Michelin has announced its contentedness with the new rules being imposed on motorsport tyres.

Following a meeting in Barcelona, The World Motor Sport Council plans to introduce two new regulations concerning motorsport tyres, set to come into effect on New Year’s Day 2007. The new regulations were outlined in a press release issued by the Federation Internationale de L’Automobile (FIA) and aim to maintain competition between tyre manufacturers in the World Championship. Negotiations held by Michelin, Dunlop and Bridgestone aimed to determine the effects and action required in response to the Motorsport regulations.

Michelin has backed the decisions which allow tyre suppliers in F1 to provide two sets of tyres for each of their contracted teams, as opposed to previous regulations which enforced to two types of tyres for all of their teams. This change comes in response to the Bridgestone/Ferrari advantage in 2002, where Bridgestone was able to design tyres specifically for Ferrari as its only top team, while Michelin was forced to compromise in order to satisfy both Mclaren and Williams. Tyre companies will now be able to tailor tyres to their teams and competition bewteen tyre companies will be maintained.

Nicolas Goubet, Michelin’s director of motorcycle racing, spoke on behalf of Michelin when he proclaimed that they were “happy with the new rules”, adding that, “the tyre agreement is a very good agreement, especially if you look at what is happening in other Motorsport championships, particularly in Formula One switching to a single tyre maker rule.” For Michelin, the new regulations ensure that tyre companies are able to compete. Goubet expained that the CEO of Dorna, the MotoGP rights holders, “wanted different tyre brands to continue fighting on the racetrack.”

Despite Michelin’s excitement about the freedom the new agreement allows in way of competition, Goubet also expressed the concerns the regulations incite: “Once the objective to keep everyone involved was clear, the second most important point was to ensure that we don’t have too much cost inflation, because costs can escalate when you have major manufacturers competing in a highly prestigious series.” In light of the threat of inflation, new restrictions on tyre testing has been introduced: “In this respect, the most important factor was to reduce the possibility of test teams to test tyres. From next year test teams can only run at official IRTA tests plus one track during the season and one track during the off-season.”

Michelin has enjoyed a win-rate of 95% in the last ten years of premier class Motorcycle racing.

[http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/2369307.stm#Tyres]
[http://www.reifenpresse.de/CDML007/en/gast/fs_kurzmeldungen.html]
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Michelin tyres won two awards in the 2006 Greenfleet Awards ceremony. The 7th annual Greenfleet Awards were held in the Emirates stadium, recently home to Arsenal football club, on October 11th. The Greenfleet Awards give recognition to companies and authorities paramount in developing innovations that half reduce the affect of transport on the environment. Tiff Needell, the racing driver and television presenter, presented the 25 awards in various categories.

Michelin, the tyre manufacturer based in Stoke-on-Trent, won the award for Industry Innovation. Greenfleet also recognised Michelin with the prestigious award of Tyre Manufacturer of the Year. Michelin was awarded Tyre Manufacterer of the Year ahead of the runner-up company, Bandvulc Tyres.

The Greenfleet Industry Innovation Prize, was awarded to Michelin for its “green tyre”. Michelin brought the Green Tyre onto the market in 1992 as an innovation due to its silica-based tread compound. The silica-based tread compound improves fuel efficiency and consumption by reducing rolling resistance. Michelin created the Green Tyre to deform to the road; the tyre reduces resistance to the road and increases the surface area of the contact patch.

Improvement has continued to be made since the Michelin Green Tyre was first on the market. The latest product from Michelin is the Primacy HP tyre, which has a higher endurance ability and reduces fuel consumption by 2%. By reducing fuel consumption, the Primacy HP tyre not only saves money for the fleet operator but also helps reduce raw material consumption through fuel efficiency and increased endurance.

Tyre tests conducted in Germany proved that the Primacy HP tyre from Michelin provides up to 54% better mileage and 25% longer tread life. With these statistics in mind, the Michelin advertising campaign boasts that Michelin tyres have the capacity to last “a distance of more than once around the Earth”.

As well as being a winner at the Greenfleet awards, Michelin also sponsered the award for Car Manufacturer of the year. PSA Peugeot Citroen won the award for Car Manufacturer of the year for its dedication to the environmental issue through the use of vegetable oil as biofuel.

[http://www.reifenpresse.de/CDML007/en/gast/fs_aktuell.html]
[The Independent On Sunday, 15 Oct 2006]

New Chrysler Sebring cars are to be Fitted with Bridgestone Firestone FR690, Bridgestone Turanza EL40002 and Bridgestone Turanza ER300 tyres.

The redesigned 2007 Chrysler Sebring Sedan, which hits American show-rooms this season, will be fitted with Firestone FR690 tyres. The Firestone FR690 tyres to be fitted onto the new Chrysler Sebring will be size P215/65R 16 96T, while the Chrysler Sebring Touring and Chrysler Sebring Limited will sport the Bridgestone Turanza EL40002 tyres. The Chrysler Sebring Touring will be fitted with Bridgestone Turanza tyres in size P215/60R17 95T, while tyres for the Chrysler Sebring Limited will be size P215/55R18 94T.

Bridgestone brand Turanza ER300 tyres will also be fitted to the Chrysler Sebring vehicles to be exported in size 215/60R17 96H. The Turanza ER300 tyre is the first touring tyre from Bridgestone, rated H-Speed and designed for both factory and leading car manufacturer fitment. Bridgestone recommends the Turanza ER300 for touring car owners who desire comfort and good handling in all conditions. The tyre tread is assymetric and designed specifically to enhance grip in wet conditions.

Due to their shock-absorbing construction, Bridgestone Turanza tyres not only offer comfort and a smooth ride, but also lower noise level at any speed with their advanced pattern design. The Turanza ER300 tyres are designed specifically for high-performance saloons, GTs and estates, which means they provide responsive steering, cornering and straight line stability at top speeds.

[http://www.topgear.co.uk/tech-specs/tyre-specs/bridgestone-tyres/turanza-er300.html]
[http://www.reifenpresse.de/CDML007/en/gast/fs_ kurzmeldungen.html]

Auto Express Magazine has named the Bridgestone Turanza ER300 RFT tyre as “Best Buy 2006″. The run-flat tyre tests were conducted independently by Auto Express, as part of their annual tyre test which asseses a variety of the top-name brand tyres in areas such as handling and rolling resistance. The tests were conducted using a BMW 320i, a car renowned for durability and style.

The marketing manager with Bridgestone UK, expressed the company’s satisfaction with the results: “We have worked hard for many years to develop a run-flat tyre that offers consumers the best in performance, safety and comfort, and this test shows that we’re the best at doing just that.” In addition to the Auto Express award for “Best Buy 2006″, last year, Bridgestone UK was awarded the Product Innovation Award from NTDA for its run-flat tyres.

The Turanza ER300 RFT beat both Continental and Michelin run-flats, with Auto Express commenting that they were “the best performer in the wet”. The Turanza ER300 RFT exceeded all competition in the wet categories such as wet cornering, and matched competition in straight and curved aquaplaning. In addition to superb handling in diverse conditions, the Bridgestone Turanza tyre also proved to be the cheapest tyre as well as the outstanding participant for rolling resistance.

The final results showed the Bridgestone Turanza ER300 RFT as top of the rankings, with the Continental PremiumContact SSR coming in a close second, and the Michelin Primacy HP ZP in third. Despite its second place position, the Continental PremiumContact SSR performed outstandingly in the tests for wet braking, wet handling, dry braking and interior noise, surpassing even the Bridgestone Turanza. In the dry braking category, the Continental tyre stopped 2 metres ahead of the Michelin Primacy HP ZP, and a full 3.4 metres ahead of the overall winner, the Turanza ER300 RFT.

Securing third place, the Michelin Primacy HP ZP racked up points in the noise category, beating the noise level of the Bridgestone Turanza tyres by 5%. The Michelin tyre also performed well in the wet braking tests.

However, in the Auto Express report, the Michelin tyre failed to win a single test and scooped a low place of 15th in the standard tyre test. Although the Auto Express tests formed disappointing results for Michelin, a spokesman suggested that the company was not affected, believing the results to be inconsistent in light of other independent research. Research conducted by both Michelin at MIRA, and by the TUV in Germany and the Czech Republic, contradict the results found by Auto Express.