Tyre News

Bridgestone presents 'Best Safety Innovation' Prize at the Interior Motives Design Awards 2007
Hankook Supports 400km Charity Cycle Ride Across Kenya
Continental Factory Reaches 50 Million Tyre Landmark
Kumho in Sponsorship Deal with Manchester United
Marcus Dodd clinches Hankook GRC Championship
Michelin Sets the Standard in Environmental Performance
National Tyre Safety Month
Continental OE on New Fiat 500
Kumho Hosts 400 Guests and Supplies 800 Tyres for F3 Masters
Cooper Heads into Third A1GP Season
Kwik-Fit Launches Green Tyre Service
Gripping Asphalt Success for Murphy
Bridgestone Praised in Independent Tests

Bridgestone presents 'Best Safety Innovation' Prize at the Interior Motives Design Awards 2007

For a second successive year, Bridgestone has sponsored the 'Best Safety Innovation' category in an annual competition organised by Interior Motives magazine for automotive design students from around the world.

Short-listed entries were unveiled at the Interior Motives Design Awards 2007 ceremony in Frankfurt's Cocoon Club on 12 September, held in conjunction with the IAA 2007 international motor show. The prestigious event began with an exhibition, where an audience of design industry VIPs and the press were able to view student designs and prototypes for the first time and meet the finalists themselves. The winners, selected by an international panel of industrial design judges, were then announced under ten design categories.

Topping the safety innovation category were Jaesang Lee, Yong-Won Lee and Jun-Hyung Park from Hongik University, Korea. The team's striking personal mobility concept, branded as a Nissan 'Uno', is a futuristic transporter that houses single seater personal mobility vehicles inside it, that deploy as the vehicle approaches its destination.

The team's idea provides both safety and comfort for passengers travelling at high speeds in the security of the transporter while maintaining this safety and mobility after passengers are deployed in their low speed personal vehicles. As passengers return to the main transporter, the distance between front and rear axles of the personal vehicles decreases, providing a natural, more comfortable seating position within the communal transporter.

Dr Rainer Schieben, Managing Director of Bridgestone Germany, presented the cash award, commenting, "I am positive that the exposure provided by winning this prestigious award will help our young people find employment that makes the most of their undoubted talents. Young designers are of great value to our industry and safety is at the centre of the Bridgestone corporate ethos," he added. "Road traffic injuries kill at least 3000 people, including 500 children, every day. Encouraging talented designers to look at creative new ideas for making tomorrow's vehicles safer is one more way for us to play a part in reducing this toll."

Hankook Supports 400km Charity Cycle Ride Across Kenya

Korean tyre manufacturer Hankook is switching its attention to cycling this winter with the launch of plans to support transport charity Transaid in a 400 km charity cycle ride across Kenya. Hankook has pledged its support for Gary Williams, a 55 year old former tyre fitter who is now on the board of Transaid and works for Direct Tyre Management. Hankook, which has its UK headquarters in Daventry, is the key sponsor of Gary's efforts which will see him tackle the ride in November.

Other cyclists taking part include BBC Radio 2's own traffic expert Sally 'traffic' Boazman and Gary said he was really looking forward to the fundraising effort. "This is a huge challenge for me but such a worthwhile cause,'' said Gary, who lives near Worcester, and is already in training for the cycle ride. "At the moment I'm cycling 20 miles at a time and just thinking about the amazing views across Rift Valley and Lake Victoria.'' The 400km ride gets underway in Nairobi before heading through Rift Valley to Kisumu in an event set to raise thousands of pounds for the charity.

Continental Factory Reaches 50 Million Tyre Landmark

The 50 millionth tyre has rolled off the production line at Continental's most modern European tyre factory. The Romanian factory in Timisoara manufactures tyres in 13", 14", 15" and 16" rim size for the European replacement market as well as for a wide range of manufacturers from the automotive industry. The factory opened in October 2000 stretching across 165.000 m² and now employs 1100 people.

Kumho in Sponsorship Deal with Manchester United

Korean tyre maker Kumho has revealed further details of its four-year Platinum sponsorship deal with Manchester United. First announced during the Premier League club's pre-season Korea tour (itself sponsored by Kumho Tires), the Platinum package entitles Kumho to advertise at the team's home ground of Old Trafford, and to use images of the team's players and the official club logo, among a whole range of marketing rights.

While it is clearly too early for Kumho to quantify the full effect of the new relationship, the company cites the following key reasons for its decision to sponsor Manchester United:

• Increased brand awareness and sales stemming from the fact that Europe and China are key strategic markets for both Kumho and the English Premier League
• The ability for powerful marketing of the Kumho brand to consumers through Manchester United-related events
• Linkage to the general marketing power and premium image of arguably the most famous football club in the world

"We are delighted to partner with a major Korean company for the first time and look forward to developing our relationship with Kumho Tires through this sponsorship agreement," said Manchester United's CEO, David Gill.

Steve Tidmarsh, MD of Kumho Tyre (UK) Ltd, added, "We are very excited about this deal, which we feel will be a major boost for our rapidly growing brand. We have a great reputation among those who know us. The relationship with Manchester United will hopefully bring us to the attention of many more prospective customers far quicker than would otherwise have been the case."

Marcus Dodd Clinches Hankook GRC Championship

Marcus Dodd and Andrew Bargery have been crowned the 2007 Hankook MSA Gravel Rally Champions after finishing first championship registered crew and second overall on The Malton Killarney Forestry Stages Rally. Dodd and Bargery finished just 15 seconds behind event winner and 2007 Hankook Irish National Forestry Rally champions Stephen Moore and Greg Shinnors in their Hyundai Accent WRC to claim the title for a third time and wrap-up the honours with one round still remaining.

Their closest title rivals, Steve Perez and Claire Mole, finished second in the championship and third overall in their Ford Focus WRC, just 51 seconds behind Dodd/Bargery. Perez had lost around 50 seconds on stage one with a puncture to put him 14thon the leaderboard but he managed to haul himself backup to fourth overall after stage four before eventually climbing to third.

Michelin Sets the Standard in Environmental Performance

Michelin car tyres have the longest life according to Auto Express, Britain's major weekly motoring magazine. Tests carried out by independent testing body TUV Sud, and witnessed by Auto Express, compared Michelin tyres with six of their main European competitors. The 15-inch Michelin Energy E3A tyres showed a 35% longer tyre life than the worst performing tyre in the test and a significant 18% advantage over the second best tyre. In the 17 inch category the Michelin Primacy HP tyres covered 20% more miles than the closest rival and a massive 50% more than the worst performing tyre on test.

In a related test program comparing the performance of 16 leading brands, Auto Express also proved that the Michelin Primacy HP had the lowest rolling resistance of the tyres on test. Tyres with a lower rolling resistance mean better fuel economy and this is because less fuel is required to drive the car along the road. The Michelin Primacy HP showed a 6% advantage over its nearest competitor and more than 26% over the worst performer - which represents a very 5% reduction in fuel costs.

National Tyre Safety Month

The national tyre safety month campaign being arranged by TyreSafe for October, has received support from the Forecourt Division of the Federation of Petroleum Suppliers, formerly GarageWatch. The organisation represents the independent forecourt sector with some 6,400 forecourts throughout the UK. The TyreSafe campaign will focus on the vital part that tyres play in road safety and will outline the importance of having correctly inflated tyres.

Under inflated tyres use more fuel and pump additional greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Many of the FPS Forecourt members will be offering free pressure checks at their locations and participating forecourts will display the TyreSafe campaign poster.

The TyreSafe campaign, the first national initiative to be organised by the tyre industry, has received support from all major tyre companies and retailers and the campaign is being endorsed by motoring journalist and Channel 5 Fifth Gear presenter Vicki Butler-Henderson. TyreSafe fully supports the government ACT ON CO2 campaign.

Continental OE on New Fiat 500

The Fiat 500 is making its comeback on Continental tyres. The Italian vehicle manufacturer has given the Original Equipment approval for all tyres sizes - 14", 15" and 16" - for the new model. The largest proportion of tyres to be supplied by Continental will be in the size 165/65R14 T.

Roberto Zazzara, who is responsible for the Original Equipment tyres which Continental delivers to Fiat, explains: "We supply Fiat with the ContiEcoContact 3, a tyre that offers low rolling resistance and thus reduced fuel consumption, and we are Fiat's sole supplier for this size."

In terms of 15" and 16" tyres, Continental is equally well-represented with its ContiPremiumContact 2, which also offers low rolling resistance and excellent handling capabilities.

Kumho Hosts 400 Guests and Supplies 800 Tyres for F3 Masters

Kumho hosted some 400 European tyre dealers from 16 countries at last month's (August) blue riband Formula 3 race meeting at Zolder, Belgium - the 'Zandvoort Masters of F3'. Kumho has been the official tyre supplier to the Masters event since 2002 and is contracted to remain so until at least 2011. The company has already witnessed some very talented winners of the meeting - not least the current leader of the 2007 F1 Championship, Lewis Hamilton.

As an acknowledged stepping stone to F1, the Masters has played host to many other Grand Prix aces in its time, including: David Coulthard, Rubens Barrichello, Robert Kubica, Ralph Schumacher, Mark Webber and Takuma Sato.

In excess of 800 Kumho ECSTA wet and dry tyres were specially manufactured for the 2007 event, where they were fitted by a 13-strong team of highly trained Kumho technicians. These tyres were developed and tested at the Kumho Research and Development Centre in Birmingham, England and manufactured on a dedicated production line at the company's plant in Gwangju, Korea.

Kumho Motorsport, based in Bridgnorth England, is responsible for all the company's European motorsport activities, including F3, rallying, rallycross and international sports car racing. 2007 successes to date have included winning the LMP2 class at Le Mans. This year's 'Masters of F3' event was won by Nico Hulkenberg of Germany from Yann Clairay of France. A total of 36 drivers competed from no less than 23 countries.

Cooper Heads into Third A1GP Season

The 2007 sporting season has been the year for World Cups, and Cooper Tire is about to embark on its third season with the World Cup of Motorsport, A1GP.

Zandvoort, in The Netherlands, will host the opening race event of A1GP’s third season, on September 29/30. Cooper Tire has been the official tyre partner of the championship since its inception in 2005, and was chosen as the sole tyre supplier for its rich motorsport heritage and expertise.

The specially-formulated Cooper 370/660R13 tyres, fitted to 16-inch wide racing wheels, operate at approximately 90 degrees celsius at race temperatures. Since A1GP started in ’05, more than 250,000 Cooper tyres have been used in testing and races, and through two full seasons of racing, there has not been a single incident due to tyre problems.

Kwik-Fit Launches Green Tyre Service

Kwik-Fit has announced the launch of Go Green - the UK's first green car service to help motorists run cleaner, more efficient vehicles thus reducing their motoring impact on the environment. Go Green also provides motorists with a convenient way of neutralising their motoring carbon footprint for up to six months1 - by giving £10 to an independent carbon offsetting company on their behalf.

Kwik-Fit's Go Green service costs an extra £29 on top of a normal interim or full service. One third (£10) of the £29 Go Green charge goes directly to carbon offsetting activity organised by the CarbonNeutral Company for climate friendly projects around the world which reduce or absorb carbon in the atmosphere. Projects include renewable energy, methane capture and energy efficiency as well as forestry projects which absorb CO2. Go Green adds just 20 minutes to the service.

Motorists will also receive an information pack about The CarbonNeutral Company scheme plus a certificate to commemorate the offsetting of one tonne of carbon.

Go Green Service Extras include adding a fuel treatment to the tank that systematically cleans the engine and ensures it burns cleanly and efficiently, checking brakes are operating efficiently - minimising the amount of fuel needed to slow the car. checking emissions for improper gases so that the meet and exceed legal requirements for a balanced mix, checking that the engine management system sensor for O2 is operational and sending the optimum amount of fuel to the combustion chamber. and offsetting one ton of carbon by funding verified emissions reductions projects around the world.

Gripping Asphalt Success for Murphy

Irish rally driver Colm Murphy reinforced his rallying pedigree recently with a storming drive on the Ulster rally. He finished third in the class for production cup cars with the Hankook-shod Subaru an impressive sixth overall. The Limerick-based driver displayed his speed and maturity and was delighted to finish so highly against extremely tough competition from Irish regulars and the visiting British Rally Championship drivers. He was only beaten by current BRC champion Mark Higgins and former champion Gwyndaf Evans.

"That was an extremely tough event and one of the most competitive this year so to do so well is extremely rewarding," he said.

Bridgestone Praised in Independent Tests

Tyres utilising the same technology that has carried Lewis Hamilton to the top of the Formula One World Championship have earned praise from a pair of leading consumer titles. Bridgestone's Potenza RE050A, which is from the same high-performance range as official F1 tyres, was a top performer in Evo magazine's 2007 tyre test, while the Turanza ER300 was also praised in the annual Auto Express tyre test.

The RE050A performed well across all nine disciplines in the Evo test, and was particularly strong in wet braking, and curved and straight-line aquaplaning. Other criteria included dry braking and handling, rolling resistance, interior noise and a road test. Evo personnel used quantitative and qualitative data to analyse the performance of nine different tyres from leading manufacturers. The RE050A finished with an impressive 92.7 per cent overall score, less than four per cent behind the overall winner.

The magazine described the RE050A as "on the pace in both the wet and dry tests," with driver Jethro Bovingdon particularly impressed with its "very predictable" performance on the dry handling track.

"We have total confidence in the capability of the Potenza RE050A as a supremely competent all-round performer," said Andy Lane, marketing manager for Bridgestone UK. "It's a high-performance tyre that has been at the top of its game for several years now, and the Evo test proves once again that UK motorists can also have faith in the product if they want quality rubber.

In the Auto Express test, the Turanza ER300 scored a fantastic 98.81 per cent rating, winning the dry handling test outright and also performing well in the dry braking, wet cornering and rolling resistance tests. "The tyre provided great turn-in to corners and took our chicane easily, with no need to lift off, which inspired confidence" the article reads.