F1 Tyre Warmer Ban Delay Rejected
Bridgestone, the official supplier of tyres to Formula One, is refusing to buckle under pressure from teams and drivers over the introduction of a tyre warmer ban next season. It is currently permitted for Formula One teams to keep tyres warm with the use of specially-manufactured blankets, and drivers have expressed a great deal of concern at the implications of a ban on the use of the product. Citing not only concerns over the speed differential between cold and hot slicks, Williams driver Nico Rosberg was quoted by autosport.com as stating, “It’s not racing, it’s survival”, calling into question the safety of the proposed ban.
Continue ReadingHiQ Offers Touring Car Tyre Fitting Opportunity
HiQ recently gave a tyre fitter from Derby the chance to showcase his skills to drivers of the British Touring Car Championship at Donington Park. Dave Parker, a mobile tyre technician with HiQ, worked trackside changing tyres for Matt Neal, Darren Turner, and all the stars of Britain’s premier motor racing series. The 30-year-old will join the Dunlop Motorsport team after HiQ bosses singled him out on account of his quick-change skills. The fast fitter, based at HiQ’s Abbey Street store, vowed to teach Dunlop Motorsport a thing or two about tyre changes as well.
Continue ReadingRace to Touring Car Victory from Home with Yokohama
Racing fans that spend more time in front of the computer screen than behind a windscreen can now participate in their own global race series. Yokohama has announced its partnership in the new Virtual World Touring Car Championship (V-WTCC), an online championship for motorsport enthusiasts. V-WTCC, explains Yokohama, is an online version of ‘RACE 07 – The Official WTCC Game’. Participants from around the globe can demonstrate their skills, competing for the title of V-WTCC Champion. After successfully competing in the earlier knockout rounds, six lucky qualifiers will receive invitations to the Grande Finale, held at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in Italy. The V-WTCC winner will make his or her way into the simulated racing history books and receive a yet-to-be revealed grand prize.
Continue ReadingGlow In The Dark F1 Tyres?
An item on the PaddockTalk website suggests that the latest thing in Formula 1 could be glow-in-the-dark tyres. Bridgestone is said to be looking into the possibility of coating the sidewalls and grooves with special, fluorescent paint.
Continue ReadingBridgestone Motorsport Announces F1 Tyre Specifications
Bridgestone, the official tyre supplier to the FIA Formula One World Championship, has announced the compound allocations for the Potenza tyres to be used in the first nine rounds of the 2008 season. The tyres for 2008 feature minor changes from those of last season, changes Bridgestone says were made in the interests of safety. The allocations for the first nine races of the current season are the same as used in the respective events in 2007 aside from the Bahrain Grand Prix, which will now use the medium and soft compounds, as opposed to the hard and medium compounds in 2007.
Continue ReadingAutogem Hosts Playstation F1 Competition
To mark the forthcoming 2008 F1 season, Autogem will be hosting a series of online Playstation 3 (PS3) races for its customers, staff and suppliers. The idea is to host an ongoing competition that replications the season’s tour of real-life F1 circuits in the virtual world. Autogem is offering prizes for the 2008 championship, which is totally free of charge. As Autogem’s managing partner Prashant Chopra explained: We already have a select number of colleagues and friends within the industry that go absolutely bananas racing so we thought wed put together a championship of our own and have some fun. Each race will coincide with actual races in the season and we already have a good online turnout. With prizes on offer and bragging rights to win for, come online and see if youre really as good as you think you are!
Continue ReadingBeru f1Systems’ New Truck TPMS
With all eyes on green issues at the moment, Beru f1Systems is pointing out that tyres are the second or third largest expense for most truck fleet operators. Tests by tyre manufacturers have shown that under-inflation by 15 per cent reduces fuel economy by 2.5 per cent. Incorrectly inflated tyres also wear faster and are more prone to premature failure. That’s where BERU f1systems’ new Truck Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS). The new system has been engineered specifically for the challenges of tyre pressure monitoring on large, multi-wheeled vehicles operating in fast-moving logistics environments. It is capable of automatically detecting trailer changes, and re-calibrating itself to keep the driver informed.
Continue ReadingBridgestone F1 Tyres ‘Essentially the Same’ as 2007
Bridgestone reports that Formula 1 teams are busy testing ahead of the 2008 season, with most running their new cars at the latest test session at Valencia in Spain, and teams have the benefit of racing on tyres that are fundamentally the same as those tried and tested last year. Interest in the new season seems at an all-time high with a staggering 35,000 crowding the track to watch the Ferrari duo of Felipe Massa and defending World Champion Kimi Raikkonen set the fastest times. Perhaps most impressive, however, was Nico Rosberg who finished third on the timesheets in the new Williams FW30, which had only had its first shakedown the day before. Rosbergs best time was just a tenth behind Raikkonen and two-tenths faster than McLarens Heikki Kovalainen. The man most of the crowd had come to see - Spains double World Champion Fernando Alonso - finished the day with the sixth fastest time behind countryman and McLaren test-driver Pedro de la Rosa.
Continue ReadingGoodyear’s New Eagle F1 Asymmetric Wins Independent Test
Goodyears Eagle F1 Asymmetric was recently rated best in a Tire Rack test. A comprehensive test of the new Goodyear tyre pitted it against three competitors in the Max Performance tyre category. The Tire Rack team tested the four tyres in road conditions - allowing subjective feedback on noise, ride quality and everyday handling, then judged the tyres in wet and dry conditions on the companys test track. In summarizing the overall win for the Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric, Tire Rack concluded, An excellent Max Performance Summer tyre that almost does it all. Goodyear representatives put the tyres success down to innovations like the tyres Active CornerGrip(TM) Technology, which puts an Aramid reinforcement in the inside sidewall of the tyre.
Continue ReadingFirst Test for ‘Official’ Bridgestone F1 Tyres
Bridgestone Motorsport had its first outing in the capacity of official tyre supplier to the Formula One world championships between January 14 and 16, when nine of the eleven competing teams attended the opening test of the 2008 season at the Jerez circuit in Spain. A mixture of 2007 and 2008 specification cars were tested by a variety of race and test drivers through the field over the three days, and in keeping with the 2008 regulations, teams ran without traction control and used the standard ECU. Mixed weather conditions greeted all teams present – BMW Sauber and Honda Racing opted not to attend – and Bridgestone’s dry weather medium compound Potenza grooved racing tyre dominated the proceedings. The wet and extreme wet racing rubber were not wholly relegated to the tyre rack, however; conditions on Monday morning and Wednesday provided an opportunity for their use. Afterwards, Bridgestone Motorsport Technical Manager Tetsuro Kobayashi spoke of the lessons learned at Jerez:
Continue ReadingF1 Slicks Not a Certainty
Despite the anticipation from some quarters for the return of slick tyres to Formula One in 2009, FIA president Max Mosley has warned that their reintroduction is by no means certain. The grooved tyres currently in use are scheduled to be scrapped after 2008, but Mosley has told Autosport magazine that if new bodywork rules, intended to reduce aerodynamic downforce by up to 50 per cent, to not sufficiently reduce cornering speeds, the return to slicks may yet again be postponed.
Continue ReadingF1 Slicks to be Tested in Jerez?
Reports indicate Bridgestone will supply slicks for Formula One teams to trial at the upcoming test in Jerez, Spain. These tyres have not been used in Formula One since rule changes at the end of 1997 prohibited them, and earlier this year the FIA announced that the 2008 reintroduction of the tyres would be delayed. News printed in the Netherlands based magazine Formule 1, however, indicates that the smooth tyre’s return is still on the agenda. The article, which quoted a spokesman from the BMW Sauber team, said that every team testing at Jerez in early December will be given several sets of slicks to experiment with, ahead of their likely reintroduction in the 2009 season. However Bridgestone has not confirmed any such activity, claiming that it is too early to discuss its plans for 2009.
Continue ReadingLamborghini Selects Beru f1Systems for TPMS
Automotive engineering specialists BERU f1systems has announced that it is supplying its award-winning digital tyre pressure monitoring system (TPMS) DigiTyre to Lamborghini for the Gallardo and Murciélago platforms. The safety feature, developed using Beru f1systems’ motorsport experience, is based on the technology of BERU’s Tire Safety System (TSS), which is fitted on vehicles by Audi, BMW and Porsche. DigiTyre is standard fit on US Gallardo and Murciélago models to comply with the TREAD act. (The TREAD act makes it mandatory for passenger vehicles and light trucks sold in the USA to be fitted with a pressure monitoring system). Specialist and niche vehicle manufacturers rightly demand robust and integrated solutions,” says BERU f1systems’ managing director John Bailey. “The higher speeds, higher cornering forces and demands experienced by performance cars rule out many solutions currently available. Our system is robust, light yet still retains all the integration features such as end of line testing and dealer diagnostics that OEMs require.”
Continue ReadingMore Praise for Goodyear’s Eagle F1
Goodyear’s UHP Eagle F1 Asymmetric has bagged another award, this time at the SEMA show in Las Vegas. The widely read US publication Popular Mechanics selected the new for 2007 Goodyear rubber from the 4,000 plus displays and countless new products at the SEMA exhibition and awarded the tyre its Popular Mechanics Editor’s Choice Award for New Products. “It is an honour to receive this award on behalf of Goodyear and the engineers who invented this tyre for the demanding enthusiasts in this segment,” said Bob Toth, marketing manager for Goodyear Auto Tires. “Goodyear’s Eagle brand of tyres have long been known for ultimate performance, and this recognition again helps to provide further credibility.”
Continue ReadingGoodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric Wins Autocar 2007 Tyre Test
The Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric has been declared ‘Best Tyre’ by Autocar magazine, just a month after the new tyre’s domination of the Evo Magazine tyre test. Autocar tested Goodyear, Michelin, Continental, Pirelli and Bridgestone tyres on both front wheel drive and rear wheel drive cars. The Goodyear was the clear overall winner after winning in both categories. The renowned UK weekly magazine had chosen the 138bhp Mondeo TDCi and the 268bhp Mercedes C350 to give a comparison between a typical large family car and a powerful rear wheel drive sports saloon respectively.
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