Bridgestone Tyres Advert

The new Bridgestone advert caught my eye recently, a couple are carrying their newly born baby out of the hospital and it is pouring rain.

While ‘Sarah Jane’ (the baby) is asleep in the car, both parents are concerned for her, when suddenly the father has to swerve and brake hard. Luckily and thanks to Bridgestone tyres, he could avoid an accident without waking up Sarah Jane.

Bridgestone cares about individuals and designs tyres to stop shorter in the wet.

Click here to watch it.

Red Bull admits tyre mess up helped win

Red Bull Racing has confirmed that a woopsy over tyres at Sebastian Vettel’s first pit-stop allowed the young German to continue his remorseless start to the campaign with a maiden victory in Monaco.

“We had a communication problem with the first stop, which affected both drivers as they were both stopping on the same lap,” team principal Christian Horner confirmed, “It delayed Sebastian, but we managed to re-adjust our strategy. We didn’t panic and managed to engineer ourselves out of the situation to get him back into the lead.

“He then had an awfully long way to go on the harder tyre, which he made work. He soaked up huge pressure from Fernando [Alonso] and Jenson and then our hearts were in our mouths when the accident happened just in front of him. But he picked his way through that and, with the benefit of the option tyre [fitted during the ensuing red flag interruption], was able to have a bit more comfort in the remaining laps after the re-start. It was a classy drive from Sebastian today and a tremendous team performance to recover from what looked to be a difficult first stop to win the race.”

“I don’t know what happened,” he conceded, “I came in, everything seemed to be okay and I was ready to go out again, looked at the front right and the wheel wasn’t there! Then all the mechanics were rushing to bring the front-right wheel, so I lost probably two or three seconds.

“At that moment, you don’t count but surely that cost us the lead at that stage. Jenson had a very good out-lap on a new set of supersofts and, after that, he was pulling away like crazy. I had Fernando behind me and I was able to pull away once I was not in traffic, so we were fighting our way through the cars and Jenson was just ten seconds, 13 seconds, 15 seconds away and I knew that once he is around 19-20 seconds ahead, it would be quite difficult as that’s the time you need for one pit-stop.

“Then he came in for another set of supersofts which, to be honest, at that stage was a surprise. The safety car came out and we were back in the lead, but it was quite difficult to stay ahead. It is difficult to pass here, but they had so much more grip out of the exit of the corners. Then he pitted again. Initially, I got the call to box, but I said ‘I want to stay out’. The only chance to win the race is to do one stop and I had a good feeling with those tyres.

Pirelli hard tyre defence

Pirelli insists that its new hard tyre is far from being the ‘disaster’ that Lewis Hamilton has suggested – as it believes it will come into its own in Sunday’s race.

“It is slow it has less grip, I don’t deny that,” said Hembery, his response to Hamilton’s comments. “But you have to look at the positives.

“We were asked to make a differentiation between the soft and the hard. If you go back to Istanbul where the hard tyre was basically lasting one or two laps longer than the soft and having a performance disadvantage, it didn’t come into strategic play.

“What we’ve now seen, and there are variations between teams some vast variation between teams we are seeing between 10 and 14 laps difference between the soft and the hard in terms of estimated life.

“Some teams have a very high estimated lifespan I don’t want to say who they are because that will be very important for their strategy come race day.”

“In terms of performance, we have seen two seconds, which is more than we saw in testing. But the degradation levels between the hard and the sort are high. The soft is degrading about two tenths per lap, and the hard about one tenth per lap so there is going to be a cross-over point.

“And it means the hard tyre will actually come into play for once in terms of strategy, which it hasn’t done before.

“If you saw what was happening in Istanbul it was a direction that would have been replicated here. We would have had a four stop strategy with everyone going soft and then using the hard right at the end probably, so from that point of view it will come into play in terms of strategy.”

“I can understand that it is different, very different, but why didn’t they say those comments when they tested them in Malaysia or in Istanbul? We didn’t have those comments maybe they didn’t test them correctly, didn’t take it seriously enough.

“I can imagine that it has changed the balance of the car, I can appreciate that, so it is an extra technical challenge and that is something that we will get through in our debrief tonight.

“The only information I can give you at the moment is that there is definitely a significant increase in tyre life and a significant increase in degradation between hard and soft.”

When asked if the one-stop was a possibility, Hembery said: “We need to look at the data tonight, but I have to say that somebody might look at that. For Q2 people? It is getting there. It is getting there. It is not so far out.

“I could certainly imagine someone having a go with two, I have heard some say it is going to be four stopper again, that would really surprise me based on the initial data I have seen, as they have to use the hard.

“Degradation is one tenth I have seen a 20 laps analysis from one team and it was less than one tenth.”

State-of-the-art tyre rubber helps save fuel

At a time when natural resources are becoming ever scarcer, the efficiency with which our vehicles transfer the engine’s propulsion energy to the road plays an increasingly important role tyres, which serve as the link between the engine and the asphalt, naturally play a key part. On freeways, tyres currently account for around a fifth of fuel consumption, and in urban traffic, this figure can be as high as 30 percent.

Specialty chemicals company LANXESS, a pioneer in the field of synthetic rubber, already markets rubber raw materials that can substantially reduce these figures. Examples include new grades of butyl rubber (IIR), modified solution styrene-butadiene rubber (SSBR) and advanced neodymium-polybutadiene rubber (Nd-BR).

“Developing new grades of tyre rubber that help save energy but at the same time offer an equally high level of safety is a task for experienced chemists,” says Christoph Kalla, head of Marketing & Research in the Performance Butadiene Rubbers business unit at LANXESS, “because some of the key properties of a tyre are very difficult to optimize without impairing others.

For example, it used to be a big problem to improve rolling resistance – a measure of the energy loss through the tyre – without impairing abrasion resistance and wet grip. Thanks among other things to our many years of experience in this sector, rubber chemists have nevertheless made very good progress towards “squaring the circle”. We anticipate that the rolling resistance of the next tyre generation can be lowered by up to 10 percent merely by using currently available high-performance grades of tyre rubber. Naturally without having to make any compromises on vehicle safety – quite the opposite in fact!”

Question & answers with: Paul Pirelli Hembry

Q. How will the supersoft be in Monaco?

Paul Hembery: The peak of performance is definitely one lap. It will have that characteristic of a qualifying tyre so you will want to put in your best lap straight away and it will be a fast-wearingtyre. That is part of the plan, but I have to wait and see what it does in Monaco as I don’t want to make a prediction because we have never been there with it. It is not going to be a 15-20 laptyre for sure.

Q. Are those rough predictions?

PH: That is what we believe….they should be able to get clear.

Q. How long do you expect the soft tyre to last?

PH: Monaco is one of those circuits where, if you have slip and wheelspin you are in difficulty. That is often what you get in slow speed corners and you accelerate and get slip so you get a lot of grip from the tyre which is why we went super soft and soft, and pretty similar as to why we have gone that way for Canada.

If you go with a tyre that is too hard and it is not giving you an advantage from the compound you do get wheelspin and you get excessive consumption of the tyre and that probably for the public is hard to understand as the hard is going to resist more, no matter what you do to it.

But it is more complex, it is also related to how much wheelspin you get. We would like to see a two-stop strategy and based on Melbourne that should certainly be feasible on a low-speed circuit, although Melbourne doesn’t have the really tight corners that it has at Monaco, so it will all be related to how much wheelspin we get and we will only see what when we get there.

Q. It’s not a high degradation track, is it?

PH: No. Completely different from that point of view.

Q. Do you expect a lot of marbles?

PH: No, because Turkey obviously if you have four changes then you have more sets of tyresbeing worn, so if we are down to two changes then you say half as much.

Q. Will it be mixed up strategy wise?

PH: That is what we are hoping. I cannot judge what they are all going to do but somebody could envisage, in Monaco you want to qualify in front certainly the people in Q3. In Q2 you think I’m not going to get past anyone so I am better off starting on the soft and when they are pitstopping seeing if I can get in front, and probably in Q3 you will probably do two sets of soft and then on the final stint with light fuel load and get in lightning laps maybe on the front runners, and cars that qualified in Q3 who were on soft – so you have advantage of that and finding a way to squeeze past RBR.

Q. Do you expect people to sacrifice runs in Q3?

PH: I think that won’t happen because they will be qualifying on the tyre they have less sets on, so that changes around. The faster tyre has been the soft one so they want to preserve as many as possible as they have one set left. Now with the advent of the new hard tyre that we see here, the new PZero, initial indications are it degrades less and it gives more laps than soft tyre so it takes away that disadvantage where hard didn’t give big difference in terms of wear. So you can consider one pitstop left.

Q. Will saving a set still be valuable?

PH: Possibly but life is going to be short, you might get past them but you need to pit again. In FP, that is where they will working out permutations, it is in the hands of the engineers, they all have the same opportunity and if that enables us to see Monaco having a bit more interest and dramas that will be great, as Monaco is the most glamorous but one of the most boring from that point of view.

Q. With the drop off in performance being dramatic at the end of a tyre life, could drivers risk staying out because holding track position is possible?

PH: That is a warning sign to say get in pits, the drop is intended to be so big that the loss in performance is such that you really have to pit. That level of difference I know there are only two places you can pass at Monaco, the tunnel might be busy. I also wonder how DRS will work, how flap is going to work. I cannot envisage that myself yet.

Q. How much testing have you done with super soft?

PH: Not a great deal now, run it a couple of times in private test and we know cars we have seen evolution, been quite sensational. They obviously have pretty bright people in these teams but development pace, minus 25% compared to end of season 2010 and look now, it hasn’t taken them long to get a really strong performance package. We are also on a moving target. We study that and trying to work out strategy, work out what they are doing as races evolve, bringing parts, changing their strategies and way cars behaving.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com

Prefer online shopping

The results of Delticom’s ‘Tyres online 2011’ survey show a large minority of British drivers are willing to purchase tyres online.

In the internet retailer’s survey of more than 5,000 potential tyre buyers in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, 47 per cent of British respondents expressed their readiness to buy tyres on the web; this is, admittedly, far below the 74 per cent of French drivers willing to purchase online, but slightly more than Germany, where 40 per cent of those surveyed answered in the affirmative. In Italy and Spain, only around 18 per cent of respondents answered positively regarding internet tyre purchasing.

Good news for us as you can order online from our website!

http://www.jettyres.co.uk

Phil Baldock to Michelin

Responsibility for Michelin communications in the UK and Ireland now rests in the hands of Phil Baldock.

The 19-year company veteran has been appointed to the role of head of Communications at Michelin Tyre plc following the retirement of Peter Snelling, who has held this position for the past six years.

“After 18 years in sales and marketing it is a privilege to be appointed head of Communications,” commented Baldock. “It is a very interesting time for the business as we are tackling major issues such as the rapid growth of the cold weather tyre market, plus preparing for the introduction of tyre labelling in 2012. These are major issues for the industry, and ones where communication is playing a key role; helping motorists to make more informed decisions when buying tyres. Additionally, Michelin remain by far the largest player in the UK tyre manufacturing industry, with production facilities in Ballymena, Dundee and Stoke. We’ve got strong growth ambitions for next five years, and I’m looking forward to being part of that success.”

Continental tyres plant

Continental has officially opened its first tyres plant in China in a bid to strengthen its position in the key market.

Dr. Elmar Degenhart, CEO of the Continental Corporation, said: “Asia is one of our key growth markets. This investment is another major step into this direction, with which we are significantly enhancing our position in the automotive industry in China and in the Asia Pacific region.”

Nikolai Setzer, Executive Board member responsible for the Passenger Car and Light Truck Tires division, added: “Continental’s tyres business has been globally growing substantially for the past years in both segments, passenger and light truck tyres as well as commercial vehicletyres.

“The opening of our manufacturing plant in Hefei is a key milestone on our journey to enhancing strategic growth and further increasing our presence in China and overall in Asia.”

Checking tyre pressure helps fuel prices

If you start or have been checking your tyre pressure regularly then you will be saving on fuel prices it has been established.

Road safety group the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) pointed out the importance of tyresand the need to keep them in good condition, as while the wheels “may be less than the size of a footprint,” it is the only thing between a vehicle and the road.

“As well as this, incorrect inflation could push fuel bills up by as much as five per cent and a 20 per cent reduction in the pressure of a tyre could reduce its useful life by as much as 30 per cent, the charity warned.”

Advising motorists, Chief Examiner at IAM Peter Rodger said “tyres should be checked weekly, when cold – and pointed out that over inflated tyres are as risky as under inflated ones”.

Bridgestone bikers raise money for Japan

Bridgestone Biker’s Club have put together a ride-out to collect money for victims of Japan’s recent earthquake and tsunami.

The ride-out will begin at Wheelhouse Tyres, Birmingham on Sunday 5th June.

If you want to enter it will cost you £10 which will be donated to the Japanese Red Cross Fund.

The entry donation will include the riders’ entry to the ride-out, a gift bag and refreshments, courtesy of Bridgestone.

A raffle will also be offered at £10 a ticket, with prizes such as a Biker’s World Retail Voucher, Bridgestone biker apparel, a signed helmet and 2 places at the Ron Haslam Race School Silverstone which are all up for grabs.

If you would like to enter then please see their website.

Safety First

When travelling anywhere and you are attaching items to your roof  ect please be aware that they are fully attached.

It could be the same if you have a 4×4 and the tyre connected at the back as your spare, as in a few cases items have come off and its been very dangerous.

One lady was travelling down the M5 with her friend and younger family members when a tyreout of no where was hurtling along the road infront of them, hoping it would pass by they carried on driving, unfortunately the wheel did hit them and it hit the windowscreen with great force.

Luckily nobody was injured but its enough to be shocked by something like that – so this is just a reminder for everyone to double check everything is attached fully to your car if you attach anything like bikes, roof racks, suitcases, tyres ect.