Zoom Heavy rains dominated the 2007 Japanese GP

Bridgestone heads home for the 16th round of the championship which takes place in Bridgestone’s homeland of Japan at the Fuji Speedway.

Although the name Bridgestone may not sound Japanese, the company was founded in 1931 in Japan and the name is a translation of the name of its founder, Mr Ishibashi. Ishibashi, in Japanese, means ‘stone bridge’ (ishi: stone and bashi: bridge) and the aims for the company were always international, hence the translated modification of the name.

Today Bridgestone is the world’s largest producer of rubber products, so its yearly production of around 60,000 Bridgestone Potenza Formula One tyres is not so substantial when Bridgestone makes 16.9 percent of the world’s production of tyres.

Bridgestone’s Formula One tyres are produced in Japan in a special department of a production facility located in Tokyo.

“Our Formula One tyres are produced in a factory that makes passenger vehicle and truck and bus tyres, although in a special department with high security due to the advanced technology we use in our motorsport tyres,” explained Hirohide Hamashima, Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development.

The method of production for a Formula One tyre is almost the same as that of a passenger vehicle tyre. Whereas the manufacture of a tyre for a road car or commercial vehicle is a highly automated process to ensure the consumer gets the best possible product at the most competitive price, the highly specialised nature of a Formula One tyre and the relatively low volumes involved means there is a greater amount of human intervention in their production.

“When we manufacture Formula One tyres there is a lot of human intervention,” says Hamashima, “especially during the assembly process. This is a very important factor in making the green tyre, which is what we call the tyre before vulcanisation.

“Formula One tyres are made on a dedicated production line, but in the same factory which makes passenger car and truck tyres, as well as many prototype tyres. The machinery is similar to that used for making commercial tyres for the roads, but we do not see road tyres of the size we see made for Formula One, and the compounds used on a race track would not last long if we tried to use them on the road.”