Pirelli launches the P Zero Silver: the first road car tyre derived directly from Formula One

The new tyre offers high performance and extended durability for sports cars and sporting saloons The P Zero Silver extends the P Zero range and introduces the first series of highly specialised Pirelli products, designed to meet a wide range of different motorists’ needs This tyre has been designed for drivers with a sporty driving style who cover more than 20,000 kilometres per year The P Zero Silver consolidates Pirelli’s premium strategy and reinforces the company’s position within the European market With track tests on the Monteblanco circuit and road tests on the demanding roads of Andalucia, Pirelli launches the P Zero Silver. This is the first Ultra High Performance road tyre to be directly derived from Formula One, developed for sports cars and sporting saloons. The P Zero Silver was launched at Jerez de la Frontera in Spain, at the same time as the first Formula One tests that mark the launch of the 2012 season took place. The new tyre expands the P Zero range, and marks the first in a series of highly specialised Pirelli road car tyres, ensuring the maximum level of performance even after long distances. Thanks to the same processes that are used in Formula One, Pirelli underlines some of the key characteristics of the entire P Zero range through the new Silver – with the emphasis on durability. The structure, compound and tread pattern design of the Silver have been developed to resist any deformation in the tyre’s profile, lengthening the tyre’s life and extending the consistency of its performance. The Silver has been conceived for drivers who enjoy performance and use their cars frequently. The P Zero Silver is particularly designed for people who drive their cars every day and cover more than 20,000 kilometres per year, mostly on motorways. The P Zero Silver will be produced in eight sizes, for 19 to 20 inch wheels, and will be available as a limited edition in European markets from April 2012. The Silver constitutes the ‘missing link’ between two of Pirelli’s most famous tyre ranges: P Zero, fitted as original equipment to the world’s fastest and most desirable cars, and Cinturato P7 – a best-selling, high-performance ecological tyre, which has triumphed in some of the world’s most demanding magazine tests. With the Silver, Pirelli is particularly concentrating on W, Y and Z speed ratings (i.e. for speeds greater than or equal to 270km / h) with 19-inch wheels. The European market in this sector has expanded by 260% in the last six years, with an average growth rate of 24%. These tyres are now fitted to saloon cars and medium-sized coupés, whereas in the past they were the exclusive preserve of exotic supercars. Formula One in the P Zero Silver. With the P Zero Silver, Pirelli allows everyday motorists to benefit from the main innovations and production processes introduced for Formula One. These sophisticated techniques ensured a consistent and rapid evolution of the tyres supplied to all the grand prix teams last year. This latest road tyre from the famous P Zero range shares the same mathematical modeling process with its Formula One equivalent. In particular, the design and development took place using the same state of the art computer simulation, which allows the tyre’s performance and behavior to be assessed under an extremely wide range of conditions. This virtual modeling allowed Pirelli to develop in record time a tyre that not only underlines the latent characteristics of the entire P Zero range – emphasising and improving durability – but also heralds a new collection of highly specialised road car tyres. These unique processes allowed Pirelli to develop its Formula One tyres in just a few months, recreating real race conditions in a laboratory. By applying these methods to the new P Zero Silver for the road, Pirelli’s research team has been able to create a bespoke tyre for motorists who need premium performance from their coupés and sporting saloons, even after driving long distances. The Pirelli P Zero Silver also shares new materials, polymers and resins with the Formula One tyres, together with new technologies for compound development and production, as well as the construction process. In particular, the new tyre will be produced using the latest MIRS technology, Pirelli’s unique robotised system that ensures the best possible quality and precision. The entire production run for the P Zero Silver will take place at the SettimoTorinese plant in Turin, Italy, where all the current Formula One compounds are produced. The P Zero Silver name in Formula One denotes a hard-compound tyre that combines durability with high performance. In exactly the same way, the roadgoing P Zero Silver tyre offers high performance, safety and increased durability, thanks to innovative technologies that unite the characteristics of the soft and hard compounds. This is a brand new concept for highperformance tyres, confirming Pirelli’s position at the cutting edge of product innovation. The vision has been turned into reality by Pirelli’s engineers thanks to the optimisation of the tread pattern and the unique structure of the tyre, which allows a more uniform distribution of the contact patch and guarantees even wear with optimal control under all circumstances. Pirelli aims to become the world leader in the premium sector by 2015, encouraged by consumer patterns that increasingly point towards high-level products. Between 2011 and 2015, growth in the premium tyre sector is expected to be 9.6% per year, compared to a standard growth rate of 3.7%. Pirelli is able to rely on a great experience in the premium sector, thanks to original equipment deals with some of the leading German car manufacturers arrived at through the company’s research and development centre in Germany. The importance of this vital segment for Pirelli is underlined by a budget that is entirely devoted to it, employing 1,200 specialised researchers worldwide.