A British couple, Peter and Eileen Crichton, have completed an impressive double round the world journey, covering 150,000km in their Land Rover Discovery.

The journey, which involved circling the globe in the Northern Hemisphere followed by a circuit of the Southern Hemisphere, took 23 months, and took the couple through a diverse and hazardous range of terrains. Their 1992 Land Rover, fitted with Michelin A/T 4×4 tyres, coped admirably with everything that either hemisphere could throw in its direction. The Michelin tyres are designed for both off and on-road driving, and, amazingly, suffered only one puncture in the 50,000km trip around Africa.

The first part of the Crichton’s journey involved a 42,000km trek around the Northern Hemisphere, taking the longest land route available. This took six months to complete, and was followed by a 149,000km tour of Australia, South America and Africa. In South America their route took them through hazardous terrain in Chile, Columbia and Venezuela. In Africa they started out from Cape Town, drove north through the jungles of Cameroon, Gabon, Congo and Angola, crossed the Sahara, followed the Rift Valley from Mozambique and finished up in the Middle East, before heading on back to London.

Peter Crichton stressed that the reliability of their tyres was a key element in the successful completion of this trans-global marathon,”Throughout our travels the Michelin tyres performed flawlessly over every conceivable terrain that the world could throw at us. Good tyres are a core aspect of reliable travel in the world’s remote and wild places. We were immensely relieved that we could rely entirely on the products supplied by Michelin UK.”

Pirelli has announced plans to release an intelligent tyre, which will make tyre maintenance easier. The tyre will be fitted with a microchip in its carcass and this will feed information about the condition of the tyre to an onboard computer system. This will serve as an early warning system, highlighting potential problems to the car driver.

This intelligent tyre will be released in two stages. The first phase will see the release of the Cyber Tyre Lean, early in 2010. This will be able to relay information about tyre temperature and pressure, as well as vehicle weight-load. The microchip will be self-powered, drawing energy from the vibrations of the turning tyre.

The second phase in the development of the intelligent tyre will be the release of the Cyber Tyre. This will utilize a more sensitive sensor that can communicate with the car’s ABS and ESP systems, and can deliver more precise information to the motorist. The Cyber Tyre will employ a triaxial accelerometer, and will be able to supply information concerning acceleration, friction coefficients and road contact. In this second phase the sensor will be inserted into the tyre carcass to become an integral part of the tyre.

According to Pirelli, the new tyres will give the opportunity to spot faults and maintenance issues before they become hazardous.

As we reported last month, Michelin Development recently offered £1 million worth of backing to new businesses in Staffordshire. Disappointingly, the response from the county’s entrepreneurs has been almost non-existent.

In the time since Michelin offered the challenge there has been only a trickle of enquiries into Michelin’s Stoke headquarters, and no new loans have been approved. According to the schemes organisers, Staffordshire is one of the poorest performers in terms of new business development.

This represents something of a reverse for the previously successful region. Michelin’s business development manager for the region, Dave Smith, explained the thinking behind the £1 million challenge, “We issued the challenge last month with a view to invoking a North Staffordshire renaissance, returning to the times when the region accounted for almost half of the jobs created by our fund. So far the response we have had has been somewhat muted and we once again issue the rallying call to entrepreneurs in the region to take advantage of what is a great business development opportunity - one we believe is the best out there.”

“It would be a crying shame,” Smith continued, “to see the money we have available not used and with it a great opportunity to inject capital and business growth into the North Staffordshire region,”

The scheme has been in place for five years, during which time Michelin Development has helped over 100 new companies, many of whom continue to flourish.

In these days of economic gloom and despondency there are, at last, a few glimpses of light on the horizon for the embattled motorists. With oil prices starting to fall, we are beginning to see price reductions in our petrol stations. Now it appears that the recent rises in the price of rubber (up 40 percent in the last year), which have pushed up tyre prices, are beginning to level off.

Analysts at Deutsche Bank say the price should stabilise at US$2.8/kg, a reduction from an all-time high of US$3.3/kg. The bank also suggest that if the rubber price mirrors recent moves in the cost of oil we could see prices getting as low as US$2.6/kg.

This is good news for beleaguered tyre manufacturers and motorists alike.

A West Yorkshire farmer has set a new record by becoming the first person to drive across the Bering Straits.

Steve Burgess, a 52 year old farmer from Mirfield, drove his Land Rover Defender, fitted with Cooper 4×4 tyres, over 10,379 miles of the most inhospitable terrain on the planet. The drive across frozen tundra, at temperatures as low as - 46 degrees Celsius, took Burgess 50 days.

Burgess managed to cross the Bering Straits by attaching floats to the side of his Land Rover, and installing a motor and propeller blades to the rear. He then sailed through the 56 miles of freezing water, landing in Wales, Alaska on the 8th August.

Burgess said, “It’s been a phenomenal trip. I can’t say it was all enjoyable - I wouldn’t do it again - but it has been incredible. We were on ice roads virtually all the way from Moscow - thousands and thousands of miles - and could not believe how much traction we got from the Cooper tyres; they were phenomenal.

Landing on Wales was brilliant. It was the culmination of nearly nine years work, and to be the first to get across was incredible. I’d watched other people before me try to do it - rich people, big companies, and I thought ?how am I going to square up to these people?’ But I showed them how it’s done!”

A sucker for punishment, Burgess now intends to attempt a drive of 30,000 miles from northern Canada to Cape Horn.

A new report by the Rubber Manufacturer’s Association (RMA) has sent out reassuring messages concerning the use of tyre-derived rubber in the construction of play-grounds and athletics tracks. The report states that the recycled rubber poses “no adverse human or ecological health effects”.

According to Michael Blumenthal, RMA vice-president,”This report will add to the growing body of evidence showing that the use of scrap tire rubber in these applications is not only safe, but has several major safety benefits. This report has reviewed the worldwide wealth of knowledge on this topic and we are hopeful that it will contribute to correcting any misperceptions about tire rubber in the environment.”

Recycled rubber is used as an infill for synthetic sports surfaces and as a surface for play-grounds. Some critics have claimed that this ground rubber may cause health problems for children and athletes who utilise the facilities. This report goes a long way to allaying those fears. This is significant news as 13 million scrap tyres are used annually for the production of sport and playing surfaces.

This weekend’s European Grand Prix will take place at a new venue with the Formula One drivers taking to the streets of Valencia, in Spain. The sense of occasion will be heightened by the fact that this will be the 200th Grand Prix appearance by Bridgestone tyres.

Bridgestone’s 1st appearance was in 1997, at the Australian Grand Prix, and they now have a monopoly on the event, providing tyres to all the competing teams. The company is looking forward to the challenge posed by the new street circuit, and has stated that they will supply the teams with two of the softest tyre compounds available.

The director of Bridgestone Motorsport tyre development, Hirohide Hamashima, has stated on the Formula One website that he expects grip levels to improve over the weekend. Temperatures are expected to be high, and it will be important for the race teams, and Bridgestone, to monitor the condition of tyres closely, as the race represents a steep learning curve for all concerned.

The new venue, and the tight situation at the top of the Driver’s Championship, will make this a fascinating event.

The Automotive Distribution Federation (ADF) has criticized the government funded car scrappage scheme recommended by the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee. According to ADF chief executive, Brian Spratt,”There is a blinkered attitude towards environmental issues which propels people towards simplistic ‘headline’ solutions, rather than small simple steps which, in combination, can have a significant impact”.

Pratt continues that stricter environmental inspections as a part of MOT tests, and a programme of driver education, would have a greater impact in reducing fuel consumption and pollution. He says,”Even a simple thing such as the correct tyre pressures will add to the positive impact and, cumulatively, outweigh the environmental costs of producing new vehicles. These straightforward measures will be a greater benefit to motorists who, despite any scrappage incentive, will still find it impossible to fund the purchase of a newer car.”

Pratt criticized the scheme further, concluding that, “There’s a lot of economic and social benefits from maintaining the individual’s personal mobility, and that can be done without hitting lower income families in the pocket with higher VED rates, and without artificial schemes to take perfectly good, serviceable, vehicles off the road.”

Until recently the term “Green Tyre” was a reference to unfinished, unvulcanised tyres. However, in today’s more ecologically aware industry, the term is being used with regard to the carbon footprint created by a tyre, both in production and general usage. The UK’s tyre retreaders are making use of this to stress the green credentials of retread tyres.

Recent reports, published by organizations such as WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) and Best Foot Forward, have concluded that the manufacturing and distribution of retread tyres produces a significantly smaller carbon footprint than the traditional new tyre.

The findings are of particular interest to companies running fleets of trucks. The reports show that, on average, a retreaded truck tyre uses 44 kilos less rubber than a new tyre. It also produces a mere 17.5 percent of the carbon dioxide emitted by a new tyre. Obviously, if a tyre casing can be reused twice the savings are even greater. Another advantage is the saving that can be made on tyre disposals, which is a contentious subject at present.

The other major “green” topic within the tyre industry at present is low rolling resistance. In the past many retreaders have achieved low rolling resistance through reduced tread depth. However, this has a knock-on effect on the life expectancy of the tyres. Now the sector’s leaders are looking at compound design as a way of achieving low rolling resistance, without compromising durability.

There is no doubt that retreaded tyres are enjoying a renaissance. Their major impact is being made at the cost-conscious end of the market, where they are taking market-share from the budget producers from the Far East.

Inflation could see growth in retread sector

The spiralling increase in the cost of raw materials is impinging on all tyre manufacturers around the globe. Even the Chinese, for so long the purveyors of “budget” tyres are beginning to feel the squeeze. The rising cost of materials largely explains the string of poor financial returns reported by the world’s leading tyre manufacturers, and lies behind the numerous price rises announced over the last few weeks. Many industry experts believe that this may result in a renaissance in the sales of retreads.

Chinese manufacturers have made an impact in the UK in recent years, appealing to the British motorist seeking to counterbalance the ever increasing cost of driving. However, a 23 percent increase in the cost of raw materials, coupled with the falling buying power of the pound, has made these Chinese tyres less of a bargain.

Another problem with the Chinese tyres is the perceived inconsistency in terms of quality and durability. Suppliers of retread tyres are now highlighting the fact that their tyres, with low rolling resistance and good durability, represent better value than the budget offerings from China.

Another indicator of the resurgent retread market lies in the recent acquisitive actions of some of the leading tyre manufacturers. In the UK Bridgestone recently acquired retread company Bulldog, and is now able to offer both new tyres and retreads.

This trend will not affect the premium tyre market in the UK, but its impact on the budget sector could well prove significant over the coming months.