Tyre News

The Long Way Down on Michelin and BF Goodrich
Across Africa on Cooper Tires
Yokohama-shod Brett Castle wins 2007 European Drift Championship
Bandvulc Celebrates BIG Interest in New Tyre Range
Toyo 'Fighting Torque' Brings Out The Heavyweights!
Pedestrian Death Reinforces TyreSafe Warnings
Cooper's Discoverer STT Opens Adventure 4x4 Choice
Peugeot Fits Michelin Energy Saver to 308

The Long Way Down on Michelin and BF Goodrich

Based on global success in gruelling events such as the Dakar Rally, Ewan McGregor, Charley Boorman and their team chose Michelin and BFGoodrich tyres to support their recently completed Long Way Down adventure through Europe and Africa.

Travelling from John O'Groats to Cape Town via Western Europe and East Africa, the epic journey took in everything from tarmac roads to deserts and supported the Unicef, CHAS and Riders for Health charities. Michelin supplied its Anakee tyres for the BMW R1200GS Adventure motorcycles ridden by Ewan and Charley, and BFGoodrich All Terrain T/A tyres for the two Nissan Patrol support vehicles.

Ewan and Charley found the best combination of wet and dry grip, mileage, handling and comfort, combined with some off-road ability in the Michelin Anakee, as used in the US leg of their previous trip, the Long Way Round. For the Nissan support vehicles, reliability was the key and after completing the support route of the Dakar Rally in 2006 the team knew they could trust the BFGoodrich All Terrain T/A tyres to get them to the Cape without drama (or getting stuck).

The action-packed adventure is being filmed for a TV series and is being produced and directed by Russ Malkin of Big Earth and David Alexanian of Elixir Films. It will be shown on BBC and Fox TV in Autumn/Winter 2007 and also immortalised in the Long Way Down DVD and book to be released later this year.

Across Africa on Cooper Tires

Cooper Tire is once again proving its calibre as the manufacturer and supplier of premier 4x4 tyres with an ambitious 40,000km trek from Cape Town in South Africa to London. The "Africa Overland" expedition is being made by Australian couple Ron and Viv Moon, and is their eighth trip through the Continent in 20 years.

Already halfway through the mammoth 30-week adventure, the couple expects to arrive in London in mid-October. With South Africa, Namibia, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, the Serengeti and Kenya already visited, the Cooper Discoverer STT-shod, 4.2-litre Nissan Patrol will pass through a total of 16 countries in all.

"The tyres have performed fantastically well," said Ron Moon. "We've clocked up some 33,000km and put them through some of the toughest roads in Africa, varying from near non-existant tracks, to sandy Kalahari Desert roads and deep mud hole-dotted trails. They've been amazingly good for the areas we've been driviing in, and the loads we've been carrying - our vehicle weighs around 4 tonnes."

Once they reach London later this year, the Moons are planning to travel across southern Europe, through Russia to North Cape, the most northerly point in Europe. "We may then ship out to America in time for the 2008 automotive trade show, SEMA," added Moon.

Yokohama-shod Brett Castle wins 2007 European Drift Championship

The UK distributor for Yokohama tyres, Yokohama HPT Ltd, has helped Brett Castle to win the 2007 European Drift Championship (EDC). Castle, who is supported by Yokohama and whose Nissan 200SX S14 has been fitted with Yokohama tyres all season, took the win in the fourth and final round of the championship and with it, the 2007 title. Castle has been using Yokohama tyres all season, a combination of the Japanese manufacturers' Parada at the front and the recently-introduced S.drive at the rear.

According to Castle, this provides exactly the combination of performance required for his car and for the highly-demanding sport of drifting. Contrary to popular belief, drift cars require grip at both ends, as Castle explains: "Tyres are a crucial part of drifting and the Parada and S.drive work very well. When drifting, it's important to get the right level of grip from the rear of the car, to make sure that it can maintain its angle but also, get enough of a push forward to keep moving. I get everything I need from the Parada/S.drive combination."

Bandvulc Celebrates BIG Interest in New Tyre Range

Devon based Bandvulc Tyres, the leading manufacturer of retreaded truck tyres, is celebrating the success of its BIG range after selling over 700 units in the first month after its official launch.

Designed specifically for local and regional hauliers and offered as an exclusive product, 'BIG' - an acronym of the Bandvulc Independent Group, is aptly named. It applies both to its 'luggy' pattern and its availability in all four key tyre sizes, which enables the range to be fitted across an entire fleet.

"We wanted to give our key distributor partners a product that was unique and which they could pass onto their clients, " says Phil West, sales director, Bandvulc Tyres. "The idea for 'BIG' was conceived after research indicated that the market lacked a universal tyre and was then developed in line with what was wanted in terms of tread depth and curbing band options," he adds.

Toyo 'Fighting Torque' Brings Out The Heavyweights!

Sunday the 12th of August saw the very first Toyo 'Fighting Torque' Supercar Shootout at Wattisham Airfield in Suffolk. An eclectic field of mouthwatering machinery battled it out over the 3/4 mile strip, with some real rarities coming out to play in the sunshine.

All covered by Autocar magazine for their pages and forthcoming DVD The sight of two Murcielagos drag racing at full tilt - reaching some 170-odd mph at the end of the strip is not something you see every day, and these Italian exotics were joined by Supercharged Vipers, Corvettes and Cerberas.

The Italians and Americans were beaten by good old British brawn however in the shape of the Noble and Ultima that took the fastest modified and standard times. Adrian Winch won the modified class with his Noble M400. Packing some 580 BHP and 520 lbs / ft of torque and Peter Taylor took the standard class with his 'showroom' Ultima

Pedestrian Death Reinforces TyreSafe Warnings

The vital part that tyres play in a vehicle's handling, particularly on wet roads, was brought into sharp focus at Cromer Magistrates Court, in Norfolk*, earlier this month, when a motorist received fines and penalty points on his license following the death of a pedestrian in an accident involving a worn tyre. The motorist was driving a car with a defective offside tyre on a wet road, and under emergency braking the car skidded and hit a pedestrian who died some days later.

TyreSafe has consistently warned that bald tyres are a major road safety risk and can cause a vehicle to skid out of control, or in some cases, double the normal stopping distance. According to TyreSafe, around 12 per cent of cars and vans on the roads in the UK have at least one defective tyre, and a further 12 per cent have a tyre below 2mm. Whilst this is not illegal, they should be replaced says the safety organisation. TyreSafe advises that motorists check their tyres visually every week, and more thoroughly on a monthly basis. The organisation also recommends that drivers should never delay replacing a defective tyre, the consequences, as have been proved in court, could be fatal.

Cooper's Discoverer STT Opens Adventure 4x4 Choice

Cooper Tire's rugged Discoverer STT 4x4 tyre opens the door for vehicle choice in the adventure 4x4 market, according to top UK off-road driving centre, Kankku.

The Lake District-based centre fits the Discoverer Super Traction Tread (STT) on its fleets of Land Rover Defenders, traditionally the vehicle of choice for adventure off-road driving. But it also operates a fleet of Mitsubishi Shoguns on its corporate and private events, and says that is only possible thanks to the Cooper rubber.

"A 4x4 vehicle on Cooper Discoverer STTs can easily upstage the vehicles you might reasonably expect to see in this kind of environment," said Kankku's Nick Fieldhouse. "The toughness and extreme durability of the tyre makes it perfect for our operation, which runs almost every day of the year.

"Our regularly-used fleet of Shoguns proves that the STT means you can now consider 4x4s other than Defenders for this type of driving, which opens up the activity to a huge number of new 4x4 owners."

Designed specifically with the adventurous pursuits of rock-climbing, mud-eating and terrain-taming in mind, the Discoverer STT also offers superb traction, enhanced durability and increased puncture resistance on the road thanks to its innovative and uncompromising design and tread compound. Outstanding durability is delivered by the three-ply Armor-Tek3 body, while the non-directional tread elements are strategically siped for exceptional handling in wet weather.

Peugeot Fits Michelin Energy Saver to 308

Michelin is equipping the recently unveiled Peugeot 308 with tyres from its new Energy Saver range. Michelin has long been involved with Peugeot in developing innovations for the manufacturer's new models, and the partnership has enabled Michelin to make a significant contribution to the car's energy balance. With a reduction in rolling resistance of 20%* compared to the market average, it reduces the amount of energy needed propel the car along the road and thus delivers superior fuel efficiency.