By Alex Kapadia

Pirelli is confident its latest generation of Formula One tyres have the potential to make for an exciting season in 2012, after this week’s test at Jerez in Spain.

Last year the tyres were praised for shaking up the racing, but towards the end of the year the teams started to get to grips with the different compounds and tended to spend as much time as possible on the softer version, making racing more predictable.

This year, according to ESPN F1, Pirelli has closed the performance gap between the compounds in order to give the teams more strategy options and wean them off the tendency to opt for softs.

The idea is to allow for reasonably high degradation levels on the faster super-soft and soft tyres, while offering more consistent medium and hard compounds.

That should create a crossover point in performance where teams will have to decide whether to opt for a new set of soft tyres or stick it out on a slower but longer lasting mediums or hards. After four days of pre-season testing at Jerez, Hembery said the early indication is that everything is going to plan.

Paul Hembery, the motorsport boss for the Italian tyres manufacturer, said: “You will get teams making a decision whether to make one pit stop less and stay out longer on the medium or hard tyre, whereas last season everybody would have pushed the maximum performance on the soft tyre because there was no advantage [in choosing the harder tyre] and the [performance] gap was so big between tyres that they couldn’t recuperate that 1.5 seconds with the degradation.

“So that’s the theory, practice is something else.”

He said the warm afternoons at Jerez had given the best indication that the gap between compounds is on target.

“In the afternoons when we get into 20C plus like today there is a good indications, particularly between the new soft compound and the medium, that 0.6s appears to be the performance difference, which on a 4km track is about what we were hoping for. The hard is more difficult because people have used it maybe in the morning and we haven’t got so much representative data. But we know the warm-up is better on the medium and hard tyre, which is a criticism we had last year, getting the tyres up to temperature particularly if some of the cars mid-grid had less downforce - that’s another positive comment we’ve had back.”

And he said drivers were reporting that degradation of the front tyres was becoming the limiting factor rather than the rears.

“The cars themselves are using the tyres better,” he said. “The profiles have meant that the wear profile is better. Here we’re front limited whereas most of last season we were front limited, which is good because you’ve got a better chance of causing some fronts some problems at a lot of circuits. We have to be happy.”

By Denna Bowman

Bridgestone will sponsor the majority of the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup events in a bid to boost brand awareness for its premium winter tyres range.

The German tyres manufacturer will be a main partner at 34 World Cup Alpine Ski events in nine European countries – Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland – during the 2011-2012 season.

The deal offers them branding on start huts, gate flags and athlete singlets and Bridgestone plans to optimise this exposure with track-side signage, corporate hospitality and trade marketing programmes.

Winter sports have a strong following in Europe and particularly the Alpine Ski World Cup has a wide European TV coverage.

The sponsorship initiative is part of an integrated Europe-wide product and marketing approach to further strengthen Bridgestone’s growing winter tyre business.

Working closely with leading car manufacturers, Bridgestone has built up the winter tyre range with the latest winter technologies.

The line-up now has tyres for all types of European conditions – from changeable, milder winters to severe Nordic conditions.

The world’s top skiing series is a perfect platform for promoting the performance of Bridgestone premium winter tyres in Europe. This dynamic sport displays the same performance values as Bridgestone’s products: control, balance, safety and grip.

By Alex Kapadia

The Formula One teams are getting to grips with Pirelli’s new tyres for the first time this year, as the 2012 season gets underway at Jerez in Spain this week.

During the four-day test at the Andalusian circuit, which runs until Friday, each car will have 25 sets of the Italian tyres manufacturer’s new soft, medium and hard compounds available, along with the wet tyres if needed.

Teams are allowed a maximum of 100 sets of tyres per car each year for testing purposes, and they are permitted to choose the compounds they would like to test within their allowance.

Paul Hembery, Pirelli’s Motorsport Director, said: “After a successful first season in 2011, we are determined to help provide an even better spectacle this year, which is why the entire tyre range has been renewed.

“At this early point, the emphasis for the teams is expected to be on learning the new tyres and it will be interesting to see which approach they take to that process.

“Last year, it didn’t take the teams long at all to understand the characteristics of our tyres, and while we are sure that this will be the case again, there will be less of an element of surprise this year, as to some extent the teams know what to expect from our products.

“This rapid pace of development and reaction is what makes Formula One our ultimate research tool, enhancing Pirelli’s status as the world leader in the Ultra High Performance sector.”

Experimental compounds for the 2012 tyres were tried out during some of the free practice sessions last year, as well as at the young driver test following the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

However, the regular drivers now have the opportunity to test the new compounds together with the new profiles for the tyres, which this year are much ‘squarer’ in order to provide a greater contact patch and deliver a longer period of peak performance, while maintaining an overall lifespan in the region of 100 kilometres.

By Denna Bowman

Bridgestone has created a new range of tyres to help motorists cope with the unpredictable British winter weather.

With the much talked about cold snap, which saw snow fall in most areas of the country last week, many drivers in the UK are being warned to fit specialist winter tyres.

However, Bridgestone, which has recently launched the A001 Weather Control tyre, says that winter tyres are possibly not needed in the majority of conditions in the UK.

Andy Dingley, Communications Manager, for Bridgestone, said: “With 70 per cent of motorists not checking their tyres at all, driving on under-inflated tyres and 1 in 50 driving on both severely worn and severely underinflated tyres, we need to make sure that those people are still safe on the roads – but we also recognise that households are feeling the pinch and changing tyres every season is costly.”

Bridgestone’s Weather Control tyres can stay on a vehicle all year round. In winter, the tread pattern’s high-density siping has plenty of edge effect for controlled handling and braking on cold, frozen and snowy roads.

Additionally, a special silica compound provides strong grip in wet and wintry conditions, regardless of the temperature, ideal for UK weather conditions.

The Bridgestone A001 Weather Control has been developed for specific European regions and is suitable for moderate climates and wet, light winters such as the UK, Ireland, Belgium and Denmark.

The new Bridgestone A001 Weather Control is designed to give drivers in these regions a confident, safe driving experience all year round.

Dingley added: “Many motorists are being given inaccurate advice about winter tyres in this country, in fact a survey by Bridgestone at the end of last year discovered one in twenty families have sold the second car due to the recession.

“We feel that a balance must be struck where families can drive safely in all road conditions in the UK without breaking the bank, and Weather Control tyres could be that balance for many motorists.”

Bridgestone’s A001 Weather Control tyre is M+S marked (Mud + Snow) and rated as a snow tyre in most markets where winter tyres are required by law. The Bridgestone A001 Weather Control is available in 11 sizes to fit popular cars in the small and compact segments.

By Denna Bowman

etyres operations manager Oliver Hall was invited onto BBC Radio Cambridgeshire to explain the benefits of fitting winter tyres to your car.

He told listeners to the Jeremy Sallis Breakfast Show that etyres has seen a dramatic increase in the amount of people buying winter tyres this year on the back of Arctic weather conditions that have blighted the UK over the past two years.

Many more cautious motorists decided to switch to winter tyres during the run up to the cold season with double the enquiries flooding into the UK’s leading online mobile tyre fitting company.

Oli revealed that etyres has fitted more than 2,000 winter tyres in the Cambridgeshire region alone during the last few months.

He explained that while it is not a legal requirement to have winter tyres fitted in the UK - unlike in many EU countries including Germany - they provided added safety for drivers.

He said: “It does give a significantly safer driving experience if you are driving in the snow or in the cold, for instance a car with winter tyres on just driving at 30mph on snow will actually stop nearly two cars lengths shorter than a car on normal tyres.”

Because etyres has a good supply chain, it is able to supply and fit winter tyres quickly for those who wait until the snow has started to fall.

By Alex Kapadia

Kumho has taken over from Michelin as the official sole tyres supplier for Auto GP.

The Korean tyres manufacture will supply teams with two different compounds, with use of both the ‘prime’ and ‘option’ tyres mandatory during a dry race weekend, according to AUTOSPORT.com.

Unlike in Formula 1, however, there will be no stipulations on when the different compounds are used during each event.

Auto GP’s Enzo Coloni said: “Right from the start of our talks with Kumho, it was clear that their approach was a very positive one, aimed at giving us the best possible experience in terms of technical support.

“Not only did they accept with enthusiasm our proposal for the two different tyre specs, but they also expressed a will to bring on a constant development job working with us and the teams, something unique in the one-make series scenario.

“The first step of this process will be the creation of a special supersoft tyre for the Marrakech round, a street track where we expect a very low grip level.

“For our drivers being involved in such a development plan will mean getting a know-how that they can’t get anywhere else, a vital experience for their future.”

Auto GP is already one of the premier schooling grounds for Grand Prix drivers, and giving this year’s competitors the opportunity to learn the management of both ‘prime’ and ‘option’ tyre compounds at each of the seven circuits visited will further strengthen that role.

Preparations for the UK’s major tyres show are coming together really well, according to the organisers.

With less than eight months before Brityrex International 2012 welcomes visitors through Event City’s doors, ECI International has revealed that preparations are ahead of schudule compared to the same time before the last exhibition in 2010.

Tyres & Accessories attended a recent Brityrex steering committee meeting chaired by the NTDA and held in central London to find out about the progress.

It reported that: “The first and clearest indication of the show’s recent progress can be seen in the exhibitor list. In January, with three quarters of the year still to run, 60-odd per cent of exhibition space has already been booked with some well-known names and high-profile prospect in the offing.

“Then there’s the sharp uptick in available exhibition space. Now that Brityrex has moved to Event City in the Trafford Park area of Manchester (close to the Trafford Centre), the venue has made 5,000 square metres of exhibition hall available to ECI International. When you consider that the GMEX centre (which is now called Manchester Central) was unable to offer as much as this in a single hall and that that this figure represents a 100 per cent increase in space available, it is clear that there is growing momentum behind the show. Currently, the organisers explained, the show is working to fill the 5,000 square metres that was originally planned, but there is the option to add a further 5,000 square metres according to demand. And all this means that more options to attract exhibitors and visitors are available to the organisers.

“One feature of this year’s show which is already reasonably developed is the addition of topical workshops, which may even be held within the exhibition hall itself. Possible subjects for discussion include advice on tyre labelling, TPMS and new tyre repair standards amongst others.”

Denna Bowman, Head Office

By Denna Bowman

Outspoken Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has been voted the worst person to share a driving adventure with, in a poll organised by Continental Tyres.

The tyres giant quizzed 2,000 motorists about which celebrity they would least like to share a 4×4 drive across the Sahara Desert with.

Clarkson was closely followed by ex-glamour model Katie Price with the Prime Minister David Cameron in third place.

At the other end of the scale, the most popular choice among men if a co-driver were to be female would be Kelly Brook, who has a quite different set of attributes.

The women who took the survey voted for Robert Pattinson as their preferred choice of co-driver.

The ‘research’ was conducted as part of the launch of the Conti 4×4 Trophy, where people compete for a place on an epic off-road challenge; driving a Hummer through the Sahara.

Tim Bailey, spokesperson for Continental Tyres, said: “Driving thousands of miles through the Atlas Mountains and the fiery sands of the Sahara Desert makes your choice of co-driver incredibly important. It’s a long, tough and often dangerous journey.

“Jeremy Clarkson might have motoring credentials but either his calamitous road trips on Top Gear his lack of practical skills or his outspoken views mean most people would leave him behind.”

Top ten worst celebs to go on driving adventure with:

1. Jeremy Clarkson

2. Katie Price

3. David Cameron

4. Kate Moss

5. Carol Vorderman

6. Christine Bleakley

7. Nick Clegg

8. Madonna

9. Simon Cowell

10. Lewis Hamilton

At the other end of the scale, the most popular choice among men if a co-driver were to be female would be Kelly Brook, who has a quite different set of attributes.

The women who took the survey voted for Robert Pattinson as their preferred choice of co-driver.

The ‘research’ was conducted as part of the launch of the Conti 4×4 Trophy, where people compete for a place on an epic off-road challenge; driving a Hummer through the Sahara.

Tim Bailey, spokesperson for Continental Tyres, said: “Driving thousands of miles through the Atlas Mountains and the fiery sands of the Sahara Desert makes your choice of co-driver incredibly important. It’s a long, tough and often dangerous journey.

“Jeremy Clarkson might have motoring credentials but either his calamitous road trips on Top Gear his lack of practical skills or his outspoken views mean most people would leave him behind.”

Top ten worst celebs to go on driving adventure with:

1. Jeremy Clarkson

2. Katie Price

3. David Cameron

4. Kate Moss

5. Carol Vorderman

6. Christine Bleakley

7. Nick Clegg

8. Madonna

9. Simon Cowell

10. Lewis Hamilton

By Denna Bowman

The UK’s leading tyres safety organisation is gearing to launch campaigns directed at fleet operators and drivers and young motorists.

TyreSafe will be unveiling a high profile ambassador to drive home the tyres safety message and ’steer’ young drivers in the right direction when it comes to looking after their tyres.

Stuart Jackson, chairman of the organisation, said: “Young motorists are a particular important target audience as they are still in their formative driving years and what they take on board at an early age could stay with them for the rest of their motoring lives.”

TyreSafe will also be targeting the fleet industry in the summer in a bid to reduce accident rates and running costs.

Jackson added: “Tight procedures should be put in place by all businesses, large or small, that operate cars, vans, light commercial vehicles and HGVs to ensure they regularly check the condition of their fleet’s tyres.”

“It’s also the responsibility of individual drivers to routinely check their tyres and take any appropriate action.”

By Denna Bowman

Avon Tyres has launched the latest offering in its range of van tyres – the AV11.

Complementing the AV9, the new tyre is available in selected sizes, with an expanded fitment range coming later in the year.

Designed with long life and durability in mind for typically high-mileage vehicles, the R-rated AV11 is currently available from Avon stockists in sizes 215/60R16 C, 205/65R16 C, 215/65R16 C and 235/65R16 C.

Among the AV11’s features are robust sidewalls to cope with kerbing damage and a reinforced carcass, able to handle heavier than average loads. Meanwhile, the tyre also provides optimum wet-weather handling.

Nigel Hampson, sales and marketing director of Cooper Tire Europe, said: “We know that our van-driving customers often depend entirely on their vehicles for their livelihoods. For them, the choice of a tyre is far more crucial than the average motorist and that’s why we’ve designed the AV11 with those people in mind.

“The AV11 will stand up to relatively harsh treatment, be it heavy payloads or scuffing along kerbs and other obstacles that are the everyday perils of the average LCV. And, when it comes to inclement conditions, the AV11 ensures that a bad day of weather needn’t mean a bad day for your business.”