MOTORSPORT
The Chinese Grand Prix and Sanya E-Prix have already been postponed, now the FIA is preparing race fans for the possibility of further events being called off should the coronavirus continue to spread. In a statement published yesterday, the FIA said it is “closely monitoring the evolving situation” with relevant authorities and its member clubs, under the direction of FIA Medical Commission president, Professor Gérard Saillant.
The motorsport calendar now includes an all-new event – the world’s first all-electric, multi-brand touring car championship. Pure ETCR vehicles will be equipped with a Williams Advanced Engineering battery unit and a 500kW Magelec Propulsion powertrain – the equivalent of a staggering 680bhp – that drives the rear wheels and enables 0 to 100km/h acceleration in just 3.2 seconds. This torquey power will be delivered to the racetrack via products supplied by one of Pure ETCR’s founder partners – Goodyear.
As of 1 January 2020, Tony Ménard will take over as Michelin North America’s director of motorsports. He succeeds Chris Baker, who has held the role for the past eight years. Baker is scheduled to retire in March 2020, concluding a career with Michelin than began in 1982.
Bridgestone continues to grow its presence in motorcross, which the company describes as a motorsport market fuelled with “incredible potential.” Just five years ago, Bridgestone barely had a presence in the motocross tyre sector but has grown exponentially assume a significant share – which is expected to rise further in the years ahead.
Pirelli has launched its Track Adrenaline UHP tyre sensorisation and virtual tyre technician technology. The launch took place on 6 September at the exclusive Salon Privé supercar garden party at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire. 2019 marks the fifth year running that Pirelli has sponsored Salon Privé. With Pirelli equipping more than 50 per cent of prestige cars all over the world, many of the vehicles seen at Salon Privé ran on the Italian rubber.
Yokohama returned to its racing roots during the last weekend in July as the official tyre partner to the Silverstone Classic. Already billed as the world’s largest classic motor racing festival, this year’s Silverstone Classic attracted record crowds of more than 109,000, a substantial increase on previous years, giving Yokohama a significant boost to its brand profile among motor racing and classic car fans alike.
For the past eight years, Hankook Tire has acted as exclusive tyre partner for the DTM touring car series. This year, the tyre maker is complementing its DTM commitment with involvement in four further championships – the Formula Renault Eurocup, Belcar Series, Mini Challenge Italia and the new, all-female W Series.
Falken has signed a cooperation agreement with DriveTribe, the online automotive platform founded by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May. The partnership is for a period of three months and Falken says content is king, with the main focus being on content production. While Falken provides the motorsports and test platforms, Richard Hammond is producing a range of material for the DriveTribe channels.
Track Adrenaline is a new product from Pirelli’s Cyber Technologies department, which was launched at the Geneva Motor Show roughly a month ago. Pirelli says this system is aimed at “absolute petrolheads only”, which is why – for the time being at least – it is only available on P Zero Trofeo R tyres.
Following the completion of the 2018 motorsport season, Giti Tire says it will feature a record four vehicles participating in the 24 Hours Nürburgring race, including driving the first all-women racing and technician team. The pioneering all-women team is the first of its kind at the 24 Hours Nürburgring race.
Absolute Alignment has had a podium filled 2018 season in the MSA British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) with Power Maxed TAG Racing, securing three race wins – while also partnering with highly-successful British GT, Porsche Carrera Cup and Caterham racing teams.
Canada-based Gratomic Inc. has signed a letter of collaboration with Perpetuus Carbon Technologies Limited to develop and market graphite-derived graphenes and graphene hybrids for tyre elastomers. According Gratomic, a number of end-user customers (which in this case means tyre manufacturers) are already road-testing tyres based on this material. Bicycle tyres, motorbike tyres, military tyres and race tyres are said to be key areas of interest.
