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Heavenly Experience or Highway to Hell? Pirelli has a Tyre for You

Behave like a saint when out on your bike? Or does your darker side take control? Either way, come next march you’ll be able to fit tyres that suit your disposition. According to Motorcycle News, during October’s Cologne Motorcycle Show in Germany Pirelli gave a sneak preview of the replacement tyre for the Diablo Strada, complete with angel or devil tread pattern.

“This is a tread pattern that is not only functional but it also has a design that communicates our new concept,” Pirelli product manager Federico Bodini explained to Motorcycle News. “We have the shape of angels and demons as the tread pattern as it translates to how the consumer wants to use their motorcycle.”

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Columbian Tiszai Carbon Completes Hungary Expansion

Columbian Tiszai Carbon, the Hungarian operation of US-based Columbian Chemicals Company, has completed a HUF7-billion (£20.4 million) expansion at its base in Tiszaújváros, northeast Hungary, CEO László Dobos told Hungarian news source MTI Econews.

The investment has increased the facility’s carbon black capacity by 50 per cent to about 100,000 tons a year, Dobos said. Demand for the product has particularly grown since tyre manufacturers have set up production bases in Hungary and elsewhere in the region, he added. Most of the plant’s carbon black goes to tyre makers, and the rest goes to the plastics and paint industries.

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Apollo Seeks Extension on Anti-Dumping Duty to Radials

Apollo Tyres is said be calling upon the Indian government to impose anti-dumping duty upon cheap imported Chinese radials, as these products are hurting consumers. The Press Trust of India news agency has reported Apollo vice-chairman and joint managing director Neeraj Kanwar as saying “what China is doing is coming and dumping huge quantities of tyres because they have capacities lying idle, because they are not being able to export properly to America.

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Darren Wells Named Goodyear CFO

On October 17 Goodyear announced that W. Mark Schmitz, executive vice president and chief financial officer, has elected to leave the company to ‘pursue other interests’. Replacing him as CFO, effective immediately, is Darren R. Wells, previously senior vice president of finance and strategy. This announcement was made by Goodyear chairman and chief executive officer Robert J. Keegan.

Schmitz, 57, held the position of CFO for 14 months. Wells, 42, is considered by Goodyear to be of the key leaders and architects of the company’s financial restructuring since joining the company from Visteon Corp. six years ago as Goodyear’s vice president and treasurer. Wells was promoted to senior vice president business development and treasurer in May 2005, and to his most recent position in March 2007.

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Maxxis Reviews its Sporting Year

Maxxis has reported a successful motorsport year thanks to its high profile sponsorship of motocross and participation in the British Superbikes and a top European drifting series. The brand has continued to make strides forward in cycle sports and – proving that it truly has arrived has even featured in an off-road racing computer game.

Maxxis has been a major supporter of British motocross and this season’s ACU British Motocross Championship. The competition’s events aired regularly on Sky Sports, and once again delivered some first class action. Riding for CAS Honda, reigning MX1 class champion Billy MacKenzie, 24, dominated the field to take his second successive domestic title, while fellow Scot Shaun Simpson, 20, clinched the MX2 title – his first national adult championship – riding for KTM UK.

Maxxis-sponsored teams fared well, with ARB Tuning Kawasaki’s Mark Jones and Jamie Lewis finishing fourth and joint 10th in the MX1 class respectively, while Kawasaki Relentless Suzuki MX rider Lewis Gregory put in some solid performances to round out the top ten in the MX2 class. In addition to taking title sponsorship of arguably Europe’s strongest motocross series, Maxxis sponsored the 2008 MXY2 Championship and continued as a major sponsor of and official tyre supplier to Team Green.

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Kumho’s Euro Motorsport HQ Continues to Strengthen

Kumho’s ever-expanding European Motorsport Division has been based on the Stanmore Industrial Estate in Bridgnorth, Shropshire for ten years. Having long since moved from its first building on the site, it has now taken possession of still bigger premises that will allow ongoing growth for some years to come. At any one time the Bridgnorth warehouse is home to thousands of competition tyres. They are manufactured to order in the company’s Korean factories, shipped to Bridgnorth and then supplied to teams and events throughout Europe.

The seven-strong team at Bridgnorth have a pair of fully-equipped trucks with which they provide on-event support to many of the company’s top race and rally competitors. Others are supported by the comprehensive European network of specialist Kumho motorsport tyre dealers. Adjoining the new 28,000 sq ft warehouse is 4,000 sq ft of smart, modern office accommodation for the benefit of both the permanent staff and visiting Kumho executives. There is also a large, state-of-the-art conference room on site.

An integral part of the division’s activities is providing the R&D department and factory with the information they need in order to keep designing and developing winning products. In turn, all the lessons learnt in the heat of the racetrack and the often damp, muddy conditions of the rally stage are incorporated in the design of Kumho’s UHP road tyres, helping to provide them with greater levels of performance.

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HiQ Looks Forward to Further BTCC Success

HiQ is promising to continue its good work throughout the length of its three-year sponsorship of the British Touring Car Championship, having been praised by organisers for its “brilliant” first 12 months with the UK’s premier motor racing series. The final round of racing at Brands Hatch in September signalled the end of a first year of partnership with the BTCC, which HiQ has branded “extremely fruitful”.

BTCC series director Alan Gow said: “HiQ and the BTCC is developing into a brilliant relationship. The company has been extremely pro-active from the first race back in March and we have received a great deal of feedback praising the company’s energy and enthusiasm. A lot of time and effort has gone into engaging with the fans of the series, who are reaping the benefit of having HiQ as the title sponsor and the introduction of this clever Champagne Moment initiative is giving those watching both trackside and live on television yet another chance to get actively involved in the championship.”

The Champagne Moment competition asked raceday crowds to visit its website www.hiqonline.co.uk and vote for their favourite driver at each round, embracing the BTCC’s approach of interacting with the public. HiQ also arranged Fans Forums to give fans a chance to meet the BTCC’s teams and drivers at its local stores ahead of each race meeting. Both initiatives helped the company to raise awareness of the HiQ name among thousands of new potential customers.

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Wal-Mart Closes Unionised Tyre Centre

Following the closure of a unionised Quebec tyre and lubrication shop, Wal-Mart has said that costs related to the first labour agreement imposed on any of the world’s biggest retailer’s North American locations were to blame. The closure was enacted because the agreement would have raised operating costs by 30 per cent and forced “dramatic” price increases on products, said the retail giant.

Andrew Pelletier told Bloomberg over the telephone that, “The union contract that was imposed is simply unworkable,” and that the agreement would have seen wages rise by a third – more than ten times the average hourly rate of Quebec companies this year. The Canadian president of the United Food and Commercial Workers, Wayne Hanley, responded that, “if you join a union, they’re going to close your shop… It’s hard to see how the additional labour costs were going to drive up the price of a cheap oil change, while at the same time they rake in multi-billion-dollar profits every year.” The company said that the six workers at Wal-Mart Tire and Lube Express, Quebec would be offered jobs elsewhere.

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Michelin Sees No Relief Until Late 2009

Groupe Michelin officials said today that they don’t expect to realize “the full benefit” of a current downturn in raw materials prices until next year. Speaking at the company’s shareholders’ day, Michelin co-managing partner Didier Miraton said the decline in the prices of oil and natural rubber will take time to feed through, perhaps into the second half of 2009. (Tire Review/Akron)

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Webasto Looking for New Chief

Mark Wallace has quit as president and CEO of Webasto Product North America. “It is with deep regret that I announce that Mr. Wallace will be leaving Webasto”, said Joachim Damasky, member of the management board of Webasto AG. “He has chosen to accept an excellent leadership opportunity with a large, publicly-traded company. We wish him the very best in his future endeavors.” Fred Olson, member of the WPNA board, will assume the role of interim president and CEO, Webasto said. (Tire Review/Akron)

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Bridgestone Presents Safety Award at Paris Motor Show

For the third consecutive year, Bridgestone has sponsored the “Best Safety Innovation” prize in the international competition for automotive design students organised by Interior Motives magazine. The award was presented by Benoit Raulin, managing director Bridgestone France, at the Interior Motives Design Awards 2008 ceremony, held during the Paris Motor Show.

The audience of leading motor industry professionals attending the motor show saw the safety award and cash prize presented to French student Pierre Sabas for his design of a futuristic protective shell that wraps around each occupant of the vehicle and protective side panels integrated in the roll bars. This imaginative concept also won him the top Interior Motives Student Designer of the Year award.

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Conti Team Runs for Charity

On your mark! – Get set! – Go! October 11 was ContiRunning Day 2008, a day on which some 10,000 Continental employees in sixty different locations ran or walked for a good cause. Events were staged under the motto “Fit for the Future” and Conti reports the day was a huge success. Employees from twenty countries took part in the event, which started in Asia, then continued in Europe and finished off in America.

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Strong OTR Tyre Demand Continues Despite Glum Mining Outlook

In spite of a less than rosy outlook for global raw metal sales, orders for mining tyres and other items of equipment continue unabated. And manufacturers of these items are wagering that, in the long term, demand for their products will remain strong.

“Everybody agrees that in the long term, five to ten years, the Chinese, the Indian and the Brazilians will grow and they will need more minerals and more energy,” Luc Minguet, president of Michelin North America’s Earthmover and Industrial Tires division told Reuters. “We have not seen any slowdown yet, but what could happen nobody knows.”

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Hankook’s Enfren Wins 2008 Green Product Award

Hankook Tire has stated that its enfren tyre, which the company says is Korea’s first fuel-efficient, environment friendly tyre, received a Korea Green Management Excellence Award in the green product category. The award was presented by the Korea Management Association Registration & Assessments (KMAR). Attending the October 7 awards ceremony were South Korea’s vice minister of Environment Lee Byung-wook, Korea Management Association chairman Shin Young-chul and officials from Hankook and the other award-winning companies.

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US Tyre Safety Week Moves to June

US based tyre trade representative organisation the Rubber Manufacturers Association (RMA) has announced that its Annual National Tire Safety Week will, as of next year, be held in June instead of April. In 2009 the campaign will be held between June 7 and 13, and the June date will be kept in future years.

The annual event is an initiative of the Rubber Manufacturers Association’s “Be Tire Smart – Play Your PART” program, a year-round effort designed to help drivers learn the simple measures they can take to ensure their vehicle’s tyres are in good working condition. For the campaign, the RMA will provide tyre retailers, auto dealers and automotive repair shops with free “Be Tire Smart” brochures and other materials. More than 19,000 tyre dealers, auto dealers and automotive repair shops participated during this year’s National Tire Safety Week.

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