By Alex Kapadia

It looks like Jenson Button may have got the 2009 Formula One season all wrapped up – with much of his success down to his handling of the new slick tyres.

His smooth driving style means the Brawn GP driving ace can get the most out of his tyres – especially the super soft compounds.

Apparently, Button was baffled on the grid when most teams removed the tyre warmers to show the harder of the two tyre compounds.

He said the Brawn team had not thought twice about any other strategy.

Yet only three others joined them on super softs - Lewis Hamilton gambling on an all-out attacking first stint from the back, Sebastien Vettel, whose light Red Bull failed to secure the grid spot expected of it, and Adrian Sutil’s Force India, who started from 15th on the grid.

The super softs allowed Button to cancel out any opportunity second-placed Kimi Raikkonen may have thought he had to use his Ferrari’s KERS boost to overtake on the opening lap - but after Barrichello had used the super softs’ extra pace to pass Raikkonen off the line, it was the way Button mastered this opening stint that won him the race.

The super soft tyres get faster lap after lap for the opening few laps before levelling off on a plateau and then going off and deteriorating rapidly.

But it’s Button’s ability to get more pace out of the tyres before the plateau and extend the plateau for a greater number of laps before the tyres go off that has made him the master of these short soft tyre stints.

A man who slashed his neighbours car tyres after a row over snoring could be handed an ASBO banning him from going near cars!

The irate man flew into a tyres-slashing rage after claiming he was ridiculed for his noisy sleeping by his next door neighbour’s.

The 50-year-old, who admitted five counts of criminal damage, also previously confessed to up to 50 similar offences in the West Reading area between 2004 and 2008.

He also admitted one count of making a threat to kill his neighbour and one of possessing a bladed article.

The case has been ongoing for a number of years, but it was adjourned at Reading Crown Court for a more thorough pre-sentence report to assess whether the accused posed an ongoing risk to the public.

It was suggested a potential ASBO could ban him from going near cars.

The court heard that he had slashed tyres up to 50 times but neighbours only made 13 complaints.

The prosecution lawyer told Reading Magistrates Court last year: “The reason why the defendant did this is because he had a sleep disorder and this caused him to make breathing noises which went through the walls and disturbed his neighbours.

“This neighbour’s family were abusive towards him and he could hear them talking about it.

“He then got into a blind rage and the only way to release his anger was to slash the tyres of the car he believed belonged to the person next door.

“He later admitted he knew what he was doing and said he did it for fun.”

He was remanded in custody to reappear at Reading Crown Court on Friday, June 12.

Katherine Clarkson, National Accounts

Emerging tyre markets led by China are bucking the downward sales trends which are crippling the European and US markets.

According to Michelin’s latest market figures, sales of Chinese passenger car replacement tyres have grown significantly by up to a huge 31 per cent in some circumstances.

While at the same time the Chinese truck tyre replacement market is said to be flat year-on-year, compared with massive falls in the West, according to the report in Tyres and Accessories magazine.

South American tyre sales, on the other hand have not faired so well. In Brazil sales of original equipment truck tyres are 30 per cent lower than last year, according to the data.

The report also points out that this reflects on the heavy cuts that have been made to new truck tyre production.

As far as the Brazilian replacement tyre market is concerned, truck tyre sales are said to have declined approximately 20 per cent year-on-year.

Denna Bowman, Head Office

By Denna Bowman

Six US tyres importers are challenging the United Steelworkers union (USW) petition asking the International Trade Commission to limit the number of tyres imported from China.

The importers have formed the American Coalition for Free Trade in Tyres and are drawing up strategies to defeat the USW legal challenge.

Jim Mayfield, President of Del-Nat, one of the companies who have formed the alliance, said: “There are thousands of Americans working for small to medium US tyres companies whose jobs will be on the line if these quotas are put in place.

“Many US companies refuse to make our tyre brands anymore and now the unions want to cut off our imports. What’s supposed to happen to my company and my workers?”

The coalition is represented by law firm Jochum Shore & Trossevin of Washington, D.C., which has been talking to potential new coalition members and preparing some members to testify before the ITC when it has a hearing on the petition June 2.

Whether you live in Teversham, Cambridgeshire or Terre Haute, Indiana it pays to check you’ve got the right amount of air in your tyres.

During a global credit crunch everyone is looking for ways to save a few extra pounds so News 10 TV in Indiana went the extra mile to prove that properly inflated tyres can save motorists cash at the pumps.

They planned a round trip from Terre Haute to Vincennes to see what effect making sure the tyres were properly inflated had any effect on miles to the gallon. Here’s what they had to say:

“To find out how much your tyre pressure can effect your gas mileage, we lowered our pressure to 24 to 25 pounds.

“After traveling 63.2 miles to Vincennes, News 10 calculated their gas mileage to roughly 20 miles to the gallon with the low pressure tyres.

“Before heading back to Terre Haute the tyre pressure was raised to the normal 35 pounds.

“After returning to Terre Haute, News 10 calculated the gas mileage to roughly 30 miles to the gallon. That’s a difference of nearly 10 miles to the gallon just by having the proper air pressure in the tyres.”

So there you have it – proof that making sure your tyres are properly inflated can really save you money!

And what’s more it’s free – because many garages don’t charge for air!

Oliver Hall, Operations Team

By Alex Kapadia

Brawn GP ace Jenson Button used a two stop, super soft – soft – soft tyres strategy to win a fast-paced and tactical Monaco Grand Prix yesterday.

Car tyres strategy was particularly relevant in Monte Carlo, with the track surface evolving significantly over the course of the race making it even more difficult than usual to predict the best strategy.

Hirohide Hamashimi, director of motorsport tyres development for Bridgestone, said: “Today was very interesting in terms of tyre strategy.

“Those who started on the super soft Bridgestone experienced a bigger tyre performance drop off than those who used it for their final stint.

“The reason for this is track improvement, as the circuit surface was far more forgiving to the tyres near the end of the race.

“The level of track improvement could be seen by the race’s fastest lap being almost as fast as pole position.

“Jenson drove very well to get strong performance from the super soft in his first stint, and that helped him for his win.

“Four cars showed that a one stop strategy was a viable option here. There were many interesting strategies throughout the field today.”

A fire which destroyed 10 tonnes of tyres in a ravine off a lay-by near Cardiff yesterday was probably started deliberately, according to fire fighters.

Nine fire appliances arrived to battle the blaze which sent a huge plume of black smoke rising over the city.

Fire officers believe flytippers dumped the tyres and they were set alight deliberately.

At the height of the blaze32 firefighters tackled the blaze while South Wales Police controlled the traffic.

They had to use foam to cover the tyres and help bring the blaze under control.

Group Manager John Brewer from the South Wales Fire and Rescue Service said the blaze could have been worse had it spread.

John Brewer from South Wales Fire and Rescue Service urges people to take unwanted items to refuse tips rather than dump them.

He said: “With the smoke and the woods behind us it could have turned in to a significant fire. I am sure it has been set alight deliberately.”

Mr Brewer added that he believed the tyres had been dumped in the ravine by flytippers.

“I can only assume from the location that they have been put there deliberately by individuals.

“And I would suggest that there has been fly tipping involved in this area probably over a number of months because there is a considerable number of discarded tyres down there.”

Katherine Clarkson

By Denna Bowman

Holidaymakers are renting overpriced “death traps” when hiring cars in the Mediterranean, according to the AA.

On the Greek island of Santorini the worst car rented by the inspectors had a missing nut on a rear wheel, while the front tyres were also badly damaged.

In Spain a 4×4 had half-inflated tyres as well as a windscreen wiper which was falling off and in Turkey, a 4×4 leaked oil and had damaged suspension.

The survey, which covered 60 car hire outlets in 12 resorts and seven countries, produced the horrifying results relating to the vehicles themselves and also the paperwork.

Inspectors were twice overcharged on their credit cards. There were a number of other occasions when hidden costs were added to the bill, such as fuel.

In some cases rental companies imposed excessive costs for second drivers, which regularly approached £30. Child seats could cost as much as £20 to hire; in many cases they were in poor and dirty condition.

Insurance cover was inadequate with holidaymakers finding they had to pay extra to cover themselves against the car being stolen, the inspectors found.

Some contracts were not translated into English, adding to the confusion faced by holidaymakers.
The inspection examined car hire in Greece, Italy, Croatia, Malta, Portugal, Spain and Turkey.

“Overall the quality of cars was not too bad,” said an AA spokesman. “But where they were bad they were really bad.

“Holidaymakers, particularly at peak season when rental desks are hectic, are too often vulnerable to the potential for hire firms to accidentally or deliberately overcharge.

“Hiring over the Internet gives some opportunity to examine contracts, agreements and procedures before committing money, and arranging rental with a firm based in the UK provides some chance of getting to grips if a contract goes wrong.

“Otherwise, using a credit card, where there may be some support for a rip-off, and a video camera to film the outside of a hire car before and after driving it may be the only defence.”

By Alex Kapadia

After a flying start and a great race, Rubens Barrichello had to settle for a second consecutive second place finish in Monaco behind Brawn GP team mate Jenson Button today.

The Brazilian suffered with tyres problems – just as he did during the Barcelona Grand Prix.

After graining the car tyres he struggled to manage the deteriorating rubber on his car as well at the has his team mate – despite moving up from third to second position.

“Just like Barcelona I had a great start… I was able to have a run on Kimi and get second,” Barrichello told reporters.

“After that I ran at a tremendous pace. I was running really well behind Jenson but possibly just too close, because just losing that little bit of aerodynamic (grip) I was sliding a little bit more without the air in front and I grained the rear tyres.

“So from doing 1:16 (laptimes) I started to do 1:20s and Jenson gained three to four seconds a lap and that defined the race pretty much.”

He went on: “If you look back to qualifying, it was also defined then because, you have a great momentum when you start from the front.

“Nevertheless I had a great weekend, the car was perfect throughout. It was a pity we had the graining and then, during the second stint, my seatbelt started to get looser, so I had to start driving differently.

“I had a great time, though it wasn’t as easy as it looked from the outside. I’m proud of what we achieved today.”

Buying a second hand cars is something most drivers are familiar with, but do we use our common sense to make sure we get the best deal on wheels – like checking the tyres?

Netcars.co.uk has released a guide to getting a good deal and avoiding hefty bills down the road.

Checking the tread on the tyres to make sure they are at a reasonable and legal depth could save buyers hundreds of pounds if they need replacing within weeks of the purchase.

Also when buying second hand cars privately it can also pay to look carefully to ensure there is no evidence of rust in the body work.

And ask why the seller is getting rid of the car and whether it has mainly been driven on country roads or the motorway – constant rural motoring may lead to more wear and tear.

Documentation is important too, if you’re buying from a private owner ask to see a full service history. You may also want to pay particular attention to the MOT certificate, and the logbook, or registration certificate.

Pay particular attention to anything which looks unusual or out of place. A service history which is non-existent or patchy may indicate the car has undergone considerable work and may be an added risk.

The same points apply when you are buying from a showroom or dealer. The cars may be a more expensive, but you may get some form of warranty meaning repair bills are covered for a certain amount of time or miles, which can bring a little more peace of mind.

Oliver Hall, Operations Team