Avon Tyres Will Use Only Ecological Oils
Avon Tyres company has announced that beginning from 2010 it would use “ecological” or “clean” oils for the production of the tires.
According to the announcement of the company the new tires will provide more ecological friendliness without sacrificing traction performance. Moreover, “tires of High Performance segment and of higher segments will provide even better traction performance”.
Beginning from January 2010 all new motorcycle tires sold in the European Union will be manufactured with the use of oils distinguished by the extremely low content of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). Avon has already fulfilled the necessary modification of the manufacturing process and all the tires will conform with the requirements of the European Community Regulation on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemical substances (REACH). The new material will be used for the manufacture of Avon Storm 2 Ultra tire that has recently premiered at the Carole Nash International Motorcycle & Scooter Show.
Peter McNally, technical production manager of the Avon motorcycle department, said: “We have worked a lot for the two previous years to carry out the transition to the ‘clean oils’ because if we want to sell our tires in Europe next year we have to make the alterations. The use of new materials made us develop new compounds for several models. In most cases the traction performance has remained unchanged but if we speak, for example, about Avon VP2 Xtreme tire the traction has become even better ”.
Sales manager of Avon motorcycle tire department also added: “Though the use of oils without the content of PAH is compulsory only for the European market all Avon motorcycle tires will be manufactured according to the new requirements as our company strives not only to manufacture the production of the highest quality but also reduce damage to the environment.”
Unique Michelin Tire Is Exposed At The National Corvette Museum
Austin Hatcher charitable foundation exposed a rare Michelin tire with hand-made tread at the National Corvette Museum.
Besides the tire the visitors can see the rear wheel of 2007 American Le Mans Series GT1 Championship Corvette at the museum that is situated in the town of Bowling-Green, Kentucky. The exhibit from the motor racing history will be kept in museum till the middle of January. After that it will be put to the auction the whole profit of which will be given to the children that have cancer.
During the 2009 American Le Mans Series Petite Le Mans championship the pilots of the Corvette Racing team, the guests of the Austin Hatcher foundation and celebrities had the chance to participate personally in the grooving of the tread of the unique tire mounted on BBS wheel. The whole event was called American Le Mans Series/Michelin/Corvette Racing Tire Groove Event. During one weekend a lot of people contributed to the creation of this tire. The tread has the logos of Michelin, Corvette Racing, American Le Mans Series and Austin Hatcher Foundation.
The rear wheel was presented by the Corvette Racing team. GT Corvette won all 11 racings of the 2007 American Le Mans Series championship with the Michelin tire mounted on it.
The tire was created with the help of the Corvette Racing team pilots Antonio Garcia, Jan Magnussen, Johnny O’Connel who participated in the racing on Compuware Corvette C6.R No.3 as well as Olivier Beretta, Marcel Fassler and Oliver Gavin who drove Compuware Corvette C6.R No.4. The manager of the Corvette Racing Doug Fehan also took part in the event.
TIA Plans To Make SEMA Show More Attractive For Tire Manufacturers
Tire Industry Association (TIA) and organizers of SEMA exhibition decided to find out how to raise the attractiveness of the show for the representatives of tire industry.
“We are sure that closer cooperation with TIA and meetings with the representatives of tire industry will help us shape the concept of the show to make it more important for tire companies”, - said Chris Kersting, the president and managing director of Specialty Equipment Market Association. He also added that both organizations would work together for better understanding of needs and requirements of tire industry to make the manufacturers sure that their participation in the exhibition would give the desired effect.
The number of potential tire buyers at SEMA 2009 was only 9,4% from the total number of visitors what made this group the second by size. At the same time, though 290 tire companies presented their stands at the exhibition (66 of them participated for the first time), their number dropped percentagewise if to compare with 2008 (constituting 5,1%).
“The economy influenced both industry and the exhibition, - continues Mr. Kersting. – We have retained leading positions within several years and are planning to perfect our show so it could be important annual event in which manufacturers will invest”.
Roy Littlefield, executive vice-president of TIA, also expressed confidence that the lowered number of participants could be accounted for by the problem with the identification of the tire industry place at SEMA exhibition: “Now it has become simpler to make the tires an integral part of the exhibition, and our organization is planning to position itself also as a tire exhibition”.
Answering the question about the opportunity of exhibiting commercial and off-road tires, Mr. Kersting said that the association “would consider all offers that could enahnce the attractiveness of the show”.
Bridgestone And Michelin Launched Sites To Help Drivers
Tire companies decided to help drivers handle the difficult winter conditions with the help of the Internet.
The Bridgestone company launched www.winterdrivingsafety.com portal in the USA. The site contains helpful advice and video with detailed instructions aimed at making winter driving safer.
“Taking into account cold snowy weather that came to many parts of the country most drivers started getting prepared to difficult and potentially dangerous road conditions, - said in the company’s announcement. – American department of Bridgestone together with its team of experts on operation of cars and tires in the winter period will help drivers get rid of the nervousness that they experience before driving in such changeable weather”.
The Michelin company also decided to give a helping hand to the drivers and presented on-line “Winter Driving Academy” where one can also get advice or choose winter tires.
There are also video clips with the instructions and animated sections that explain how to avoid danger when driving on snow-covered surface.
Canadian expert on winter driving Richard Shenard helped with the development of the site and acted in many videos shot for the portal
