The arrival at the milestone was celebrated by company management, workers and invited guests; with the tyre at the centre of the festivities, a Bridgestone Dueler A/T RH-S, signed by all who attended the celebration and will be displayed in the plant’s lobby.

“Our teammates here in Aiken are dedicated to making the best products possible every day,” said plant manager John Stewart at the commemorative event.

“It’s a reflection of our company’s global philosophy, which we call the Bridgestone Way. We have upheld the same commitment to excellence now for 100 million tyres, and we plan to do the same for 100 million more.”

The Aiken County facility began operations in 1999 and currently employs 950 workers. In 2011, the company announced two phases of expansion for the plant; representing a capacity increase of 37,750 tyres per day or 13.4 million tyres annually and an increase in employment with more than 300 additional full-time and contractor jobs available when fully completed in 2015.

Developed for sports cars and sporting saloons, the new tyre expands the P Zero range, and marks the first in a series of highly specialised Pirelli road car tyres, ensuring the maximum level of performance even after long distances.

According to Pirelli: “Thanks to the same processes that are used in Formula One, Pirelli underlines some of the key characteristics of the entire P Zero range through the new Silver – with the emphasis on durability.

“The structure, compound and tread pattern design of the Silver have been developed to resist any deformation in the tyre’s profile, lengthening the tyre’s life and extending the consistency of its performance.

“The Silver has been conceived for drivers who enjoy performance and use their cars frequently. The P Zero Silver is particularly designed for people who drive their cars every day and cover more than 20,000 kilometres per year, mostly on motorways.”

This latest road tyre from the famous P Zero range shares the same mathematical modelling process with its Formula One equivalent. In particular, the design and development took place using the same state-of-the-art computer simulation, which allows the tyre’s performance and behaviour to be assessed under an extremely wide range of conditions.

The P Zero Silver tyre is a limited edition only and will only be available in European markets.

Jerez, February 10, 2012

The new P Zero White medium tyre completed the most running in Spain with 1776 laps run (91 sets used), followed by the new P Zero Yellow soft with 1010 laps run (57 sets used) and the P Zero Silver hard with 594 laps run (33 sets used). Although the new Pirelli Cinturato Green intermediate tyre and Pirelli Cinturato Blue tyre was brought to Spain, it was not used as the weather stayed dry despite ambient temperatures that dipped to as low as -2 degrees centigrade.

The 2012 tyres performed in line with expectations at Jerez, but with most teams running brand new cars in different phases of development, it was hard to draw firm conclusions about relative performance.

Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery said: “The tyres performed exactly in line with our expectations here in Jerez. We’ve had a very positive reaction from the drivers and teams so far, who have reported more grip at the rear, fewer ‘marbles’ and a reduced lap time difference between the compounds as well as faster overall performance – which is precisely what we wanted. We’re happy with the level of degradation and we had no issues, as was the case for all of last year. But as the temperatures in Jerez were very low and the teams have also concentrated on other areas than tyres, it’s too early to draw any detailed conclusions. We’ll see more tyre development work at the next test in Barcelona, as together with the teams, we fully understand the implications of the latest rules. However, with all three of our available slick tyres having set a fastest time, it’s a clear sign that we are on course to meet our objectives.”

Lotus driver Kimi Räikkonen – who last drove on Pirelli tyres in the 2010 World Rally Championship – set the pace on the opening day, with a spectacular return to Formula One thanks to a time of 1m 19.670s on the P Zero White medium tyre.

Mercedes were quickest on the second and third days using their 2011 car. Michael Schumacher lowered the benchmark to 1m18.561s on day two with the P Zero Silver hard tyre and Nico Rosberg set a time of 1m17.631s on day three with the P Zero Yellow soft: the best time over all four days.

The Jerez test ended with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso going quickest with a time of 1m18.877s on the final day, again using the soft tyre.

Testing facts:

- During comparison runs between the new medium and the new hard tyre on day one, there was a difference of between 0.4-0.5 seconds, with better grip and less wear: particularly at the rear.

- The driver to complete the most laps at Jerez was Kimi Räikkonen, who racked up 192 laps on the soft, medium and hard over the first two days: nearly the equivalent of three grands prix.

- Most teams started off with short runs initially, before trying longer runs and race simulations for the first time as they expanded their development programmes.

- The top times on all four days comfortably beat the benchmark established at the last test in Jerez one year ago, where Rubens Barrichello went fastest for Williams with a time of 1m19.832s.

Testing numbers:

- Total number of sets brought to Jerez: 294 sets which equals 1176 tyres

- Of which soft tyres: 71 sets
- Of which Medium tyres: 105 sets
- Of which Hard tyres: 43 sets
- Of which Intermediate tyres: 38 sets
- Of which Wet tyres: 37 sets

- Total amount of sets used: 181

- Of which soft tyres: 57 sets
- Of which Medium tyres: 91 sets
- Of which Hard tyres: 33 sets
- Of which Intermediate tyres: 0 sets
- Of which Wet tyres: 0 sets

- Longest run:

26 laps on the hard compound
27 laps of the medium compound
20 laps on the soft compound

- Highest / lowest ambient temperature over four days: 20 °C / -2 °C
- Highest / lowest track temperature over four days: 26 °C / 0 °C

Milan, February 6, 2012

During a four-day test at the Andalusian circuit, from Tuesday to Friday (7-10 February) each car will have 25 sets of Pirelli’s new soft, medium and hard compounds available, along with the wet tyres if needed. Teams are allowed a maximum of 100 sets of tyres per car each year for testing purposes, and they are permitted to choose the compounds they would like to test within their allowance. None of the teams have nominated the supersoft compound for Jerez: the only compound to remain unchanged from 2011.

Experimental compounds for the 2012 tyres were tried out during some of the free practice sessions last year, as well as at the young driver test following the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. However, the regular drivers now have the opportunity to test the new compounds together with the new profiles for the tyres, which this year are much ‘squarer’ in order to provide a greater contact patch and deliver a longer period of peak performance, while maintaining an overall lifespan in the region of 100 kilometres.

The tyres have been designed to provide more grip at the rear of the car, following the latest changes in the aerodynamic regulations that ban blown exhausts for 2012.

Once more the teams will start from scratch, as all the compounds apart from the supersoft are new, with more visible colour markings. In the unlikely event that it rains in the south of Spain next week, the drivers will also get to try out the new Cinturato rubber: the designation for the intermediate and full wet tyres – which echo the name of Pirelli’s first Formula One tyres from the 1950s.

With the 2012 cars in different phases of development, and some new drivers as well, the emphasis in Jerez will not be on peak performance but instead on understanding the characteristics of the new tyres and matching them to the cars.

The 4.43-kilometre Jerez circuit has hosted both the Spanish and European Grands Prix previously, and it is a popular venue for Formula One testing due to its technical configuration and year-round warm weather. It was one of the venues that Pirelli used for testing in 2010, when the company was building up to its return to Formula One.

The track contains quite a wide variety of corners, ranging from slow curves to some medium to fast bends. The layout puts particular emphasis on rear tyres, which have to work hard to supply the best traction throughout an ample range of speeds. While Jerez does not result in especially high top speeds, every aspect of a car’s performance is comprehensively tested.

Pirelli’s Motorsport Director Paul Hembery said: “After a successful first season in 2011, we are determined to help provide an even better spectacle this year, which is why the entire tyre range has been renewed. At this early point, the emphasis for the teams is expected to be on learning the new tyres and it will be interesting to see which approach they take to that process. Last year, it didn’t take the teams long at all to understand the characteristics of our tyres, and while we are sure that this will be the case again, there will be less of an element of surprise this year, as to some extent the teams know what to expect from our products. This rapid pace of development and reaction is what makes Formula One our ultimate research tool, enhancing Pirelli’s status as the world leader in the Ultra High Performance sector.”

While the teams are testing the 2012 Formula One compounds for the first time, the brand new P Zero Silver road car tyre will also be launched in Jerez: the first of a series of specialised tyres from Pirelli that use Formula One technology. The P Zero Silver road tyre – the same name that is given to the hardest compound in the Formula One range – is designed to combine performance with durability, created for motorists who enjoy sporty driving and cover more than 20,000 kilometres a year.

As well as a name, the P Zero Silver shares Pirelli’s sporting DNA with the Formula One tyres, making use of the same sophisticated design technology that has gone into the tyres that will take to the track in Jerez.

Official VFACTS data released recently by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries shows that 76,783 passenger cars, SUVs and commercial vehicles were sold in January (up 4.3 per cent or 3,199 vehicles compared to the same month in 2011).

“This is an encouraging January sales results and provides a good start to 2012,” FCAI Chief Executive Ian Chalmers said.

“It’s mostly being driven by private (27.7% or 2,533 more than Jan 2011) and business (32.3% or 2,233 more) buyers of SUVs and car rental companies updating their passenger car fleets (up 55.6% or 838 compared with Jan 2011). This number of private buyers for passenger cars declined by 8.4 per cent (2,314) compared with this time last year,” he said.

Queensland continued the strong sales growth it displayed at the end of last year, with new vehicle sales in that state up by 18.3 per cent or two and a half thousand vehicles compared to the same period in 2011.

Toyota was the best performing brand in January with a market share of 18.3 per cent, followed by Holden with 11.8 per cent and then Mazda with an 11 per cent share.

Source: FCAI

The Italian wheel maker has served as a supplier to many top Formula 1 teams for a number of years, but this is its first Ferrari engagement.

In announcing its selection of OZ wheels, Ferrari described the 1971-established wheel maker as “an Italian company that is a world leader in the world of competition and the motor industry in general and in the field of alloy wheels.”

“We are proud to welcome OZ to the group of suppliers to the Scuderia,” said Scuderia Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali.

“The brand from Padua is synonymous with quality and reliability and along with these characteristics comes the ability to meet the demands of its customers who, in an environment as competitive as Formula 1, are always looking for maximum performance. This collaboration in Formula 1 will further strengthen the ties that have linked for many years the Prancing Horse and OZ in the world of road-going cars.”

“We are proud that Scuderia Ferrari has placed its trust in us,” commented Claudio Bernoni, president and managing director of OZ, who described the company’s selection as an “important recognition” of its work.

“OZ wheels have been successfully used in Formula 1 since 1988 – numerous race victories and championships underline OZ’s motorsport performance. This partnership with the best known and most famous Italian team represents for us the start of a new chapter in the OZ success story. Technology for the Formula 1 Ferrari was developed by OZ in partnership with Ferrari’s engineers. The wheels were optimised down to the minutest detail and achieve outstanding performance. With the historic yellow OZ logo we wish to provide a reminder of our first championship successes in the 1980s – a homage to motorsport fan and aficionados.”

The Italian tyre manufacturer has made all four dry-weather tyres softer and reduced the differences between them, in the hope of producing even closer racing.

Pirelli introduced faster-wearing tyres last year, leading to tight races, and now aim to improve overtaking.

Pirelli president, Marco Tronchetti Provera said: “These changes will provide more opportunity for passes and help make a better show.

“After the positive experience of last year, the teams asked us to continue providing tyres with the charactertistics that contributed to spectacular races in 2011.

“And this is what we have done, optimising the compounds and profiles in order to guarantee even better and more stable performance, combined with the deliberate degradation that characterised the P Zero range from 2011.

“We’re expecting unpredictable races, with a wide range of strategies and a number of pit stops: all factors that both competitors and spectators greatly enjoyed last year.

“The development work on the new compounds took place throughout the 2011 season, thanks to the impressive learning curve and reaction times from our engineers, who are ready to continue those evolutions during the season ahead.”

Pirelli has also reinstated the Cinturato name from the 1950s, with all wet and intermediate tyres featuring Cinturato branding.

The conference, was entitled “Driving Sustainability: a safe road to the future” and marked Pirelli’s own Sustainability Day.

Pirelli says the agreement underscores its commitment to develop production systems and products that reduce environmental impact, while increasing quality and consumer safety.

It also states these ideas will help to increase its efficiency, with significant economic benefits and “an additional competitive lever on international markets, above all in those where these features are called for by law and appreciated by the consumer”.

“To speak of sustainability today,” said Provera, “means first of all to speak of technologies which permit the constant improvement of our quality of life. The ‘old’ Europe cannot compete with emerging countries from the point of view of production costs and internal demand, but something which can ensure our future, without doubt, is being more advanced in our search for sustainable models of industrial growth. In this sense, Italy and Europe have developed points of excellence which they export to the rest of the world.”

The conference addressed the theme of sustainability; understood, according to Pirelli, as “an indispensable condition for a company’s future, which thanks to avant garde technologies is able to develop more sustainable and efficient models of growth”.

The company said the debate also encompassed the theme of the consumer’s role within an economic system, which in recent decades has seen profound changes in the models of development and market dynamics.

For Economist Jeremy Rifkin, the “prosumer”, the new producer-consumer, is the figure who will become ever more prevalent thanks to “distributed” capitalism, a complex figure who incarnates different and apparently conflicting interests with which companies must more frequently engage. Reconciling these interests will be a stimulus for companies to identify new models of more sustainable growth.

For Pirelli, growth also means responsibility towards the consumer, both through the protection of the environment and the development of ever safer products. Safety was, in fact, one of the conference’s central themes, with contributions from senior institutional, association, academic and corporate officials.

The UK sports car magazine, measured performance indicators including wet and dry handling, aquaplaning and braking using 225/40R18 sized tyres on a range of high-end cars.

Evo described Conti’s tyre as giving “an impressively complete performance”.

The magazine praised the ContiSportContact3’s abilities in wet handling and braking, with it taking top spot in both categories. Evo wrote the tyre’s wet handling was “masterful”, even amongst “some great performances on the wet circuit” by competitors.

The tyre set “the fastest lap time, [recorded] the highest lateral G, and [scored] the highest subjective mark, too – it wasn’t bettered.”

Evo summed up the tyre’s all-round ability: “Especially impressive was its stability – it barely acknowledged puddles that were registered by its closest rivals, and its traction was superb. “Amazingly surefooted and grippy; the limit is your nerve.”

Jonathon Hayter, product manager at Continental, said: “This additional win for the ContiSportContact 3 is an excellent endorsement for our product range. The ultra-high performance tyre has proven its worth yet again next to competitor products and has displayed its prowess in a number of disciplines including wet handling and braking.”

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