Recycling tires in motorsport

Recycling tires in motorsport

Bridgestone is providing tires for the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge (BWSC) that are made from 63 percent recycled and renewable materials. These were specially tailored to the special challenges of the 3,000 kilometer long route across Australia and represent the first use of the company's new Enliten technology platform in a motorsport competition. Naotaka Horio, Director Bridgestone Motorsports: "This competition enables us to present the new technologies under extreme conditions and at the same time, as the main sponsor, to support young talents and visionaries from all over the world in making an important contribution to the more sustainable mobility of tomorrow."

The tires developed with Enliten technology meet the extreme requirements of the over 3,000 km long route, among other things, through lower rolling resistance, wear and weight. According to the requirements of the participants, the company produces customized tires. On this basis, Bridgestone is further developing its tires with Enliten technology for the requirements of racing as well as for conventional use. Materials used include recycled organic fibers, recovered carbon black, recycled rubber chemicals, and recovered oil and recycled steel reinforcing material. In addition, the cruiser class tires were additionally developed using rice husk silica and carbon black recovered through pyrolysis of used tires.