By Alex Kapadia

Pirelli motors into its second season of Formula One as exclusive tyre supplier with the entire range of tyres renewed compared to the previous year.

The changes to the tyres has been in response to new aerodynamic and technical regulations, which have had a profound impact on car design.

Blown diffusers are now forbidden, which alters the fundamental balance of the car, and also affects the tyres along with the way that they are used.

The aerodynamics now work on the car in a different way, redistributing the forces that are acting on the tyres and altering the driver’s feeling.

A greater proportion of force on the front axle means that there is better turn-in and superior driving precision in corners, as well as improved medium-speed to high-speed direction changes.

But with the forces moving more towards the front of the car, a weaker rear end means that the rear tyres have to work even harder to avoid sliding through corners, as well as combatting wheelspin under acceleration.

The driving style needed to control the rear during these periods of oversteer and wheelspin puts plenty of stress onto all the tyres, which translate into higher working temperatures on both the front and the rear.

As a result there is more rear degradation and a balance that moves towards oversteer during a race stint.

Pirelli has reacted by giving the rear tyres more grip and adopting ‘squarer’ profiles to present a greater contact patch to the track.

The new profiles, designed to distribute stresses more evenly across the entire tyre footprint, even in extreme conditions, compensate for the latest technical restrictions.

At the same time, they work perfectly with driving styles that are increasingly more complex and aggressive to deal with the reduced grip at the rear.

Another important new tyre regulation for 2012 is the fact that drivers can have all 11 sets of their weekend’s allocation available from Friday.

This is designed to avoid drivers limiting their running in order to save tyres for later, and it should give spectators the chance to see more action.

Finally, Pirelli’s colour markings are more prominent this year, and there is a new name for the wet-weather tyres: Cinturato. This is the name of the tyres with which Pirelli first entered Formula One, back in the 1950s.

By Denna Bowman

Pirelli shares have risen following the tyres manufacturers announcement that its 2011 full year results soared 16.6 per cent on the previous year.

The world’s fifth largest tyres company increased its operating profit margin forecast for 2012, which prompted a sharp rise in its share price.

Shares in the tyremaker, one of the world’s best known automotive industry brands, rose nearly 10 per cent on the improved outlook and had to be suspended from trading, according to a report in the Financial Times.

Marco Tronchetti Provera, chairman and chief executive of Pirelli, said: “The improvement was achieved notwithstanding the slowdown of the general macroeconomic scenario, especially in western economies.

“This proved the effectiveness of Pirelli’s strategy with its focus on the premium segment and the strengthening of its manufacturing presence in rapidly growing economies.”

Industry analysts were surprised by Pirelli’s decision to raise its 2012 so high and had expected a more modest 8-10 per cent hike.

Morgan Stanley explained: “What surprised us positively was 2012 guidance: it was increased to greater than 12 per cent margin albeit on slightly lower targeted revenue.”

By Alex Kapadia

Hankook is ramping up its racing sponsorship with a deal which makes it the exclusive tyres supplier for the new Swedish TTA - Racing Elite League.

The Korean company’s racing tyres are perhaps best known through their use in the DTM series, which Hankook began supplying last year.

Hee-Se Ahn, Vice President for Marketing & Sales for Hankook in Europe, announced: “We are truly excited about our new partnership with the TTA. With this partnership we are taking a significant next step in our European motorsports engagement as it is the first time we are the exclusive tyre supplier to a racing series in the Scandic markets.

“TTA’s approach to motorsport of constant refinement of their cars with innovative materials and designs is the type of racing that perfectly matches our company motto ‘Driving Emotion’.”

The TTA has begun using Hankook tyres with the prototype car during autumn and winter testing in Sweden and France.

Jan “Flash” Nilsson, TTA representative and driver of Flash Engineering, added: “We are proud to start a cooperation with Hankook and we understand why DTM chose them as tyre supplier.

“They have produced an amazing racing tyre, that enables us to push hard in long races with a high level of grip, opening up for more overtaking.

“It is impressive and it is going to be great racing with them in the TTA Racing Elite League 2012.”

The TTA has already gained experience with Hankook tyres; the new TTA prototype car was fitted with the Korean tyre maker’s competition slicks during successful pre-season test sessions.

By Denna Bowman

Goodyear tyres have publicly demonstrated their self-inflating tyre system for the first time at the annual Geneva International Motor Show.

The innovative new tyres will help reduce fuel consumption, saving motorists money at the pumps and reduce CO2 emissions.

Goodyear’s Air Maintenance Technology (AMT) has been under development in laboratories over the past two years.

The demonstration shows how the tyres remain inflated at the optimum pressure without the need for any external pumps, electronics or driver intervention leading to a reduction in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.

Jean-Claude Kihn, Goodyear Senior Vice President and Chief Technical Officer, explained: “Consumers often overlook the importance of maintaining proper tyre pressure.

“We believe this technology will enhance safe driving and performance; and have a positive impact on the environment through improved fuel efficiency, reduced emissions and extended tyre life.

“The progress we have made is very encouraging and we are now ready to demonstrate it in Geneva for the first time.”

By Denna Bowman

Bridgestone has expanded the size line-ups for its popular low rolling resistance Ecopia EP150 tyres.

The tyres, which offer lower fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, are now available for most popular car models.

The Ecopia Bridgestone EP150, which is fitted on the Nissan LEAF, the first all electric vehicle to win the prestigious title European Car of the Year 2011, can now fit a wide range of compacts and mid-sized passenger cars with 14” to 16” rim sizes in 55 to 65 series.

Combined with the extensive line-up of the Turanza ER300 Ecopia, launched in 2009 and now offering more than 40 sizes for larger family cars and executive saloons, Bridgestone Ecopia tyres now fit most popular car models on European roads.

The “Ecopia” name signifies the eco-friendly benefits of Bridgestone tyres developed under the company’s long-term safety and environmental programme. Ecopia tyres feature compound filler technology that reduces friction and heat build-up during tyre rotation.

This reduction in heat build-up leads to improved rolling resistance and lower fuel consumption, in turn leading to lower CO2 emissions.

The key advantage of Ecopia tyres is that these ecological gains have been obtained without sacrificing safety, especially wet braking and handling.

By Denna Bowman

Bridgestone tyres are driving home three key themes with their stand at the annual Geneva Motor Show.

A trio of distinct zones highlight the direction of product development: reliable, ecological and innovative tyres.

To demonstrate reliability, the left side of the stand features Bridgestone’s top priority: safety.

The star of the stand is the brand-new Bridgestone Turanza T001 premium touring tyre. Its new technologies provide increased safety, comfort and environmental performance; a special wet display demonstrates T001 safety in the wet.

To get across the ecology message, the right-hand side of the stand plays host to the latest Ecopia developments, including the updated Ecopia EP150 tyre.

The popular “bicycle” demonstrator again shows visitors how low rolling resistance makes transport easier.

And finally, innovation is promoted at the front of the stand where Bridgestone displays some of its latest revolutionary developments and dreams for the future.

The BMW i concept tyre, a 100% Bridgestone Original Equipment fitment developed exclusively for the new BMW Born Electric vehicle, is on display along with the new Bridgestone CAIS (Contact Area Information Sensing) system, which detects changes in the road surface for added safety and comfort.

The Bridgestone stand is situated in Hall 6 for the Show, which runs from 8 to 18 March 2012.

By Denna Bowman

Women are challenging the traditional stereo-type that research and development in the automotive industry is a man’s world.

Continental tyres has just revealed that six out of the 11 new recruits on its Explore Tyres Research and Development trainee programme are female.

The new trainees, who come from six different countries, will work through different areas of R&D, production and marketing as part of the programme.

Geert Roik, head of Research & Development Commercial Vehicle Tyres at Continental, explained: “Research and development, particularly in the motor industry, is often an exclusively man’s world. In reality, things are very different today at Continental.

“Over the business year just ended, more than one third of the new appointments in tyre development were women.

“We have also noticed a growing number of women joining our international training programme in tyre research and development. In general, we do aim for a balanced ratio of male and female candidates for these programmes.

“The course year that began on March 1 gives a clear sign with a more than fifty percent share of women. This shows the high standard of specialist qualifications among female candidates.”

By Alex Kapadia

With less than two weeks to go before the first Grand Prix of the season gets under way in Australia, Pirelli confirmed it has had a ‘very positive’ response to its new tyres after teams completed nearly 50,000 kilometres during three tests.

Much emphasis was placed on tyres strategy as teams carried out a total of 12 days of testing at the Spanish circuits in Jerez and Barcelona, clocking up 48,987 kilometres on all of Pirelli’s 2012 compounds.

Paul Hembery, Pirelli’s motorsport director, said: “The teams and ourselves focussed on gathering as much information as possible for the first race of the season at this final test in Barcelona.

“We saw long runs and race simulations over all four days, concentrating mostly on the P Zero Yellow soft and P Zero White medium compounds, although it was good that we were finally able to get some running on the wet weather tyres as well.

“The teams are rapidly extending and refining their knowledge of our 2012 tyres, seeing how long they can make them last over the course of race simulations, both on full and lighter fuel tanks. This is going to be key to the strategy in Australia.

“The feedback we’ve had remains very positive: the drivers like the grip that our new tyres generate, which is improved from last year, and they are also pleased by the way that the tyre’s behaviour has become more linear and predictable.

“However much you test though there is no substitute for actual racing, which is why we’re all now looking forward to seeing the real picture emerge in Australia.”

By Alex Kapadia

Pirelli were forced to put paid to rumours and speculation about the mystery unmarked tyres that appeared during tests at the Circuit de Catalunya on Thursday.

All the tyres are normally distinguished by coloured markings to indicate which compound is being used.

Yet, with just two weeks before the start of the season in Australia, it was rumoured that some teams had requested the blank tyres in order to hide their test programmes from their rivals.

However, Paul Hembery, motorsport director for Pirelli, was reported to have told France’s Auto Plus magazine that the blank tyres were in fact “prototypes”.

They had been manufactured not at Pirelli’s usual F1 factory in Turkey, but elsewhere, in the event that a natural disaster forced the tyre supplier to change its plans at the last minute.

Hembery also answered the criticism that, after Pirelli’s initial 2011 tyres spiced up the racing early last year, the new generation might not be aggressive enough.

“We need data from the races to judge that,” he insisted. “It’s far too early.”

By Alex Kapadia

With just over two weeks left before Pirelli’s second season of Formula One gets underway in Australia, the teams embarked today on the final four-day pre-season test for the 2012 tyres.

It is the last opportunity to finalise the car-tyres package before the first race and one of the key issues for the teams will be to understand exactly how the Pirelli tyres work with their new cars – at least in the short term.

Paul Hembery, Pirelli’s Motorsport Director, said: “We’re likely to see the teams test the tyres that they will use for the first three grands prix at Barcelona, with the accent switching to race preparation rather than new car development.

“Once again we have the full range of tyres available for the teams to test, which have been specially designed for the definitive specification of 2012 cars that we should see running at the Circuit de Catalunya.

“We’ve gathered plenty of data so far and had a very positive first impression from the drivers, so this week should allow us to validate our findings and continue accumulating data that will be vital for the season ahead.”