Tag: Pirelli

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Formula 1

No changes to Pirelli tyres for next three races

Pirelli Supersofts

Pirelli has announced the tyre compounds it will be bringing to the next three races (British, German and Hungarian Grands Prix). Despite coming under pressure from the teams to change the construction of the tyres, there will now be no changes until at least after the Hungarian Grand Prix.

And the reason for remaining with the status quo?

“This decision is due to the fact that the new tyres, which were brought to the Friday free practice sessions in Canada, could not be tested sufficiently due to rain—and that the teams failed to agree unanimously about introducing the changes,” reads Pirelli’s official statement.

Although, Pirelli says it has made changes to its construction process to ensure “delamination issue has been addressed.”

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Categories
Formula 1

Pirelli commences F1 testing for 2011

Pirelli

It’s been a couple of months since Pirelli was announced as the sole tyre supplier for Formula One. As such they’ve extracted Nick Heidfeld from MercedesGP, put him in a Toyota TF109 and started testing in earnest prior to the 2011 season.

Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery said, “We’re delighted to welcome Nick into the Pirelli family, and we’re confident that he’ll do a great job for us.

“The role of test driver is a crucial one, so we were looking for a driver who had plenty of recent Formula One experience, the speed to push our new tyres as hard as possible, and the consistency to provide reliable simulations, as well as the analytical skills to relay information accurately to our engineers. Nick fits the bill in every respect and we’re very pleased to have secured his services and obviously thankful to Mercedes GP Petronas for agreeing to release Nick from his contract.”

Hembrey went on to explain the 2009 Toyota was chosen so as to avoid any conflicts of interest with any current cars, “The Toyota was the perfect solution, as it is a contemporary racing machine with proven speed and reliability but without links to any of the manufacturers currently competing in Formula One.”

The new Pirelli deal will run for three years. F1 teams will get their first chance to try the new rubber at the short post-season test session following the final Grand Prix for the year to be held at Abu Dhabi on 14 November.

[Source: Formula1.com]

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Volkswagen

Volkswagen Australia launches Golf GTI Pirelli microsite

Volkswagen Golf GTI Pirelli coming to Australia

As revealed on AUSmotive last month the Golf GTI Pirelli will be coming to Australia.

Volkswagen Australia has all but confirmed the Pirelli’s arrival by launching a new microsite seeking registrations of interest. Indeed, if our sources are to be believed, there are already 300 of these Golfs in a Sydney warehouse waiting for delivery. Volkswagen’s silky smooth 2-litre TFSI engine has been tweaked to give extra performance with the Pirelli models now yielding 169kW/300Nm. All models are fitted with Pirelli P-Zero rubber and come with DSG transmissions—no manual transmissions will be available in the Australian allocation. Volkswagen claims the Golf GTI Pirelli will take you from rest to 100km/h in 6.6 seconds. Colours available will be Sunflower Yellow, Black Magic, Blue Graphite and Reflex Silver. Both 3 door and 5 door models will be available, although the allocation of each is unknown at this stage. Pricing is expected to be around $47,500 for the 3 door and $49,000 for the 5 door.

A screen grab of the Pirelli’s vital figures is shown below, or you can simply check out the microsite for yourself.

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Volkswagen

Golf GTI Pirelli treads down under

Volkswagen Golf GTI Pirelli

Although not officially confirmed, it is believed that Volkswagen Australia will soon have a limited edition Golf GTI Pirelli in a showroom near you. The GTI Pirelli was first announced at the Wörthersee show in 2007, and launched for UK sales in April this year. The model features a distinctive body kit and reworked 2-litre TFSI engine, yielding figures of 169kW, up 22kW from the regular GTI, and torque has been bumped 20Nm to 300Nm. The Pirelli GTI also features model specific 18″ five spoke ‘P’ alloys, wearing Pirelli P-Zero rubber, of course. The wheels hark back to the original 1983 Mk1 GTI Pirelli, with its ‘P-slot’ wheels. Styling tweaks continue inside with yellow stitching and some choice tyre tread patterned seats. Okay, then. Not such a successful addition. Never mind.

So how much will all this Pirelli bling cost you? Expect pricing to be around $47,500 for the 3 door and $49,000 for the 5 door, offset by the fact only 300 will be delivered to Australia, all fitted with DSG transmissions. Thankfully, other colours will be available in addition to the unique Sunflower yellow featured in these pictures. The extra colours are Diamond Black (or possibly Black Magic as is currently available), Blue Graphite and Reflex Silver, the latter two being familiar to the usual GTI palette.

Look out for an announcement at the Sydney Motor Show in October, in the meantime check out the original European press releases and more pics below. Or you can just muck around with the configurator on Volkswagen’s UK website.

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