Bridgestone Japan has selected the AD Maxdura Tire Tag from Avery Dennison for use on its tires being fitted to cars taking part in the Grand Touring (GT) Championship.
The tire tag will provide the racing teams with a huge amount of new data, enabling better setups before and during races to improve overall vehicle performance. Each tag enables each specific tire to be identified, allowing teams and race organizers to identify which tires are being used. Furthermore, the automated process enables teams within the championship to optimize their respective logistics and inventories in real time.
In terms of improving sustainability within motorsport, the RFID tags will ensure teams are more conscious about reusing or recycling tire products. The use of the tag within GT racing comes as the FIA urges teams across the motorsport sector to make use of tires embedded with RFID transponders for cost and environmental reasons.
“We use RFID technologies especially for tire identification,” explained Nicolas Aubourg, head of performance at the FIA. “For environmental, cost, sporting and technical reasons, the tires are constrained by technical rules and the quantity each competitor can use is limited. Thanks to RFID technology, we ensure quick and reliable identification of each tire used in a competition; thus, we can then check that our rules are fulfilled by all the competitors.”
“The use of RFID in motorsport is just the prelude to a broader revolution in tire production that will affect the automotive industry more broadly,” said Lauri Hyytinen, automotive market development manager at Avery Dennison Smartrac. “Every year, some three billion tires are manufactured globally. RFID introduces new safety features that will make it easier to identify when a tire needs to be replaced. It will also help eliminate tire fit errors, make them easier to recycle and have benefits throughout the supply chain for manufacturers, wholesalers and garages.”
“GT racing is the ultimate test of endurance and durability and will provide valuable lessons as we expand the use of RFID across our ranges,” said Koji Terada, director of motorsport in the tire development department at Bridgestone. “We have chosen Avery Dennison based on an exhaustive evaluation process and found the read range a particular benefit since a wider number of pit crew can access data quickly. This timeliness can make all the difference in a racing environment where every second counts.”
