By Oliver Hall

Two tyres manufacturing giants have announced they are set to increase prices across Europe from 1st April.

Bridgestone and Pirelli have blamed escalating raw material costs, particularly natural rubber, on the need to put prices up on their products.

Gerry Duffy, vice president of sales and marketing for Bridgestone Europe, said: “While we are making intense efforts to mitigate the impact of raw material cost increases, regrettably we have no option but to reflect a portion of the cost increase in the tyre price.”

Its price rises will vary according to product category and market, however, in most cases, the increase is likely to be between three and five per cent.

Pirelli will also be imposing a price increase of between four to six per cent on all car, motorcycle and truck tyres right across the European market.

According to Pirelli, raw materials costs have doubled over the past twelve months.

By Alex Kapadia

Persistent rain during the Forumla One pre-season tests at Jerez has put the dampners on gathering vital tyres data, according to Bridgestone.

Although all the compounds were available to teams for testing, it was mainly the wet and intermediate tyres that were put through their paces at the Spanish circuit.

Jun Matsuzaki, assistant technical manager for Bridgestone motorsport, said: “I think this is the most rain ever seen in Jerez, and on Thursdsay night it was almost impossible to leave the circuit as there was so much water on the roads.

“Fortunately, there was no more rain left in the sky so we had good dry running on Friday and Saturday which was very valuable.

“The difficulty with wet conditions is that they are never constant so there are too many variables to ain good date and develop cars.

“If it is raining, the circuit is getting wetter so lap times become slower because of this. If it is a drying track, there will be imporoving lap times due to the improved track surface, a change to the car, or use of a different tyre. This makes it very difficult for everyone.

“Also, logistically, we had to bring out extra wet and intermediate tyres to enable the teams to continue running in these difficult conditions.”

Matsuzaki said that using these tyres before the teams have been able to get good dry set-ups on their cars has posed problems.

“This is important to have,” he explained “as it makes finding a wet-set up far easier.”

The additional weight of the fuel loads in this seaons car also adds to the difference in wear.

Matsukai said: “Jerez is a circuit which has quite high wear so we expect better performance as teams develop better set-ups on their cars and at less severe circuits than Jerez.”

Now Bridgestone are hoping for better weather during the Barcelona testing sessions, which will give them chance to assess the performance of the dry tyres.

They are already the tyres fitted as standard on the Aston Martin Rapide and the Ferrari 458 Italia, now Bridgestone’s latest ultra high performance tyres are available in the replacement market.

The Potenza S001 tyres, which are designed for maximum sports performance and deliver high efficiency with reduced rolling resistance, are aimed at the world’s top sports cars and high-powered luxury vehicles.

Bridgestone claims: “Reliving the motor-sport heritage of Potenza tyres, the S001 is designed to give the world’s most powerful sports models even sportier handling and higher efficiency than the current Potenza RE050(A) it complements.

“With factory fitments on the Aston Martin Rapide and Ferrari 458 Italia, the Potenza S001 clearly meets the challenging demands of both heavier luxury sports cars and the new breed of lighter, extreme sport models.”

The Potenza S001 is available initially in 19 sizes (18” to 20” rims) in the replacement market throughout Europe.

Oliver Hall, Operations Team

Six-months-pregnant and stranded on a busy motorway after one of her tyres burst, the last people you’d imagine Denise Van Outen would want to encounter would be a couple of photographers.

But they turned out to be her knights in shining armour as they pulled over to join her on the hard shoulder and offered to help her change the wheel.

The 35-year-old presenter was driving to her Kent home from London when one of her tyres burst on the M20.

‘It was scary stuff,’ she admitted afterwards. ‘The tyre came clean off.’

Fortunately though, the two passing photographers stopped to help Denise, who is expecting a baby girl with her husband Lee Mead, change the wheel.

Suffering a blow out on a motorway can be dangerous and scary. Although sometimes it is unavoidable, there are precautions motorists can take to reduce the risk of it happening to them.

Give your tyres regular visual inspections to make sure there are no signs of cuts, cracks, bulges or stones embedded in the rubber. Also ensure your tyres have the minimum legal tread depth of 1.6mm and that they are properly inflated.

All these measures will reduce the chances of suffering a blow out or puncture.

Denna Bowman, Head Office

Aspiring Formula One team Stefan GP have had to cancel a test scheduled to take place in Portugal this week due to a lack of tyres.

The Serbian-backed team is still trying to secure an official entry into the world championship - however, Bridgestone, the official tyres supplier, are only contracted to supply tyres to teams who have a place on the grid.

Team owner Zoran Stefanovic said: “We cannot do the test at the moment and we are still trying to find a solution.

“We have no tyres and will not test on tyres that are not suitable for the car to go testing at full speed.

“We now need to see what our options are, but we definitely need to do something to sort this situation out.”

The team, which were scheduled to run their car at the Portimao circuit this week, have taken over the 2010 car design of Toyota - rechristened the Stefan S-01 - in the wake of the Japanese manufacturer’s decision to withdraw from the sport at the end of last season.

Stefan GP will almost certainly not be able to get hold of F1-spec tyres unless it gets an entry to the 2010 championship - something it has been pushing for for several months.

Fears are mounting about the future of Team US F1, which has asked to miss the first races of the season, and Stefanovic admits that he is still no nearer understanding where they stand.

“We are expecting that the situation will be clarified soon,” he said. “Everybody knows that some teams are facing certain problems, and we are looking to clarify this situation.”

Alex Kapadia, Operations Team

By Denna Bowman

A serial tyres-dumper, whose actions have cost tax-payers more than £1 million in clean-up operations, is set to be sentenced to a ten-year ASBO.

Malcolm Regan is also facing arrest after failing to return to the court where he blocked the judges’ car park with truck loads of scrap tyres.

Magistrates and district judges were left unable to get into Stratford Magistrates’ Court after 44-year-old Regan blocked the door leading from their car park with piles of worn out rubber.

The court heard that Regan is one of the country’s top tyre “knitters” and can link hundreds together so they can be crammed into the smallest possible space.

Regan has cost local authorities hundreds of thousands pounds and been linked to at least two factory fires.

Prosecutor James Trumble said Regan used the ‘knitting’ method when dumping tyres on the banks of Pudding Mill River, Stratford, and a warehouse in nearby Marshgate Lane..

Mr Trumble said Regan, who operated through his firms M&D Tyres and M&T Tyres, had cost the taxpayer more than £1million in clear-up costs.

Regan, who has also been linked to at least two factory fires, is accused of acting in an antisocial manner and is facing a ten-year Asbo order.

A delighted customer has praised one of etyres mobile tyres fitters in Leeds for service “above and beyond the call of duty”.

Philip Brown from Leeds thought he was in a tight spot because the wheel nuts on his vehicle had seized, but tyres fitter Manny soon had him back on the road.

This is what Mr Brown from Leeds had to say in an email: “I am writing to also inform Etyres that Manny took care of me above and beyond the call of duty.

“The wheel nuts were seized and Manny told me a place to go to get them taken care of. Later that day I got a call and all four tyres were changed after the wheel nuts were freed.

“He is an awesome chap with a good customer service manner and he got the job done. I’d have been in trouble if the car was off the road. Manny and Etyres took care of me and he should be commended!”

Etyres operates a convenient mobile tyre fitting service and because its overheads are low it passes savings on to customers with cheaper prices - up to 40% lower than the leading high street tyre depots.

Tammie, Head Office

By Denna Bowman

Continental tyres bosses are predicting a slight recovery in the passenger and light truck tyres markets for 2010.

The German tyres manufacturer is expecting to see 4% growth in North America and 2% growth in Europe.

It announced: “In 2010, we expect the global output of cars and light commercial vehicles to increase by around 7% as compared with 2009. It is still difficult to determine sales opportunities in the truck tyre replacement market, but many indicators here also suggest a recovery, albeit at a very low level.

“According to the most recent forecasts, the world economy will grow by up to 4% in 2010, but growth in Europe is expected to be only 1%.”

In 2010, Continental also expects the global output of cars and light commercial vehicles to increase by around seven per cent as compared with 2009.

Against this background, Continental expects to generate sales growth of at least five per cent in 2010 and a significant year-on-year improvement in adjusted EBIT in 2010.

By Oliver Hall

Michelin have appointed a new factory manager to head up operations at their tyres plant in northern Ireland.

Wilton Crawford has taken up the job at the Ballymena factory, which manufactures over 1.4 million truck and bus tyres each year, mostly for export.

Florida-born Mr Crawford has over 20 years of experience at Michelin, the majority of which was gained at five different locations in the US.

Mr Crawford said: “Having spent a large degree of my working life in the United States, I am delighted to be taking on this very important role in a European plant.

“I am looking forward to continuing the success story we have here at Ballymena and leading the factory to further successes.

“We do face some major challenges for 2010 given the current global economic climate, but I am confident we as a team here at Ballymena, will rise to that challenge and continue to deliver the quality, productivity and excellence that underpin all the work we do here at the Raceview Road site.”

Having opened in 1969, it celebrated its 40th anniversary last year and currently employs around 1,000 people.

Formula One bosses are reportedly working hard to convince Bridgestone to stay on as the sports official tyres supplier beyond this year.

The Japanese tyres manufacturer had announced its intention to withdraw from the sport at the end of this season for cost-cutting reasons.

Since then Korean tyre makers Kumho and Hankook have been mooted as possible replacement suppliers, but the latest report in Spain’s El Mundo Deportivo claims that they are not serious contenders.

While a Michelin spokesman said recently it “might consider” returning to F1 if the rules are further amended to demonstrate the tyres’ role in “fuel saving and C02 reductions”.

In the meantime, the teams are reported to be “very concerned” about the tyre situation for 2011, and El Mundo reports that about reducing Bridgestone’s necessary expenditure - currently around £48 million a year - are taking place.

The rules for 2010 have already been amended so that 11 sets of tyres rather than 14 are available to each driver per event.

The Japanese supplier has been continuously involved in F1 since 1997 and the official sole supplier between 2008-2010.

Alex Kapadia, Operations Team