Dmack has partnered with rally preparation experts M-Sport and publication Motorsport News to launch a Young Driver Award. The judging process will aim to find the next rising star to join the Dmack British Rally Team. The Dmack M-Sport Motorsport News Rally Driver Award is the second initiative introduced by Dmack to support career progression among competitors in the new-look 2016 MSA British Rally Championship (BRC).
Yokohama HPT, the Japanese tyre manufacturer’s UK distributor, will continue to support young drivers and their progression through motorsport in the UK in 2016. YHPT will continue to support starter forms of motorsport for young drivers as well as a route to allow them to progress through the ranks in the three main disciplines: circuit racing, rallying and rallycross.
Pirelli has supported the 2016 Carlisle Skills Fair alongside other businesses from the local area. Held at the Sands Centre in the city, the event brought together local training providers, employers and career advisors. The aim was to showcase to young people and to those out of work in the area what types of roles are actually on offer and how to make that next step into forging a career. The event was hosted by local MP John Stevenson.
Wheel servicing equipment specialist Pro-Align has confirmed its return to the CV Show in 2016, having launched its commercial vehicle wheel alignment system in its debut appearance last year. The garage equipment distributor will showcase its expanding range of commercial vehicle servicing products designed to improve the efficiency, profitability and revenue generation opportunities of workshops.
On 27 January, Trelleborg held a ceremony to inaugurate its first agricultural radial tyre factory in the USA. The official opening followed the start of production at the facility late last year. Production at the US$50 million, 430,000 square foot (40,000 square metre) factory in Spartanburg, South Carolina will be gradually ramped up, with all manufacturing equipment expected to be installed by 2018. Trelleborg anticipates that the project will have created around 150 jobs by this time.
BMW and Jaguar Land Rover have launched a new programmed which aims to drive up managerial skills in the UK’s automotive industry. The ProLead training programme combines existing qualifications and tailors them to provide automotive leaders with in depth management and technical knowledge. It has been developed using best practice from the worldwide operations of UK based car manufacturers.
The morning we went to press we awoke to the news that David Cameron has almost negotiated an “emergency brake” deal. In other words, the British Prime Minister is working to control the number of migrants entering the country and the amount of benefits the state should have to pay them. Early indications suggest that Cameron will be able to pull the “emergency brake” for up to four years if the UK can prove Britain’s social and welfare system is under “excessive strain” from immigration. However, all this obscures the wider political debate that is going on within British politics and the conservative party itself. And it belies the fact that parties of all colours are positioning themselves politically ahead of the UK referendum on whether or not to remain a member of the European Union.
The first truck and bus radial tyre ran off ZC Rubber’s (also known as Hangzhou Zhongce) newly installed product line at its Thai factory – ZC Thailand – just before Christmas.
Zenises CEO Harjeev Kandhari has confirmed that the company began distributing Triangle truck and bus tyres in Germany at the start of 2016. The company’s general manager for Central Europe, Stephan Nungess, has been tasked with developing Triangle’s presence in the German market. The goal is to establish Triangle in key distribution channels, with company representatives having already held training sessions with our customers and launched new brochures.
Central Tyre, Chester has been names as the 2015/16 Pirelli Performance Centre of the year. Each year Pirelli awards one of its 107 Performance Centres with the PPC of the year title. To determine the winner 11 top performing PPCs had a video mystery shop exercise, scored by an independent assessor. Central Tyre, Chester achieved a near perfect score and were therefore recognised with the award.
Representatives of major independent automotive data publishing companies have joined forces and founded a new European Industry Association in Brussels.
Created on 21 January 2016, the European Independent Automotive Data Publishers Association, referred to as ADPA, has been formed to “ensure fair access to automotive data and information and to provide competitive framework conditions for independent data publishers”, according to its founders.
The Kumho Asiana Group has appointed Kumho Tire vice-present Park Se-chang the group’s chief executive officer. According to a Kumho press release, 40-year old Park, the only son of group chairman Park Sam-koo, will lead Kumho Asiana’s strategic management unit with current CEO Seo Jae-hwan.
Pirelli states that it is “delighted” to host a meeting of the key Formula One stakeholders. The tyre maker will hold the meeting at its headquarters in Milan next week in order to discuss target tyre performance guidelines in the light of the 2017 regulations.
At last November’s EICMA motorcycle show in Milan, Mitas unveiled its Terra Force-R, a dual-purpose radial with a street-oriented tread pattern. The new tyre is an upgrade of the MC30 pattern and places a focus upon durability and stable performance throughout the tyre’s entire lifespan.
On 14 October 2015, Bridgestone Corporation announced that its Board of Directors had taken the first step towards updating the company’s corporate governance structure by approving the adoption of a new corporate governance structure – the replacement of the ‘Company with Board of Company Auditors’ model, which had been in place since 1993, with a ‘Company with Nominating Committee’ governance model. Today, the company shares that the board has approved the transfer of representatives and directorship candidates in preparation for this switch.