippon, will be another showcase for Bridgestone tyres in 2004. This year’s Formula Nippon series will consist of nine events, including a race at Malaysia’s Sepang Circuit.

Teams race on tyres from multiple manufacturers in the Japan GT Championship. But competitors equipped with Bridgestone tyres won seven of the eight races in the GT500 class of that series in 2003. The 2004 Japan GT Championship series will comprise of seven races. Bridgestone will also supply tyres for other Japanese auto racing series, including the Japan Gymkhana Championship, the All Japan Dirt Trial Championship, and the All Japan Rally Championship.

And on two wheels

Motorcycle racing also remains an important emphasis in Bridgestone’s motorsports program. At the pinnacle of motorcycle racing is the MotoGP series, and Bridgestone began supplying tyres to competitors in that series in 2002. The company will concentrate its support for grand prix motorcycle racing exclusively on MotoGP competition in 2004. A Bridgestone-equipped rider mounted a MotoGP victory podium for the first time in 2003. That was when Makoto Tamada achieved a third-place finish in the 12th race of the season.

After supplying tyres on just one MotoGP works team in 2003, Bridgestone will provide tyres to three works teams in the 2004 season. Those teams will be racing a total of five machines. In motorcycle racing besides grand prix events, Bridgestone will furnish tyres for the All Japan Road Race Championship, the All Japan Motocross Championship, and the AMA Supercross/National Series.

8th April 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

SmarTire Signs Agreement with Lexani Wheel Corp.

SmarTire Systems Inc. has signed a distribution agreement with Lexani Wheel Corp., a premier manufacturer of luxury alloy wheels based in California. Lexani will bundle SmarTire’s tyre pressure monitoring system with its innovative Johnson line of custom wheels. Lexani wheels are sold through an extensive dealer base and are well known in the American automotive aftermarket, boasting a prestigious list of clients and countless award-winning show vehicles. A purchase order accompanied the distribution agreement.

16th March 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

NF Die Casting (Pty) Ltd. Takes on Hayes Lemmerz identity

NF Die Casting (Pty) Ltd., a South African subsidiary of Hayes Lemmerz, has changed its company name to Hayes Lemmerz South Africa (Pty) Ltd., creating a stronger brand identity connection between the Corporation and its subsidiary. Hayes Lemmerz South Africa (Pty) Ltd., formerly NF Die Casting (Pty) Ltd., is a producer of cast aluminium wheels for the automotive industry. The facility is located in Alrode, near Johannesburg.

9th March 2004/by Tyrepress Editors