Bridgestone’s super soft tyres proved to be the fastest rubber for the first practice sessions of the Singapore Grand Prix today where drivers tackled the slippery and dusty street course.

Sebastian Vettel topped the timesheets with 1 min 48.650secs on super soft tyres for Red Bull in the second session as lap times dropped rapidly with the track surface improvement during the course of the hot and humid evening.

However, Rubens Barrichello had been quickest in the first practice session with a 1min 50.179secs lap for Brawn GP on soft tyres at the marina Bay street course in Sinapore.

Hirohide Hamashima, director of motorsport tyre development for Bridgestone analysed the results of today’s running.

He said: “Just like last year we saw the track start very slippery. This was due to a dusty surface and no rubber laid down.

“We saw a few drivers get caught out by these conditions; however the surface improved a lot during the evening.

“The lap times today were around three seconds slower than last year, and I think the reason for this is mainly due to the circuit revisions which have re-profiled turn 1 and turn 10, making them tighter and slower.”

He added: “Lap times decreased considerably during the evening and we think that this will continue tomorrow.

“The constantly evolving surface makes it difficult for teams to find the perfect set-up which is a good challenge for them and could provide some interesting results tomorrow.

“The super soft is quicker than the soft however we do not have sufficient data yet to know the exact difference.

“Both compounds showed good appearance and we didn’t see any big issues with graining.

“We could see rear degradation on both, but this is likely to be due to the slippery conditions and this will improve as the track evolves.”

Alex Kapadia, Operations Team

By Katherine Hundson

Driver negligence, from not checking tyres to misfuelling, is hitting UK employers in the pocket, according to a leading vehicle leasing firm.

Company car misfuelling, windscreen damage, illegal tyres and vehicle downtime are the major cost burdens revealed by the study carried out by Lex AutoLease.

The results highlight the need for firms to work harder to tackle unnecessary costs hitting the bottom line.

The research shows that it costs on average £435 to replace a windscreen and £341 to correct a misfuelling error. In contrast, drivers spotting a window chip or crack early on could save their firm money with the average repair costing only £68.

Tyres too, are a major business headache with almost one in three (29%) vehicles running on illegal tyres that needed to be replaced immediately. This, combined with other general repair and maintenance jobs, means that the average company car is off the road for almost seven days during its rental period.

Steve Osborne, head of fleet management at Lex Autolease, said: “These are common, but very preventable driver error and maintenance issues that can either be eradicated or minimised in terms of the cost burden.

“Company cars are one of the most popular employee benefits, but it’s important that drivers don’t abuse the privilege and shift unnecessary costs onto their employer due to lack of concentration or absent mindedness.

“Firms should encourage drivers to treat their company car like their own property. Some of our customers disclose their repair bills to drivers to demonstrate the importance of looking after their car to ensure it spends more time on the road than in the garage.”

By Denna Bowman

Continental tyres have scooped the coveted Tyre Manufacturer of the Year and the Industry Advertiser’s awards at a ceremony this week.

The German tyres manufacturer picked up the accolades at the 2009 Tyre and Fast Fit (TAFF) Awards presentation, which formed part of the NTDA’s 80th annual dinner at the Manchester Deansgate Hilton

Accepting the Manufacturer of the Year award, Continental Tyre Group managing director, David Smith said: “We are delighted that our work and efforts have been recognised by the industry.

“I am particularly proud of my team who work hard to push standards forward and make us the leading brand in the industry.”

Continental’s second award of the evening was the Industry Advertising Award which was received by marketing director Guy Frobisher.

He said: “The Great Days Out marketing campaign was our biggest yet. It was a great team effort, from the marketing side with advertising, trade marketing, PR and online all working together to the sales team getting a record number of retailers involved.”

A third award went to Michelin tyres UK managing director Jim Rickard. His contribution to the tyre industry was acknowledged with the presentation of the chairman’s award.

Bridgestone have taken their soft and super soft tyres to Singapore for the only night race of the Formula One 2009 season this weekend.

This tyres allocation has previously been used in Monaco, Budapest and Valencia and will suit the requirements of the 5.07km street course which weaves its way through the Marina Bay area of the sovereign city state.

Hiroshi Yasukawa, director of Bridgestone motorsport, said: said: “Last year’s Singapore Grand Prix was Formula One’s first ever night race and it was a tremendous success.

“Singapore is an important hub in Asia so having a race here is very beneficial for enhancing Bridgestone’s brand awareness in the region. We are looking forward to visiting Singapore once more and seeing many more fans introduced to this fantastic sport.”

Hirohide Hamashima, director of motorsport tyre development for Bridgestone, said: “Last year was the first time we ran at Singapore and we learnt a lot.

“It is a street course so we will see a lot of circuit surface evolution and improvement as the track is first cleaned by cars running, then racing rubber is laid, meaning better grip. This makes finding a good set-up difficult as the track condition is a moving target.”

He added: “There are the usual considerations for a venue which is not solely designed for motor racing. This means we bring the softest tyres from our range, both of which are lower temperature working range tyres.

“Last year we saw that the track was quite bumpy. This adds an additional requirement for the suspension set-up as an uneven surface can bounce the tyre out of contact with the track, which means less grip.”

Alex Kapadia, Operations Team

By Denna Bowman

A priest is being forced to lock his car away at night after callous vandals slashed his tyres on three occasions.

Father Tony Sammarco, of St John Fisher Church in Perivale, west London, says not having easy access to the vehicle has affected his work visiting sick and dying people.

And replacing the tyres has cost him more than £200, according to the report in the Ealing Gazette.
Father Sammarco said: “Clearly someone has a grievance, either against the church or against me.

“It always happens in the middle of the night. That’s when people do their dirty work, so it’s going to be very difficult for the police to investigate it.”

It is thought a craft knife was plunged into two tyres in the most recent attack, on Sunday night.
A similar method was used to puncture another tyre on August 21, but a screw was used in the first attack, in May.

Father Sammarco added: “I started loosening the screw with a screwdriver and realised it was massive, three inches long. It had clearly been forced in.

“If they have a grievance, I’d like to talk to them, but if they’re damaging my car and I don’t know who it is or why, then I’m powerless. All I can do is take evasive action and park my car away from the church in a secure place.

“I need my car to make home and hospital visits. If someone is dying in the middle of the night, I can’t take public transport. Now it is going to take me longer to get to my car before I can go to see them.”

All the attacks took place between 9.15pm, when Father Tony locked up the church, and 6.30am, when he returned the following morning.

The nightmare continues for anyone who lives or works in the vicinity of the tyres recycling plant which went up in flames in Littleport last month.

Now they are being urged to keep their properties sealed as a change in wind direction is causing smoke to blow over the village.

Around 2,000 tonnes of tyres caught fire nearly five weeks ago at tyre recycling plant Murfitts, but residents and businesses are still being affected.

Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service is advising people to keep their windows and doors closed over the next two days as the wind will change to a westerly direction.

Deputy Chief Fire Officer Chris Strickland said: “Although we are keen to continue our firefighting operation at the pace we have been in order to get the fire out as soon as possible, we also want to ensure we do not generate more smoke through our operations while the wind is blowing over the town.

“Therefore we will continuously review the effect of the wind direction change and if necessary we will modify our operations accordingly.

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) is also reiterating its health advice to the people.

Dr Kate King from the HPA said: “The general advice remains that people should do all they can to stay out of the smoke.

“If the smoke is blowing in your direction you need to take shelter.

“Staying indoors with the doors and windows closed will provide a good level of protection.

“People should remember that smoke is an irritant, so it can make your eyes and throat sore.”

To keep an eye on the wind directions and other updates with the inferno, visit www.cambsfire.gov.uk.

Denna Bowman, Head Office

By Alex Kapadai

Bridgestone have announced the final tyres allocations for the remaining four rounds of the 2009 FIA Formula One World Championship.

The Japanese tyres manufacturer and official supplier to the F1 championship has returned to the allocation philosophy of leaving a gap between allocated compounds for the Grands Prix at Suzuka, Japan and Interlagos, Brazil.

However, consecutive compounds will be used at Singapore this weekend for the only night race of the season and for the final round in the 2009 championship in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Hirohide Hamashima, director of motorsport tyre development for Bridgestone, said: “We are pleased to release our final allocations. Singapore is a street course and based on our experience there last year we feel the soft and super soft is the best choice.

“For Suzuka we will have a gap in compound hardness. This will be an interesting return to this great circuit as half of the circuit has a new surface, so tyre usage considerations could be challenging.

“In Brazil we also stay with the stiffness gap. It can get very hot in Sao Paulo and we usually see a good race there, although I think we will struggle to have a race as exciting as the one we had last season.

“Abu Dhabi is a new destination for us. Although it is technically a street course, we are bringing harder compounds than we use at the other street courses. We feel that the hard compound would be too stiff for this new circuit, so we are bringing the consecutive soft and medium compounds.”

The US union that kicked off the whole issue surrounding tyres imported from China has taken another step towards boosting its domestic industry.

The United Steelworkers had originally called for quotas to be imposed on Chinese tyres because they feared the flood of imports was harming the domestic industry.

The Obama administration opted for imposing tariffs on the imported tyres, rather than placing restrictions, it is still seen as a victory by the USW.

Now the union bosses are urging American’s to make sure they buy USW-made tyres by checking the DOT code on the sidewall to make sure it is manufactured at a US or Canadian “unionised” plant.

For example tyres manufactured at Bridgestone/Firestone in Des Moines, Iowa will have the double-digit code VE/YE/YU or 8B following on from the letters DOT, while DOT BE identifies a tyre made by BF Goodrich in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

The union website states: “In addition to company brands, these codes will also appear on “Associate Brand” and “Private Brand” tyres manufactured at the above plants. The key, then, to being sure of getting a USW-made tyre is the DOT code. Be sure and check it with this listing.”

Oliver Hall, Operations Team

Land owners should beware of illegal tyres dumping scams which appear to be escalating in the wake of new recycling laws.

Conmen are collecting old tyres from garages for a small fee, then storing them on private property and leaving the land owners with huge clean-up bills, according to an investigation for the BBC Wales programme Taro 9 last night.

The scam has been gathering momentum since a recent EU directive which states that tyres can no longer be disposed of in landfill sites.

This means garages are responsible for paying a reputable recycling company to take them away and dispose of them legally.

But often the scams are so elaborate that the conmen produce recycling company credentials to convince landowners to let them store the tyres on their property.

Then the bogus tyre collectors do a moonlight flit, leaving the landlords to foot the bill for disposing of the tyres.

It is estimated that it costs local authorities in the UK around £1.65m a year to clear illegally disposed tyres.  But if they have been abandoned on private property it is the land owner that has to foot the bill.

In the case of one farmer highlighted by the news report, the bill amounted to a staggering £20,000!

Denna Bowman, Head Office

By Oliver Hall

US President Barack Obama and China’s President Hu Jintao have discussed their differences over America’s decision to impose a tariff on Chinese tyres, according to news reports.

A US official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity, says President Obama told President Hu that despite the decision to slap steep import taxes on Chinese tyres, the United States remains committed to free trade.

The report from Australia Network News comes as both leaders prepare to attend a summit of the Group of 20 nations in Pittsburgh later this week amid fears the tyre issue could overshadow their bilateral relationship.

Earlier this month imposed a tariff of 35 per cent on Chinese made tyre imports which prompted Beijing to lodge a complaint at the World Trade Organisation.

Beijing says that the decision by Washington violates WTO rules, however Obama has denied that it amounted to protectionism.

The WTO has raised concerns that the move could slow global economic recovery and that other countries may follow suit.