In the forthcoming Dakar Rally, Yokohama Rubber will be supplying its sponsored drivers with specially designed tyres. Yokohama supports Japanese drivers Ukyo Katayama and Takuma Aoki, both of whom will be driving on rally tyres that utilize “Orange Oil”, a substance that Yokohama used in its eco tyre – the “DNA Earth-1”.

Yokohama’s support for Katayama forms part of the company’s environmental, “ecoMOTION” campaign. Mr Katayama, an advocate of environmental awareness, will compete in the Dakar Rally using a car fueled by bio-diesel, refined from Tempura. The car will be fitted with Geolander A/T-S tyres, which Yokohama claims will perform superbly in the varied conditions thrown up by the rally.

This will be the second time Mr Katayama has competed in the rally, but it is the first time for ex-motorcycle racer Takuma Aoki. Mr Aoki was paralysed from the waist down following an accident in a test run, but he is now competing on four wheels rather than two. He won his class in the FIA Asia Cross Country Rally earlier this year. Yokohama Rubber will provide him with Geolander M/T+ tyres with improved off-road characteristics designed to meet the specifications of the 2009 Dakar rally.

2009 will be the 31^st time the Dakar has been run. It was cancelled last year, due to security considerations in Central Africa. This year the rally will be run over a 9,000 kilometre course through Argentina and Chile.   

The search for environmentally friendly solutions to our transport problems continues. Engineers in Israel have developed a road surface that actually generates power when a car drives over it. The Israelis claim that one kilometre of the new road can generate 400 kilowatts of power, enough to run eight small vehicles.

Andrew Davis, director of the Environmental Transport Association (ETA), explains the potential of the new road surface, “The government predicts a massive shift to electric cars, and it may be that roads themselves will provide some of the new fuel. Certain vehicles could be powered entirely by the roads on which they drive”. 

The new road surface contains piezoelectric cells that generate electricity when squeezed. When a tyre rolls over the asphalt the cells emit an electrical charge. The ETA, which is a British charity dedicated to transport and the environment, claims that if the system was installed throughout the British motorway system it would generate sufficient power to fuel 34,500 cars. Davis concluded, “If these electric roads can be put in place without harm to the environment they would be a silver lining to the problem of heavy traffic”.

The new road surface will be trialed by engineers from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in January.

Marangoni Tyre will be displaying another project car at January’s Autosport Show in Birmingham. The Marangoni Alfa Romeo MiTo M430 was launched in September and features “fire-red” Marangoni tyres.

The policy of combining tuned project cars and Marangoni tyres is aimed at introducing the brand to a broad range of potential customers in a “fun and exciting way”. A company representative explained the project, saying, “At a time when market conditions are forcing consumers to make more intelligent purchasing decisions, the greater the exposure we can create, the more people we can expose to our compelling sales story – quality tyres at a competitive price, each with the Marangoni Lifetime Warranty”.

The scheme seems to be working as the M430 has received critical acclaim from the motoring press, including Top Gear, Auto Trader and Auto Express. Derek Carruthers, global sales and marketing director at Marangoni, expressed the company’s enthusiasm for this latest project, “We’re very excited about our high-impact project car for 2009 - the M430, and we are delighted with the considerable level of press and consumer interest already shown. This unique little car has already enhanced the growing respect the Marangoni brand has within the market, and it continues to demonstrate our commitment to building brand recognition through involvement with the popular tuning sector. The MiTo M430 project embodies our passion, dedication, imagination and expertise. 2009 is set to be an exciting year, with the M430 displayed at many leading European tuning shows throughout next year.”

Toyo Tyres garnered praise for their Toyo Proxes R888 tyres following success in the recent Westfield Sports Car Club Speed Series event held at Thoresby Park, Nottingham. Gary Bunn recorded the fastest time of the day (FTD) on the road legal Proxes tyres.

Bunn said, “Having run the car on list normal road tyres (list 1a) for a few years now it was a surprise to see how the R888’s gripped. Over the season my confidence in them has grown and the run to get FTD at Thoresby Park felt amazing. It’s nice as well to get the support from the factories, both Toyo and Westfield, in supply, pricing and technical support”.

The Westfield Sports Car Club Speed Series consists of 25 sprints and hill climbs staged throughout the UK. It is open to all Westfield cars from standard road-going to modified cars.

An Audi A4 Quattro, fitted with Dunlop SP Sport Maxx TT tyres, has set a new world speed record for a car powered by climate neutral fuel. The Audi driven by Jürgen Hohenester attained speeds of 204.7 mph when tested at the Papenburg circuit in Germany.

The car was fueled by biogas extracted from field grass, with an octane level between 120 and 140 ROZ. “High speed tuning and ecological aspects don’t have to exclude each other,” Hohenester explained. “This Audi A4 is a prototype, which proves how powerful these new fuel technologies can be already today.”

The Dunlop SP Sport Maxx TT tyres are perfectly adapted for precision driving at such high speeds. The tyre compound incorporates Kevlar EE, which adds strength to the sidewall of the tyre, increasing stability, road feedback and delivering precise handling. 

World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb set a new record by posting his 11^th win of the season in the recent Wales Rally. Loeb’s win, together with a third place for teammate Dani Sordo, secured the manufacturers championship for the Citroen-Pirelli tyres team.

The welsh rally marked the end of the first World Rally Championship under the single tyre rule. Driving conditions were difficult throughout the event, but the Pirelli Scorpion, soft compound tyres handled the icy conditions admirably. Jari-Matti Latvala, in his Ford Focus-Pirelli, took an early lead, which he held until the final stage. As the race came to a close, Loeb fought back, finishing strongly to win by 12.7 seconds.

Rally Great Britain also decided the Production Car World Rally Championship (PCWRC), with Austria’s Andreas Aigner claiming his first PCWRC title. Aigner was beaten by Patrick Flodin in his Subaru Impreza, but second position was enough to secure the title for the Austrian in the Mitsubishi.

Mario Isola, Rally Manager at Pirelli was pleased with the way things had gone in the first year of the Pirelli era, saying, “As could maybe have been expected, conditions on the Rally Great Britain in December were very cold and slippery. Nonetheless, our Scorpion tyres have coped well with the challenge and demonstrated a high degree of driveability, as has been the case throughout the whole of the year. It’s clear that when you have exactly the same tyre that needs to be used in a wide variety of places and weather conditions, it becomes a question of finding the best compromise - which we believe that we have found. It is also worth nothing that, contrary to some peoples’ fears before the start of the season, there has been an extremely limited number of punctures over the course of the year and this was also the case on the Wales Rally Great Britain. In conclusion, it has been an extremely successful first season for Pirelli, and now we look forward with optimism to 2009.” 

It would seem that some people are just not cut out for a life of crime. Alejandro Juarez, of Aguascalientes, Mexico, saw an opportunity when he saw an unoccupied car parked with the keys still in the ignition. He explained his thinking in a report from Agence France-Presse, “When I found the car and I saw it had the key in the ignition, well, I just got in. I was thinking about taking off the tyres so I could sell them”. However, while driving the car away he crashed into a rubbish dumpster and was apprehended. Mr Juarez might have stood more chance of pulling off this heist if the car had not been painted in the distinctive colours of Aguacalientes’ Police Department.  

Production of the European version of the Nissan GT-R began this month at Nissan’s Tochigi plant in Japan. There have been a few modifications made to the car before its release onto European markets. One change is that the car will now feature the Dunlop SP Sport 600 DSST tyres as original equipment.

According to Nissan, the tyre was developed with the GT-R in mind. It displays both grip and durability, which was demonstrated during recent trials at the Nürburgring circuit, where it lapped in less than 7.5 minutes.

The Nissan GT-R, with its 3.8 litre V6 twin turbo engine, will be delivered into Europe in April of next year, when it will sell for £56,795. Nissan has already received orders for 2500 cars across Europe.

The Sevalco carbon black plant based in Avonmouth, Bristol is set to close at a cost of 88 jobs. This is indicative of the reduction in manufacturing in the UK, which is now shrinking at record pace. The closure is a result of the lessening demand for carbon black.

The plant, which is run by Columbian Chemicals, has been running since 1951, and the company is not revealing what will become of the 20 acre factory site. Employees will be given a 30 day consultation period to discuss future plans.

After finishing as runner-up in 2005 and 2006, Richard Brent finished the 2008 season as BARC Dunlop Motorsport News Saloon Car Champion. Richard won the championship in some style, winning all 18 rounds in this year’s event. The championship is contested at Britain’s most famous race tracks – Silverstone, Brands Hatch, Snetterton, Castle Combe and Lydden Hill. Brent’s victories this year came in his Peugeot 205 Gti, equipped with Toyo tyres. He used Toyo Proxes RS1 slick tyres in dry conditions, switching to Proxes RR1 in the wet. For intermediate conditions Toyo supplied the Proxes R888, semi-slick.

Brent paid tribute to the Toyo tyres and their role in his success, saying, “2008 has quite simply been the best year a race team could have; 18 wins from 18 starts and lap records at every circuit visited. Toyo tyres have been an integral part of the race team and I am delighted to continue our relationship in 2009”.