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Tyre News
Ross Brawn and Jenson Button Make a Pit Stop
at Bridgestone's Technical Centre
HiQ Dorchester Treads a Tyre Safety Path
Bush Tyres Launches Flagship Spalding Centre
Jones Brothers Clinch Avon Tyres British GT Title
Ricciardo wins first Cooper Tire British F3 International
title
Maxxis-sponsored Driver wins British Drift Championship
Hi-Q Enjoy a Perfectly Pink Day at Brands
Around the World - on Avon Gripster Tyres!
Maxxis Signs up as Hamburg SV Partner
Latest Development of Avon Tyres Dominate
Classic Racing!
SVA Imports Ensures a Clean Sweep for Maxxis
Drift Teams
A & A Tyres Provide Lifeline to Local School
Ross Brawn and Jenson Button Make a Pit
Stop at Bridgestone's Technical Centre
 Brawn
GP Team Principal Ross Brawn and Formula One World Champion
Jenson Button took time out of their busy schedules recently
to make a pit stop at Bridgestone's Technical Centre, Tokyo
to meet, greet and motivate factory staff and tyre engineers.
The Technical Centre, which was expanded in November 2000,
is located on Bridgestone's 601,000m² Tokyo Plant site. The
site is Bridgestone's primary production facility in East
Japan, producing not only Formula One tyres but also passenger
car, truck and bus tyres, as well as aircraft tyres.
On arrival at the facilities, Ross and Jenson were greeted
by the Bridgestone Technical Centre management team and given
a brief overview about the site and its production capabilities.
Next on the agenda was a photo and autograph signing session
with the team responsible for Formula One tyre production,
before moving on to the centre's auditorium for a question
and answer session in front of approximately 300 staff members.
The day ended with a visit to the "Bridgestone Today" corporate
museum, which showcases a range of Bridgestone's rubber, tyres
and other diversified products. Both Ross and Jenson were
given a guided tour of the site where they learnt about Bridgestone's
corporate history, saw the world's largest and smallest tyres
and tried out some of the practical demonstration models.
HiQ Dorchester Treads a Tyre Safety Path
 A
team of HiQ fast fit experts attended the Royal National Lifeboat
Institution's public open day event to help save lives away
from the sea - by checking hundreds of motorists' cars in
a huge tyre safety drive. HiQ Dorchester joined with the RNLI
Flood Rescue Team's official safety partner Goodyear, sending
its workforce to the RNLI headquarters in Poole, where the
charity was showing visiting members of the public how it
saves lives at sea at its open day event. HiQ attended the
event to maximise car safety by checking the tyres of visitors'
cars and raising awareness about tyre safety issues.
A total of 350 vehicles, owned by members of the public,were
checked, and HiQ discovered 11 illegal tyres, and a further
39 near to the minimum legal tread depth. The day of tyre
checking coincides with HiQ's new 1-2-3 campaign, which aims
to rid the roads of an unnecessary danger.
1. One worn or defective tyre could cost you £2,500
2. Worn tyres add two lengths to your stopping distance at
50mph in wet conditions
3. Each tyre with a tread depth less than 1.6mm could add
3 penalty points to your licence
Bush Tyres Launches Flagship Spalding
Centre
 Following
the successful launch of its Bourne retail facility in April,
family-owned tyre retail group BA Bush & Son and its wholesale
arm B.A.B. Distribution has invested in a new, purpose-built
retail centre in Spalding, south Lincolnshire.
Opening on September 21, the fifteenth Bush Tyres retail
outlet is conveniently located off the Peterborough to Boston
road and is just a minute from Spalding town centre. Most
importantly , the prime site is opposite the Springfields
Shopping Outlet and Festival Gardens, which is one of Lincolnshire's
busiest shopping centres.
"We have been planning to move into Spalding for some years,
but took the time to acquire the ideal site and develop a
facility that will offer a retail experience akin to that
which people receive in the High Street," says director Thomas
Bush.
"The new Spalding centre is one of the flagship retail facilities
within the group and will provide a first class service to
customers, who will be able to drop off their cars and then
head over to Springfields to do their shopping while we fit
tyres and carry out any other work required."
While most tyre fitting businesses tend to stock between
200 and 1,000 tyres, Bush Tyres in Spalding has been purpose-built
with the capacity to stock 5,000 tyres, comprising the most
popular brands and patterns to meet local market needs and
including all the major brands plus value brands Maxxis and
Federal. The centre is expected to handle large volumes of
truck, tractor and industrial tyres in order to meet the requirements
of local hauliers and truck fleets as well as the area's farming
community.
Jones Brothers Clinch Avon Tyres British
GT Title
 Identical
twin brothers David and Godfrey Jones have clinched the 2009
Avon Tyres British GT Championship by a single point, in a
title fight that went down to the very last lap of the 14-race
season. The twins, who shared the driving of an Ascari KZ1R
in the series they first entered nine years ago, came out
on top of a battle that was eventually fought out between
their Ascari, the Ferrari 430 of Hector Lester and Allan Simonsen,
plus the Dodge Viper of Craig Wilkins and Aaron Scott - all
of whom went into the final event at Brands Hatch with a chance
of claiming the silverware.
Lester had gone into the weekend just a point behind the
Jones twins, with Wilkins and Scott a further seven behind.
When the Joneses won the first of two races, with Lester and
Simonsen finishing third, that put the title beyond the reach
of Wilkins and Scott but the battle was very much still up
in the air in race two.
From pole position, Simonsen pulled away at the front of
the field as Godfrey Jones started to move off the positions
behind. David did the same when he took over the control of
the car and eventually got up to third place - the position
they needed to clinch the title. Lester then took control
of the Ferrari and drove to victory, but lost out by a point.
In the GT4 category, which features less modified cars than
the main GT3 class, Jody Firth won the title in his Ginetta
G50, with a dominant tally of 11 wins from the 14 rounds,
with co-driver Nigel Moore finishing second. Avon Tyres' title
sponsorship of the Avon Tyres British GT Championship will
continue in 2010 for a fifth year.
Ricciardo Wins First Cooper Tire British
F3 International title
 Australia's
Daniel Ricciardo has become the first driver to win the prestigious
Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series, with
Cooper Tire & Rubber Company having taken up title sponsorship
at the start of 2009. Ricciardo, who took seven wins for the
leading Red-Bull-backed Carlin Motorsport on his way to the
title, led the standings from the start, and eventually clinched
the title with two races remaining. In doing so he became
the third Australian to win the British F3 title, following
Tim Schenken in 1968 and David Brabham in 1989.
"This is everything I've wanted since the start of the season,"
said a grinning Ricciardo, "and for it to come around a bit
early makes it a bit sweeter." The Cooper Tires brand took
over title sponsorship of the series in 2009 as part of a
three-year deal, and also took over the role of sole tyre
supplier to the series from associate brand Avon Tyres.
"If I can now follow in Jaime Alguersuari's footsteps that
would be great," Ricciardo continued. "I'm not saying I'll
be in F1 next year, but I'd like to be there in the near future.
That's my dream."
Maxxis-sponsored Driver wins British Drift
Championship
 Professional
drift driver Steve Biagioni of Maxxis-sponsored Team Japspeed
has been crowned British Drift Champion for 2009. Twenty-two-year
old Steve began his campaign in the Nissan Silvia S13 by finishing
second in the opening round at Donington and then posted consistently
good results throughout the year to clinch the championship
title at the season finale at the Llandow Circuit, 20 miles
west of Cardiff, on September 19
Hi-Q Enjoy a Perfectly Pink Day at Brands
 HiQ
has brought the HiQ British Touring Car Championship season
to a close in style, after helping to raise £10,000 for charity
in just one day. Staff of the nationwide fast fit network,
run by local franchisee Broadway Tyres, looked pretty in pink
at Brands Hatch when they helped generate the money for Breast
Cancer Care.
Thousands of pink HiQ Breast Cancer Care caps were handed
out to fans of the BTCC in return for donations, while collection
buckets were filled throughout the day. Donations on Sunday
October 4 exceeded £7,000, Broadway Tyres made a personal
donation of £1,500, and a group of BTCC marshals also showed
their caring, generous sides, raising £1,000 on their own.
HiQ topped up the final figure of £9,500 with a final investment
of £500 to take the grand total to £10,000.
Broadway Tyres' managing director Jonathan West commented:
"We think the charity fits perfectly with what we are trying
to achieve at HiQ. Not only is it close to all of our hearts,
but no fast fit company reaches into the family market to
help remove the intimidation associated with the fast fit
sector." Broadway Tyres operates 10 HiQ centres across the
south of England.
Around the World - on Avon Gripster Tyres!
 International
motorcycle traveller Sam Manicom has navigated his way around
the world on Avon Gripster tyres. The 50-year-old adventurer
left home back in 1992 on a brand-new BMW R 80 GS with only
three months experience of motorcycling under his belt. Since
then he's enjoyed adventures around the world, all of which
are recounted in his books 'Into Africa', 'Under Asian Skies'
and 'Distant Suns.'
With their enviable reputation for grip, performance and
longevity, Sam knew that Avons were the best choice for his
on-going adventure trips and with the 250,000 miles covered
by his trusty BMW over the years, more than half of that total
has been completed on Avon tyres.
He says: "With all the varied conditions that I was riding
in, you need a tyre that will deal with them all and still
give you good tyre life and excellent handling under the 'normal'
conditions you expect to face. This could be loose sand, gravel,
stone, dirt, mud, pot-holes or normal Tarmac."
 From
his time on the Avon Gripsters the best mileage he got from
a rear tyre was 10,000 while the best from a front was a staggering
21,000 miles! In all his adventures Sam only suffered eight
punctures in the eight years of his travels under extremely
harsh conditions. The only major problem was how to store
four-years worth of tyres for his trip!
"Thankfully my sister looked after them for me and sent them
to me when I needed them," says Sam. "She would also fill
them full of treats and sweets that I couldn't get wherever
I was in the world, so they were almost like 'Red Cross tyres'
which were a joy to receive!" With the highs, came the lows.
During his travels through 55 countries, Sam was arrested
four times, shot at while he free-wheeled through a road-block
barrier, arrested for driving without due care in Tanzania
after he hit a pedestrian who stepped off the kerb in front
of him. He also fractured 17 bones after riding into a hole
in the Namibian desert, caught Dengue fever and slipped three
discs on all his journeys!
"I was also told I'd never be fit enough to ride a bike
again - twice! This was thanks to the various injuries I received,
but I proved them wrong," says Sam. "And despite the problems,
injuries and the odd bout of malaria, the trips were also
full of amazing people. Every day I met someone unique as
a result of riding a bike and when something went wrong, something
amazing normally happened as a result."
Sam is currently at home in the UK publicising his books
and also writing a series of features for Motorcycle Sport
and Leisure on his recent exploits in Vietnam.
Maxxis Signs up as Hamburg SV Partner
 Hot
on the heels of agreements to sponsor Barclays Premier League
clubs Liverpool FC, Aston Villa FC and Sunderland AFC, Maxxis
International has scored another major football sponsorship
coup and is now a partner of Germany's Hamburg SV. Set up
by Maxxis International GmbH, this new sponsorship package
runs throughout the 2009/10 season and includes advertising
on the pitchside LED panel for the club's home matches in
the Bundesliga, Germany's top football league.
ESPN holds the rights to show Live Bundesliga games in 2009/10,
while Maxxis will also enjoy primetime TV exposure during
Hamburg SV's UEFA Europa League Group C fixture against Celtic
on November 5. ESPN, ITV4 and Five will be broadcasting UEFA
Europa League action during 2009/2010.
As an official partner Maxxis receives an allocation of six
VIP tickets for each of Hamburg SV's home Bundesliga fixtures.
It is offering these tickets to dealers and is in discussion
with Maxxis UK to make available tickets to some of the games
to Maxxis UK customers. Maxxis will also have a presence on
all sponsor boards around the stadium and in the HSH Nordbank
Arena stadium shop and the two club shops in the city.
The deal also entitles Maxxis to use Hamburg SV's logo for
a range of merchandise, such as T-shirts and caps, while the
club's newsletters will be Maxxis branded. Maxxis will also
feature prominently on the home page of the football club's
website, www.hsv.de, with a link to the Maxxis International
GmbH website.
Latest Development of Avon Tyres Dominate
Classic Racing!
 Avon
Tyres are once more the only choice for classic racing, following
some very impressive results. At the recent Goodwood Revival
the top ten finishers were all shod with Avon rubber, while
the top five were utilising a new race version of the 100/90-19
Roadrider on the rear, with an AM20 front.
Top slot once more went to a Fred Walmsley machine, ridden
by 1987 500cc GP champion Wayne Gardner. Fred remarked: "I
know this is classic racing, but I've been using Avons and
helping to develop them for the last 30 years. In all that
time, I have to admit this recent development is truly impressive.
In the past we've never had all the range of fitments we've
required, but now we can get Avon's latest in 18- and 19-inch
sizes which are perfect for us - and they suit the bikes a
treat! On classic machinery, no-one makes the original tyres
anymore, so you've always got a trade-off when selecting rubber,
but over the last 12 months Avon's products have really come
on."
Fred and his bikes are legendary in the classic racing scene.
Famous names that have enjoyed riding Fred's bikes shod with
Avon rubber include Barry Sheene - the 1976/77 500 GP champ
- and Damon Hill, the 1996 F1 champion. Fred added: "It's
a testament to the tyres that when someone of Wayne Gardner's
calibre races on them and has nothing but praise for them,
that is saying something."
Avon Tyres'Steve Smith explains: "Most of the machines at
Goodwood were running on 19-inch wheels - the same size that
these British bikes had originally. Earlier this year we experimented
with the 100/90-19 Avon Roadrider using a race compound and
it proved to be very successful as a rear tyre. This tyre
is now available for all and we have started work on a 90/90-19
Racing Roadrider for the front and we will have that ready
for the 2010 season."
Avon Tyres has a long and distinguished history in motorcycle
racing on two and three wheels. Avon manufactured its first
motorcycle tyre in 1911 and since then champions such as Geoff
Duke, John Surtees, Mike Hailwood and Barry Sheene have used
and won on Avon. More recently Avon riders have won 13 Supersport
and four Production class championships, as well as Isle of
Man TT victories on both three and two wheels - the most recent
of which was Dave Molyneux's historic 14th TT win at this
year's Isle of Man races in the Sidecar class.
SVA Imports Ensures a Clean Sweep for
Maxxis Drift Teams
 Maxxis
is celebrating a clean sweep of the top drift events held
in the UK and Ireland after Mark 'Buff' Luney in the Maxxis-sponsored
SVA Imports Nissan 350Z clinched the 2009 Need for Speed European
Drift Championship (EDC). Mark's victory at Snetterton (October
11) - a high speed course and one of the toughest circuits
of the six rounds contested this season - gave him the title
by a 25 point margin over Phil Morrison.
Pete Barber in the RX7, who also used the Maxxis MA-Z1 Drift
tyre in 2009, finished third overall and Declan Hicks, another
Maxxis runner in the Toyota Soarer finished eighth overall.
This superb result follows Dean Kearney's victory in the Prodrift
Super Series, a leading drift competition contested by the
best Irish and UK drivers, and the success of Maxxis-sponsored
Team Japspeed in the British Drift Championship. Dean took
the win in the Maxxis Tyres Nissan Onevia at the final round
of the Prodrift Super Series at Mondello Park, where the MA-Z1
Drift tyre performed extremely well in the wet conditions.
This, coupled with two second places and a Top 16 finish during
the season, enabled him to clinch the title by a single point
from Alan Sinott.
In the British Drift Championship Team Japspeed driver Steve
Biagioni claimed the driver's title while team mates Danny
Eyles and Shane Lynch finished in second and fifth respectively
and Nathan Chivers was runner up in the Semi-Pro class.
A & A Tyres Provide Lifeline to Local
School
 A
& A Tyres in Cardiff, part of Bridgestone's First Stop network
of tyre dealerships, has come to the rescue of a local school
who was at risk of losing one of its lifelines, a mini-bus.
The Hollies School, in Pentwyn, Cardiff, was at risk of losing
one of its mini-buses, simply due to the increasing cost of
running and maintaining the vehicle, when A & A Tyres stepped
in.
As well as replacing all the tyres on the mini-bus A & A
Tyres is funding all of its maintenance which includes servicing,
general maintenance and safety checks every eight weeks. The
company has also offered to look after the rest of the school's
fleet of vehicles for a significantly reduced rate. This has
enabled the school to keep the vehicle and ensure they are
all safe-guarded for the future.
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