By Denna Bowman

A breakdown service is urging motorists to give their vehicles a thorough safety check, including inspecting their tyres, before setting off for their summer holidays this year.

GEM Motoring Assist has advised vehicle owners to prepare their vehicles before setting out on their journey, by checking their tyres, brakes, windscreen wash, lights, oil and water levels to reduce the risk of break downs or accidents.

Airline strikes and volcanic ash have caused massive havoc and disruption for travelers already this year and GEM claims it will lead more holidaymakers to consider driving to European destinations or opting for a ’staycation’.

GEM Chief Executive, David Williams, GEM Chief Executive, said: “It is no surprise if after the fiasco earlier this year, more and more holiday makers look to drive to their destination instead of flying.

“This will however, mean a greater number of people on the roads that are unfamiliar with certain areas and the varying laws across Europe.

“It is extremely important that drivers realise the necessity to ensure their car has been completely checked before setting off on a long journey. There is nothing more frustrating than breaking down with a car full of luggage and the whole family onboard excited to get to their destination.”

GEM urges motorists to prepare their car before leaving on a long journey - check tyres, brakes, windscreen wash, lights, oil and water levels - and ensure they and ensure you have adequate car breakdown cover and the emergency number with you

In case of breakdown, GEM offers the following advice:

* Breaking down on the side of the road can be extremely hazardous. Consider you own safety first – if possible get your vehicle off the road and ensure all passengers are safe

* Place a warning triangle at a suitable distance prior to the scene and switch on your hazard lights

* If you are on a motorway switch on your hazard lights and pull onto the hard shoulder as far as possible and turn your wheels away from the road

* Wear a reflective jacket or tabard - it is now illegal in some countries not to wear one

* Call for assistance. The emergency telephone number in EU countries is 112

* If it’s warm and you wish to leave the car, exit with extreme caution on the side of the car away from the traffic

As the 2010 Formula One season reaches the home stretch, every race takes on increased sentimental value for Bridgestone tyres.

The Japanese manufacturer is bowing out of the sport as the sole tyres supplier at the end of the season - to be replaced by Pirelli - and the Hungarian Grand Prix will be the last time the Bridgestone rubber is laid down by an F1 car at the Hungaroring for the foreseeable future.

Hirohide Hamashima, director of motorsport tyre development for Bridgestone, said: “The Hungaroring is a challenging circuit even though it is one of the shortest on the calendar.

“We expect to hear a lot of discussion about the track surface at the beginning of the weekend, as the circuit is not used as much as some, so the surface is quite dirty for the first sessions. We can expect to see some graining on Friday because of this.

“The ambient and track temperatures are often very hot here, but as the surface is quite smooth and there are no very high lateral forces we don’t expect overheating to be too much of an issue if the tyres are managed well.

“Finding the maximum traction through the last corner is very important as it enables a good top speed on the short straight, leading into the first corner, where there is the main overtaking opportunity on the circuit.

“This is a track where Bridgestone came very close to winning a race in our first season in the sport, so we hope we see a good race in our final visit here.”

Alex Kapadia, Operations Team

Continental tyres are strengthening their ties with football to raise brand awareness across the globe by signing a five-year sponsorship deal with German Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich.

The agreement, which runs from the start of the next season through to 2015, comes on the back of the German-based tyres manufacturers sponsorships deals with the German DFB Cup, the North American Major League Soccer, the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa and the 2014 event in Brazil.

Nikolai Setzer, member of the Executive Board and head of the passenger and light truck tyres division at Continental, said: “We are delighted with the attractive possibility our role as exclusive tyre partner offers to link two premium brands, Continental and FC Bayern Munich.

“This adds a further component to our international football sponsoring strategy.

“Hooking up with Germany’s most successful football club and the one best known around the world boosts the image of the premium Continental brand as a tyre renowned nationally and internationally for its safety and braking performance.”

He added: “After achieving a further double victory and making it into the final match of the Champions League this past season, FC Bayern Munich now plays in televised Bundesliga action to a growing fan community in the millions inside and outside of Germany. This certainly includes viewers in growth markets we have targeted in Asia.

“The team’s numerous international appearances outside of regular competition further boost FC Bayern Munich’s very high degree of visibility in connection with our premium Continental brand.”

Denna Bowman, Head Office

By Oliver Hall

Bridgestone tyres newly developed flagship UHP tyre have been have been chosen as the factory fitment tyre for the new Aston Martin Rapide.

The Potenza S001 have been fitted as standard equipment tyres for the luxury carmakers first production four-door sports car since its launch in April 2010.

The Japanese tyre manufacturer proposed the new-generation Potenza S001 to Aston Martin because of the tyre’s remarkable response and precision, combined with high-level wet stability.

The 20” tyres on the Rapide (Front: 245/40ZR20 95Y, Rear: 295/35ZR20 105Y XL) were specifically developed with a higher sidewall to help dial out vibration and contribute to a quieter cabin.

Didier Schneider, Vice President Original Equipment, Bridgestone Europe, said: “Bridgestone is proud to partner one of the world’s greatest names in luxury sports cars.

“The Rapide is a true thoroughbred and one of the first sports cars to choose our new flagship Potenza S001.”

The Bridgestone / Aston Martin partnership started in the early 1990’s with the DB7. Since then Potenza RE050 tyres have been standard factory fitment on the DB9 and V8 Vantage models.

Reliving the motor-sport heritage of Potenza tyres, the new S001 has been developed exclusively for the world’s most powerful sports cars.

The innovative asymmetric design features stiff ‘high grip’ shoulder blocks enhanced by a lightweight active insert in the bead area, delivering quick-fire response and precise handling. The inner tread area is tuned for safety with Bridgestone’s premium wet pattern technology.

The tyre also has a lighter belt construction and lower rolling resistance than previous Potenza generations, helping to increase fuel efficiency.

By Alex Kapadia

Pirelli has started testing its prototype tyres for the 2011 Formula One season, according to news reports.

The Italian tyres manufacturer, which is taking over from Bridgestone as the sole tyre supplier to the sport at the end of the current season, has run a prototype version of its new tyre for the first time in France.

Paul Hembery, motorsport director for Pirelli, told Manipe F1: “We’ve started some initial testing on a GP2 car and had the first runs at Paul Ricard. It was very successful and we’re very happy with the performance of the product for the first test.”

Hembery refused to be drawn on the identity of the driver who carried out the test, however, he did reveal that the company should know soon which car it will use to carry out further testing of its new tyre, with the 2009 Toyota having been mentioned as one possible option.

Current teams will have to wait until the end of the season to sample the new tyres for the first time.

Congratulations to Chris Anthony and his team at tyrepress.com for publishing the websites 20,000th story since going online in 1998.

The website offers unrivalled access to the world’s latest tyre business news, making it an invaluable source of news and information for everyone involved in the tyres and wheel industry.

The e-Newsletter is sent out under the umbrella of the industry’s leading magazine Tyres and Accessories, edited by Chris, which has a circulation of 7,000 copies sent out every month to all the European industry’s leading decision makers.

The website started out with only occasional reports on major news stories, but now tyrepress.com publishes between 10 and 15 stories every working day – a number so substantial that the site has at the time of writing published another 100 stories since the milestone was reached earlier in July.

Today the popular e-Newsletter is sent to the inboxes of 14,000 individual tyre and wheel industry decision makers every working day.

Denna Bowman, Head Office

By Alex Kapadia

Formula One team Force India narrowly missed being awarded a points penalty after a tyres blunder in the pitstop during the German Grand Prix yesterday.

However, the team was given a reprimand after the wrong tyres were fitted to their two cars, giving Tonio Liuzzi team-mate Adrian Sutil’s rubber and vice versa.

The drivers pitted again immediately to rectify it the mistake.

Sutil said: “It was always our strategy that, if after the start I had not made up places, I would pit on the first lap to change to the prime tyres and make up positions when other cars stopped later on.

“It was a good plan as you have nothing to lose when you are that far down, but there was some confusion in the stop.

“Tonio had radioed to say he was coming in for a front wing change and as we both arrived at the same time the tyre sets got mixed up and then I had to come in and pit again to get the correct set. Once they were on I got going and I could get quite far up the field but then I had to stop when the set went off.”

The rules state that “the use of tyres without appropriate identification may result in a grid position penalty or exclusion from the race”. However, the German GP stewards instead opted to give Force India a reprimand.

The decision means the drivers keep their positions, with Liuzzi in 16th and Sutil in 17th.

The narrower front tyres introduced to Formula One this season, are apparently being blamed for Formula One racing legend Michael Schumacher’s disappointing return to the sport.

The seven times world champion - admitted he’s not at the level he wants, partly because he’s unable to get the maximum out of the new narrower front tyres.

Apparently, the 2010 cars don’t suit the Mercedes driver’s more aggressive style of driving, where he prefers to turn in to a corner with massive front grip. Currently he’s not finding the downforce he needs. He’s losing out particularly in the slower corners, which require precision and technique under these new conditions.

Ross Brawn, his Mercedes team principal, has told BBC Sport: “He’s having to get used to feeling a tyre, controlling a tyre and finding the best way to get lap times from a tyre. He’s finding it pretty challenging and we’re not getting the results we expect.”

While another team source has told Jonathan Legard, the BBC’s Formula 1 commentator, that Schumacher can’t overload the tyres like he used to. It means he ends up fighting the car and over-driving to make up time which he can see he’s losing to his team-mate.

But with Schumacher revealing he is committed to racing for Mercedes in 2011, Legard adds that it may be the team will produce a more competitive car for 2011 and Pirelli, which takes over from Bridgestone, will produce tyres that Schumacher understands better.

Alex Kapadia, Operations Team

Bridgestone were delighted with the performance of their extreme allocation tyres during the German Grand Prix today.

The decision to use the super-soft and hard tyres introduced another element of excitement to the race - which ended in a second 1-2 win for Ferrari - with tyre strategy playing an important role for the Formula One teams.

Hirohide Hamashima, director of motorsport tyre development for Bridgestone, said: “Both compounds worked better than we expected. The super soft lasted very well. A good example of this was Jenson Button who was to gain position by staying on the super soft for his first stint longer than the other front runners.

“The hard compound did take longer to warm-up than we usually see with the prime tyre, and we saw evidence of this in the race with locked brakes, less grip in the corners and lower traction before it was in its correct temperature operating range.

“I believe that today was a good illustration of the strength of our development engineers in Japan.

“These tyres were designed before the start of the season, and we have many changes such as the narrower front tyres, and no more refuelling meaning heavier cars. Despite this, our engineers have produced tyres capable of working well with this season’s cars, even when we try an extreme allocation as we did here.”

Alex Kapadia, Operations Team

By Denna Bowman

A coroner has called for a ban on vehicle tyres which are more than ten-years-old after a mother was killed when the 13-year-old tyres fitted to her car failed.

Alan Crickmore raised his concern about the controversial issue to tyre aging after mother-of-two Nazma Shaheen died when the people carrier she was a passenger in was involved in the fatal high speed crash.

The Gloucestershire coroner said he will would be writing to the Transport Secretary calling for MOT rules to be revised after warning more lives could be lost.

Nazma Shaheen from Birmingham was travelling in a people carrier when a tyre fitted 13 and a half years ago burst and the vehicle rolled over onto the hard shoulder of the M5 near Tewkesbury.

Mr Crickmore recorded a verdict of accidental death and said he did not think she would have died if the tyre had been newer.

The inquest was told the M-registered Toyota Lucida people carrier was being driven by her husband, Umar Farooq Bahadur, on the northbound carriageway of the M5 on May 6 last year.

Between junctions nine and 10 near Tewkesbury, a rear tyre rapidly deflated, the Toyota veered right and then left onto the hard shoulder. It clipped a kerb and rolled over, throwing Mrs Shaheen clear of the vehicle.

She suffered fatal head and abdominal injuries when she landed on the hard shoulder.

There are currently no legal constraints on the ages of tyres but manufacturers generally agree that a tyre should not be in use beyond 10 years. Some companies limit the lifespan to six years, the inquest heard.