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Yokohama "Orange" Race Tires

Gourmet Rubber for the Discerning Motorist
Posted March 19 2009 09:49 AM by Doug McColloch 
Filed under: What's New, Doug McColloch

Because a breakfast without tires is like a day without sunshine.        


This is pretty cool. Today, when the Patrón GT3 Challenge by Yokohama kicks-off, each Porsche 911 race car will be outfitted with Yokohama ADVAN ENV-R1 orange oil-infused race tires. See, Yokohama has developed a process that combines orange oil with natural rubber to form a new compound called “Super Nano-Power Rubber.” Here, race team owner Alex Job, Yokohama corporate development guy Mark Chung, and Porsche Motorsport head Paul Ritche celebrate the new tire with a little love for three oranges. (Cue the marching band.)

In the ADVAN ENV-R1, the proprietary technology reduces petroleum content by approximately 10 percent and increases recyclability while maintaining the high performance levels of previous race slick compounds. Dare we say that these Porsche race rigs have been "juiced up" just a bit?

The technology was developed by Yokohama’s motorsports division in the 1980s and recently accelerated as a part of the company’s global environmental strategy. As a result, orange oil technology will be available to U.S. consumers – with fitments for the Prius, Civic Hybrid, Camry Hybrid, Accord Hybrid and other models. And since we've got hybrid pickup trucks nowadays,  too,we'd guess it won't be too long before we see some citrus-scented truck tires coming down the pike as well. Whether this means we'll be able to get rid of those crappy pine-tree air fresheners in our cabs to keep our rigs smelling fresh, we couldn't say, but either way, it'll certainly make us think about "peeling out" in a whole different way in the future. To learn more about the new tires, check out Yokohama's Website.



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