Bridgestone bids farewell

21 Dec 2015

It was the end of an era for Port Elizabeth's Bridgestone tyre company when the final race of the production car racing championships took place last month.

The tyre company has a 25-year involvement in the series which ended with its final race at Zwartkops last month.

However, the company will still provide support for the other forms of motorsport in South Africa.

"Bridgestone has a long association with production car racing, from sponsoring a single car, to becoming the series control tyre and enjoying the naming rights to the series for eight years," promotions and advertising manager Jan Maritz said.

"The demise of production cars is the end of an era, both for ourselves and motor racing as a whole."

1990 saw Bridgestone join forces with fast man Robby Smith, who campaigned the Firestone Firehawk-branded BMW 325iS in what was then the Stannic Group N Championship.

It was an era when many competitors fielded road-legal cars, and it was commonplace to see competitors' vehicles arriving at a circuit under their own steam instead of on the back of a trailer.

The huge fields covered classes A to F, and it was in the latter class that some of today's multiple champions cut their teeth, particularly in the Opel Kadett Cubs which provided an inexpensive entry to motorsport.

Patience paid off for Bridgestone and Smith, and he lifted the Group N Class A crown in 1993.

Firestone-sponsored cars continued to rake in the championships, with Silvio Scribante winning Class E in 1996 and Shaun Watson-Smith winning Class B and the overall Championship in 1997, a year which also saw Grant Fletcher win Class E.

In 1999, Firestone became the control tyre for Group N circuit racing, a partnership that lasted until 2004 when Bridgestone's Potenza became the control tyre.

Bridgestone cemented its involvement in the series in 2007 by taking the naming rights, an agreement which ran until the end of last year when Bridgestone reverted to providing the series control tyre.

"We are proud that our involvement with the series included the modern heyday of production car racing in South Africa."

"Bridgestone will continue to support local motorsport, but we will always have fond memories of the production cars era," Maritz said.

Source: Herald

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