Bridgestone takes a hike!

[donKey jote]

In terms of marketing and prestige, I can only really see the following brand being a good fit for F1:

x
y
z
Continental
...

not short term... Continental's management decided years ago to abandon motorsport and sponsor Football (Soccer) instead.
Worked for brand awareness (outside the US : ), but it'll take time (or acquisitions) to get back up to scratch !

[Daniel]

not short term... Continental's management decided years ago to abandon motorsport and sponsor Football (Soccer) instead.
Worked for brand awareness (outside the US : ), but it'll take time (or acquisitions) to get back up to scratch !

You've got to love thinking like this

Let's not sponsor something which is very much related to our core business! Let's sponsor football!

But then again it does say a lot about the state of motorsport when big brands don't want to take part.

[donKey jote]

Hoosier would love to have the contract. They already got jackets and caps!

http://www.hoosiertire.com/

hmmm... strange timing... Continental have just "joined a strategic alliance" with Hoosier
http://www.reifenpresse.de/news/alle...r-hoosier.html

[donKey jote]

Don't know why I chose Continental for my car.

I do know why the CPC2 is my choice of tyre

[donKey jote]

You've got to love thinking like this

Let's not sponsor something which is very much related to our core business! Let's sponsor football!

But then again it does say a lot about the state of motorsport when big brands don't want to take part.

it's what dave said before, plus common knowledge is:
"a bad tyre can cost you of the order of seconds a lap"

and that's what sticks, not "a good tyre can give you a large improvement"


Off topic but as I said, the Football marketing raised brand awareness more than any motorsport involvement would probably have done, and to a wider public - not just petrolheads

Not that I agree of course! In my opinion they/we should never have frozen the motorsport activities - but a new wind is blowing

[donKey jote]

I believe the lead bidder to replace Bridgestone would be Kumho, who IIRC considered bidding against BS a couple of years ago when the control tyre formula was set up. They've expressed more interest in F1 recently than the rest of the tyre makers combined.

yep

[AndyRAC]

You've got to love thinking like this

Let's not sponsor something which is very much related to our core business! Let's sponsor football!

But then again it does say a lot about the state of motorsport when big brands don't want to take part.

Hyundai are a classic case. Pulled out of Motorsport, and now are heavily involved in sponsoring Football; World Cups, Euros.....

[markabilly]

The new supplier will be in place in 2011 at which point we will have had a year of full fuel running. Not to mention low fuel qualifying.

U guys do not get it...as was said in the presidential races...."It is about the economy, stupid..."

No one tire company is eager to jump up and down to go replace Bridgestone......

be lucky to get Cooper tires to provide race tires.......or maybe PAY bridgestone to continue....

Should be clear with toyota now joining Beemer Honda and bridgestone......

the days of opulence have come and gone....just wish they would take 10 billion dollar race tracks like odube with them

[Jag_Warrior]

For my personal car, for a tyre of choice I would prefer Michelins simply because I have been using Michelins for years and they have a great reputation. And they are not even in F1. I would have to ask here what does make a guy choose a tyre for his car. Does anyone really care about Bridgestones participation in F1 when they choose a tyre?

Everything being roughly equal, yeah, I do pay some attention to a tire company's (or other component maker's) racing participation. I look at performance and wear specs and then choose from the group that meets those specs. If the price is close, I very well may choose the one that participates in racing series I enjoy. If I feel strongly enough, I may even write an email detailing why I chose their brand over a competitor's.

I've bought Bridgestones for vehicles in the past, but they weren't performance tires. My WRX came with Bridgestone performance tires. They were horrible - very low grip and very fast wear... fairly high price. I thought I'd decided on Michelin performance tires. Then a fellow at the track, who had an STI, suggested I look at Falkens. That's what he used and he loved them. He said any performance tire would have about the same wear rate as the Bridgestones, but the Falkens had MUCH better grip and more consistent wear... plus they were MUCH cheaper. That was about 4 years ago and I've been buying Falkens ever since. I'm about to order another set in the next few weeks. I've got Michelins on the XK8, but I don't drive it hard (or very often).

So long story short, I look at brands... but only when it makes performance and $ sense.

BTW, what's surprised me about the stories I've read so far is: no one seems to want this tire contract to supply Formula One.

[ClarkFan]

U guys do not get it...as was said in the presidential races...."It is about the economy, stupid..."

No one tire company is eager to jump up and down to go replace Bridgestone......

be lucky to get Cooper tires to provide race tires.......or maybe PAY bridgestone to continue....

Should be clear with toyota now joining Beemer Honda and bridgestone......

the days of opulence have come and gone....

Maybe they can get a deal to run the F1 World Championship on shaved Toyo RA-1s, just like Spec Miata does!



ClarkFan