BMW goes on the “Attack”
BMW has chosen the Continental Road Attack as original equipment for its R1200RT motorcycle. The sports-touring tyre is the first OE contract for the new radial. The tyre was developed “hand in hand” with BMW to achieve the contract and was specifically tailored to the R1200RT performance requirements, says UK distributor Cambrian Tyres. BMW has also extended homologation to fit the tyre to the R1100S, R1150R and K1200RS models. Continental is also original equipment supplier to BMW’s GS range in the form of the “world conquering” TKC80 enduro tyre, that fitted to the bikes of Charley Boorman and Ewan Mcgregor in their “Long Way Round” project.
Continue ReadingEIB Lend a Hand to Conti Brazil
The European Investment Bank is providing a loan of 40 million euros to Brazil so that the development of a new Continental production facility can be put into operation. Brasil Produtos Automotivos Ltda will manufacture passenger car tyres of which the majority will be exported to the NAFTA market to satisfy the growing domestic demand. The site’s annual capacity will be more than 4 million tyres. The project will create some 600 jobs and is to be completed by the end of 2007.
Continue ReadingMontupet Invest in North Irish Wheel Production
Automotive supplier Montupet S.A. (France) felt a recession of around three to four per cent in sales in 2004, or 423 million euros. However the company’s annual general meeting has reported a net profit of 17.72 million euros, but more importantly reduced its debts to 22 million euros. Investments including that into Renault engines, a Canadian plant for Chrysler/USA and the modernisation of a Belfast aluminum cast wheels factory, were valued at 26 million.
Continue ReadingMichelin to Exploit F1 Advantage
Williams and Michelin are working to “exploit” their advantage having experienced “minimal” tyre wear in the opening three races of the season, reports Planet F1. The team spent three days testing at Barcelona where they covered a total of 533 laps. “We worked through a comprehensive test on tyre compounds, aerodynamic parts, traction control and general set-up,” technical director Sam Michael said. “The tyre wear that we have is far from the limit, as it has been in the first three races with the FW27, and we are working with Michelin to exploit this further.”
Continue ReadingStriking Cooper Employees Return to Work
(Akron/Tire Review) About 1,700 union workers at Cooper Tire & Rubber Co.’s Texarkana, Ark. plant are returning to work, ending a month-long strike. Last week, it was reported that a tentative agreement between the United Steelworkers of America Local 752L and Cooper had been reached. Yesterday, 708 employees approved the contract proposal, while 632 members voted against it. Details of the agreement were not obtainable at the time of print.
Continue ReadingGoodyear Extends Debt Maturities
(Akron/Tire Review) The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co announced that it has closed $3.65 billion in new credit facilities, including a $1.5 billion asset-based revolving credit facility due in 2010. Other credit facilities include a $1.2 billion second-lien term loan due in 2010 and a $300 million third-lien secured term loan facility due in 2011.
Continue ReadingMarangoni Adds New Locations to Ringtread Network
(Akron/Tire Review) Marangoni Tread North America Inc. has added four new Ringtread plants in the Northeast, Sourtheast, North Central and Northwest regions of the US Two of the new plants were converted from competitive precure systems, said Marangoni, while the other two are additional facilities opened by existing Ringtread dealers.
Continue ReadingYokohama to Exhibit at Auto Shanghai
Yokohama Rubber will participate in the 11th Auto Shanghai 2005, which runs from 22-28 April in Shanghai, China. In an effort to enhance its image as a supplier of high performance tyres, the company will show AVS dB and ASPEC A380 high-performance passenger-car tyres manufactured by Hangzhou Yokohama Tire; Yokohama’s manufacturing and marketing subsidiary in Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, China. It will also exhibit GEOLANDAR H/T-S on-road-use SUV tyres to be manufactured and marketed by the subsidiary this year.
Continue ReadingCentenary of the Gordon Bennett cup
150 vintage vehicles from 11 countries will attempt to resuscitate the spirit of the Gordon Bennett cup 1905, with the support of Michelin and SATCAR. The event, the ancestor of today’s Grand Prix and Formula One races, will be held during the 2005 Automobile Club d’Auvergne2-5 June. Participants will travel to Clermont-Ferrand from Germany, Austria, the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, France, Switzerland, Mexico and United States to cover the same track as a century ago, a 140 kilometre (90 mile) track at the foot of Puy-de-Dôme at the heart of the Auvergne volcano park. The line up of cars will include the five vintage cars that actually took part in the Gordon Bennett Cup: two Napier Gordon Bennett (1903), a Mercedes 60 HP 2-Seater (1903), which entered history when Jenatzy won the Gordon Bennett Cup in 1903 in Ireland, a Pope Toledo Gordon Bennett (1905), and a Panhard Levassor Z40 (1905) which will run for the first time since it was revamped.
Continue ReadingCooper Tyres Championship Kicks Off
Drivers from 15 different countries, including Great Britain, Venezuela and Canada, will be among the contenders of the opening two rounds of the 2005 Cooper Tyres Championship for Formula Ford 2000 cars, that kicks off as part of the Grand Prix of Atlanta ALMS event at Road Atlanta next weekend. Drivers Jay Howard and Joey Foster will be representing Britain. Howard contested two races in the Cooper tyres championship last season, winning once at Infineon Raceway. Foster won the Formula Ford Festival and World Cup at Brands Hatch in 2003, and will drive for Cape Motorsports, which has won the title in three of the last five years.
Continue ReadingTyre Choice the Key to Loeb’s Victory
Sebastien Loeb drove his Michelin clad Citroen to victory yesterday in Rally New Zealand. At the finish the 31-year-old reigning world champion had a 49.8 seconds margin over Finn Marcus Gronholm in a Peugeot with last years winner, Subarus Petter Solberg, a further 18.9 seconds back in third place. The Norwegian Solberg still leads the drivers championship after four rounds by one point from Loeb with Peugeots Markko Martin two points further back. The heat of New Zealand’s summer put further pressure on Michelin and Citroen to “At Citroen we have worked over the year on this type of gravel. We changed a bit of everything since last year, said Loeb.” “We changed the suspension, the engine and we also have some new version of the tyre. This means the car is really feeling perfect and its looking good for the future.”
Continue ReadingAlcoa Posts First Quarter Results
Alcoa has announced first quarter revenues of $6.3 billion, a four per cent increase from the sequential quarter. Income from operations was given as $273 million, or $.31 a share. According to the company its income measures include negative impacts totaling $0.09 per share for the tax impact on Alcoas sale of its Elkem investment ($39 million after tax); restructuring charges ($25 million after tax); and costs of integrating the recently acquired Russian business ($12 million after tax). The fourth quarter of 2004 included a gain of $37 million, or $0.04, on the Juruti transfer, while the first quarter of 2004 include a gain of $58 million, or $0.07, on the sale of specialty chemicals.
Continue ReadingGoodyear Appoints European Legal Chief
Goodyear Dunlop has appointed Dominque Golsong as its European legal chief, reports Lawyer News. Mr Golsong, the former associate general counsel of Dow Corning Corporation, the silicones and silicones-based products, technologies and services company, joined the manufacturer last month in his new position. Replacing Philip Regnault, who retired after three years with Goodyear Dunlop he will be responsible for the company’s EU strategic business unit as well as the Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa strategic business unit. Prior to Dow Corning, Mr Golsong was a corporate lawyer in Linklaters Brussels office, after which he joined New York-based firm Sullivan & Cromwell.
Continue ReadingNHTSA Bows Again to Car Manufacturers
(Akron/Tire Review) Initial analysis of NHTSA’s final regulations mandating tyre pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) on all new passenger vehicles shows the new regulations are badly flawed, raising questions about how well they will protect drivers. And they illustrate clearly just how much sway the car manufacturer lobby has with the safety agency, and how little consideration the logical and correct argument raised by the tyre industry and the automotive aftermarket really received.
Continue ReadingF1 Teams Boycott FIA Meeting
(Akron/Tire Review) Associated Press has reported that nine Formula One teams and five F1 car manufacturers will boycott a meeting this week with the FIA in another move interpreted as increasing their bid for a new grand prix series. FIA’s meeting on 15 April was reportedly called to discuss 2008 race season regulations. The only race team and constructor committed to attending the meeting is Ferrari, which signed a multi-year deal to remain in F1.
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