Pirelli’s test driver Jaime Alguersauri has given an insight into the kind of tyres strategy that
will lead to victory at the Chinese Grand Prix next weekend.

Alguersuari said: “China is a circuit where the tyre use and strategy makes a real difference. If you want some examples, just look at last year’s race: Lewis Hamilton won by making one stop more than Sebastian Vettel, while Mark Webber had a bad qualifying but made good use of the tyres that he had saved to end up third.”

He added: “Two corners in particular stand out, where the tyres make a real difference: the key to getting the best of out them is to properly understand how the two different compounds behave: to begin with, the first corner, turn one.

“This righthander feels like it is going on forever when you drive it and the radius gets tighter and tighter, until it turns back on itself completely. The tyres have to work really hard here in order to maintain the ideal line.

“The other key corner is turn 13: the long right-hander just before the main straight. It‟s a fast corner, which is slightly banked, where the tyres are increasingly loaded as you accelerate towards the straight and the DRS zone.

“Getting good traction out of this corner is vital – particularly in qualifying – so that you can carry plenty of speed onto the straight, which is crucial to your lap time.”

Alex Kapadia, Operations Team

The Easter bank holiday weekend is almost here and if you’re planning on taking to the roads in your car, caravan or motorhome, it’s worth taking a few minutes to make sure your tyres are safe and legal.

Whether you are planning a mini-break, visiting friends or family or just taking a day-trip, follow these simple tyres-checking steps to help stay safe on the roads - and save money at the pumps.

Give your tyres a visual once-over, check for signs of wear-and-tear, cracks and bulges. Any of these could lead to a puncture or a blow out at speed.

Make sure the tyre tread is well within the legal limit of 1.6mm, anything less is potentially lethal and remember, the more tread, the better the grip, the safer the car.

Finally, make sure your tyres are properly inflated. If the air pressure is not what the manufacturer recommends (you can find it in the vehicle handbook or in the door jam), you will have less control over the car.

And it’s also worth remembering that with fuel prices at record highs, properly inflated tyres boost fuel efficiency.

Denna Bowman, Head Office

Top flight superbike champion Chris Walker has added a touch of va-va-voom to a tyres safety campaign by giving it his full backing.

The British Superbike Championship rider has pledged is support for TyreSafe’s PACT campaign, despite a hectic schedule preparing for this weekend’s opening round at Brands Hatch.

TyreSafe’s PACT campaign stands for - Performance, Air, Condition and Tread. By making a PACT with their tyres and ensuring they check their tyre’s air pressure, overall condition and tread depth then riders will be rewarded with better performance including improved handling, grip and fuel economy.

Chris, who has 20 BSB and one World Superbike win under his belt, said: “As someone who relies on their tyres to provide maximum performance and keep me safe, I know only too well how important it is that they are properly maintained.

“TyreSafe’s PACT campaign gets the message across that while safety is vitally important, there are also many other benefits to looking after your tyres, including longer tyre life, improved fuel economy, but also better performance and more riding enjoyment.”

Stuart Jackson, chairman of TyreSafe, said: “It’s great that Chris has taken time out from his busy schedule to get behind our PACT campaign. Having such a high profile rider gives our advice extra weight and credibility.

“Of course, as a professional competition rider, Chris is fully aware of how important tyres are to a bike’s safety, while also playing a major part in how it performs. However, it’s not just on the race track that this matters, it’s just as important in everyday riding to stay safe while getting the maximum enjoyment.”

Denna Bowman, Head Office

Not so much roadside assistance, more like highway robbery! That’s what an RAC patrolman has been accused of after being filmed stealing wheels from a car and replacing them with an old set with bald tyres.

The repairman was arrested yesterday after it appears he removed the wheels from a Peugeot 206 and put replacement wheels on with just two bolts instead of four, turning the vehicle into a mobile death trap.

The vehicle owners said: “I got in the car to drive to work and it didn’t feel right. I thought I’d better pump up the tyres and then realised they were not my tyres.

“They’re almost bald. I took the hub caps off and noticed there were only two bolts.”

According to the exclusive report in the Sun newspaper, he went to a nearby shop in Rainham, Essex, which has two CCTV cameras, and asked the owner if he could see the footage.

It showed the RAC van pulling up. The patrolman pokes his head around the corner to make sure no one is watching before starting to replace the front wheels. The switch takes ten minutes.

RAC vans are fitted with tracking devices which log movements and police confirmed a 32-year-old had been arrested. He has been suspended by the RAC, according to the Sun.

Denna Bowman, Head Office

We are delighted to report that our top tyres team racing ace Alex Kapadia enjoyed tremendous success at the opening race of the European Le Mans Series at Paul Ricard yesterday.

Alex was racing for the first time with the newly-formed all-British team Curtis Racing Technologies and was thrilled that they triumphed in the LMPV class and came eight overall against all the odds.

Just four days earlier it was doubtful the team would even be able to take part in the race due to a late delivery of a new chassis and major adjustments being made to the car until the early hours of Sunday morning.

But Alex, who runs his own very successful tyres fitting branches and is also our joint operations manager, and the rest of the squad pulled together to take an emotional first victory, beating a host of established teams including several in the higher LMP2 category.

Alex told us straight after the race: “We were 8th overall which showed how good it was with us beating some of the cars in the class above. We’re all over the moon right now!”

Behind the wheel of the CRT’s prototype were endurance racing veteran John Hartshorne, proven LMPC pace-setter Phil Keen and Alex, a former Radical European Masters champion, who was already familiar with the FLM-09 having driven in the 6 hours of Estoril last year where he claimed pole position.

Keen started the race and showed excellent pace to pull out a lap lead in class during his double stint and handed over to Hartshorne in 9th position overall. Hartshorne then put in two very consistent stints to consolidate the class lead and preserve the car, eventually handing over to Alex in 10th position overall.

Alex then put in a series of quick times to bring the car back up to 8th position before handing back to Keen with forty minutes to go, taking the chequered flag ahead of their LMPC rival and eighth overall.

Team Manager Clare Sweeney said after the race: “We could not have wished for a better result from our debut.

“The team were really up against it on Friday and Saturday and pulled together to turn the car into the quickest LMPC on the grid. Then it was down the drivers.

“We knew Phil was quick and John would do a solid job, with Alex on board they make a very strong line up.”

We can’t wait for their next race - a bit closer to home this time at Donington Park - on 15th July.

Denna Bowman, Head Office

Pirelli has underlined its dedication to Formula One by taking on two permanent test drivers for the first time to put its tyres through their paces.

Last season, Brazilian Lucas di Grassi carried out the role single-handedly, but this year he is being joined by Spanish driver Jaime Alguersuari.

Paul Hembery, Pirelli’s motorsport director, said: “Our commitment to providing the best possible spectacle in Formula One is underlined by the fact that we have two extremely fast and talented test drivers this year.

“Lucas will provide us with the reference point that we need from the development programme so far, while Jaime brings an extra dimension from his experience of racing at the sharp end of the field throughout the last three seasons.

“We’re going to be using the drivers for all of our single-seater testing activities, including GP2 and simulator development as well.

“Their input and expertise are sure to help us make even greater progress during the season, resulting in competition tyres that enhance the action further and new technologies that will eventually filter down to our Ultra High Performance road car products.

“With opportunities for young drivers to drive a Formula One car so limited, this is a great chance for Lucas and Jaime to not only hone their testing and development skills, but also to potentially follow our former test drivers like Romain Grosjean, Pedro de la Rosa and Nick Heidfeld in returning to F1 or another top flight motorsport programme in future.”

Denna Bowman, Head Office

Formula One may be having a break this weekend, but everyone at etyres will be waving the flag for our own driving ace, Alex Kapadia, a key member of our tyres team and racing champion.

Alex, who runs his own very successful tyres fitting branches and is also our joint operations manager, is part of the three-man CRT team taking part in the opening race of the European Le Mans Series this weekend.

The fantastically exciting, new-look championship kicks off at Paul Ricard and Alex and the team will be racing with the OrecaFLM-09, alongside LMP2 and GT cars.

Behind the wheel of the CRT’s prototype, will be an all British line up, including John Hartshorne and Phil Keen.

Making his debut for the team and completing the trio is Alex, an experienced Radical European Masters champion, who is already familiar with the FLM-09, having driven in the 6 hours of Estoril last year where he claimed pole position.

The CRT team have already shown strong potential during the Official Test days a few weeks ago, where Phil Keen set the fastest lap in the LMPC class.

Denna Bowman, Head Office

We always love to hear about unusual uses for recycling old tyres and The Sun newspaper has covered a wheely good one (pun intended!).

Headlined “Rubber sculptures are the wheel deal”, it shows the amazing work of artist Yong Ho Ji who creates eye-popping statues with old tyres.

A rampaging rhinoceros, a mythological Minotaur and countless barbarous beasts have been crafted out of old tyres salvaged from scrap yards.

Yong Ho, then spends months slicing each tyre into thin strips before moulding them together into models of animals, with some standing more than 5ft tall.

The Korean artist had the idea of making models from tyres after visiting his local scrap yard to find parts for his car.

He explained: “Because of their rubbery nature, tyres can be cut, bent, and manipulated into many different forms and shapes. The flexibility and the strength of tyres drew me to them.

“Every artist has their own medium they work best in and for me it’s definitely old tyres. You could say I’m burning rubber.”

To see the amazing creations for yourself, go to http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4222849/Amazing-artists-sculptures-made-from-nothing-but-old-tyres.html

Denna Bowman, Head Office

The Blimp is back - Goodyear tyres has brought its iconic airship back to the UK as part of its campaign to educate motorists on the importance of road safety.

It has embarked on a nationwide tour which runs through to July in support of the tyres manufacturers planned road safety initiatives.

Named the Spirit of Safety, the airship will deliver road safety messages as it underlines the importance of The Highway Code with particular emphasis placed on young driver education.

A renewed media partnership with Sky Sports will also reach out to a worldwide sporting audience as the Goodyear Blimp flies over major Premier League football matches as well as International cricket, golf and rugby.

Eddy Geerdink, Goodyear’s marketing director, said: “We are delighted to bring back the Goodyear Blimp as it takes the lead on a number of road safety initiatives. The Blimp is an integral part of our ongoing communications with drivers and their families as we look to promote the importance of tyre safety with motorists.”

The Goodyear Blimp has graced the skies for more than 85 years. It has established a reputation for being a ‘guardian angel” for the brand, which symbolises the work of Goodyear’s innovation centres to help improve road safety.

Denna Bowman, Head Office

Just two races into the 2012 Formula One season and the talk is all about tyres.

The buzz is centred around how individual teams and drivers use the new generation of Pirelli tyres to secure victory.

“This is probably the most important area at the moment,” Red Bull team boss Christian Horner was quoted as saying by DPA news agency.

“Different cars are fast at different times.”

Horner is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport: “If you are not in ‘the window’, you’re nowhere. And that’s different from tyre (compound) to tyre, and from driver to driver.

“I think the only good thing is that it will be a really good year for the fans.”

Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso and Sauber racer Sergio Perez may have ended the race on different compounds, but it was agreed that both played the tyre game to perfection.

There may have been complaints about degradation, but managing tyre life and when to stop for replacements proved to be a key element of the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Alonso used three of Pirelli’s four available tyre compounds – wet, intermediate and medium slick – to win race, while Perez secured a career-best second place after a great tactical call saw him change from inters to wets after just one lap.

Alex Kapadia, Operations Team