Bridgestone Tires for IndyCar Race Made With AZ-Grown Sustainable Rubber

It is not simply auto producers that wish to cut back their environmental influence, it is also half suppliers. Particularly, tire producers. Each main tire producer is trying to reduce the damaging environmental influence their tires make and Bridgestone is bringing its newest sustainable tire development to IndyCar. The alternate race tire for right now’s Music Metropolis Grand Prix would be the newest Firestone Firehawk, which makes use of a sidewall produced from sustainably-source desert shrubs.

The desert shrub in query is known as guayule, an evergreen shrub that originates from the deserts of the U.S. and northern Mexico. From guayule, Bridgestone is ready to extract pure rubber, after placing it by means of a prolonged manufacturing course of. The method is admittedly a bit extra intensive than with the para rubber tree (presently the most typical supply of pure rubber). Nonetheless, the cultivation time for guayule is shorter and it is a shrub that may develop in harsh, arid environments, making it a extra sustainable home supply of pure rubber.

The Firestone Firehawk, can even be the primary tire with guayule-sourced rubber to race in motorsport. “The introduction of guayule pure rubber to America’s preeminent open-wheel racing sequence speaks to the boldness we now have within the expertise and its potential as a scalable, sustainable and home supply of pure rubber—a significant uncooked materials,” stated Nizar Trigui, Bridgestone America’s chief expertise officer. “This milestone represents our dedication to realizing a extra sustainable future for tires, racing and mobility.”

One of many advantages of guayule is that it will probably develop even in excessive warmth, within the huge open deserts of North and Central America. It can be farmed with present row-crop tools, so farmers needn’t put money into fancy {hardware}. Not solely is it a extra renewable supply of rubber that is simpler and cheaper to farm, it will probably additionally drastically cut back delivery emissions and price. Having the ability to develop, farm, harvest, and manufacture guayule rubber domestically means not having to import rubber from Asia and South America. Much less delivery means fewer ships, fewer carbon emissions, and a decrease price.

It is a good step towards Bridgestone’s objective to make use of 100-percent renewable supplies by 2050. It is presently trying into the recyclability of guayule-made tires and methods to exchange different non-renewable supplies, equivalent to oil and silica. And displaying it off on monitor in IndyCar is a good suggestion, as it is going to get motorsport followers extra keen on such renewable, sustainable expertise.