Yokohama Tire Company Compares Apples to Oranges
YOKOHAMA Tuner Grand Prix 2006 / 2, originally uploaded by jcd2007
And the oranges come out on top, since the apple oil infused rubber just fell off the wheel! (Well, I don’t know that for sure, but they might have)
Bridgestone maybe thinking about using dandelions to formulate their rubber tires, but Yokohama isn’t about to be out-greened, so they are considering using orange oil. Well, more than just considering. They have currently been testing out their new orange infused tires on a Porsche GT3 on the Sebring International Speedway… and they have reported that the tires are functioning beautifully!
The Advan ENV-R1 tires, as they will be called, are manufactured from a process that infuses orange oil into the tire, thus reducing the necessity of petroleum by about 10 percent. This technique is nothing really new, as Yokohama had actually first looked at the possibility of orange oil as a substitute back in the 80’s. Of course back in the 80’s the green movement was secluded to a couple hippies held up in Volkswagen van in the California area, so the technology was never really developed too far.
Today, however is a different story and companies are gaining new environmental strategies in order to gain the acceptance of a changing government and consumer. With that said, Yokohama promises that these tires are no gimmick and actually offers improved handling characteristics, due to a softening of the rubber, which improves their overall grip on the road.
We can expect to see the consumer testing of the ENV-R1 tires as early as this coming June. So far the Toyota Prius is a guaranteed test candidate for the new tires and several other hybrids have also expressed an interest. There is no word yet on the ultimate longevity of these tires, but we do know that once they have used up their useful life, they can be recycled much easier than the traditional type of petroleum tire.
These sound like pretty cool tires, but what I am curious to know, is would the air be cast with the fragrant essence of oranges upon laying out an over 2-minute long burnout on Youtube… hmm!
Source: Wired
