After 20 years in the automotive industry, including a 10 year tenure managing various tyre retail outlets around Victoria, Michael a qualified motor mechanic, joins the JAXQuickfit family as owner of the new Preston Franchise.

“I am truly thrilled to be part of the JAXQuickfit network, my wife and I have long wanted to run our own business, and to me the JAXQuickfit brand is the industry benchmark.”

“As we began our research, we came across this location and immediately thought it would make an ideal premises, I called JAXQuickfit only to be told that they had already secured the site, and from then on everything just fell into place,”

The Preston store will offer customers JAXQuickfit’s extensive range of tyres and wheels together with steering, brake and suspension servicing.

The new store is equipped with the latest state-of-the art tyre servicing technology, including the JAXQuickfit BOS Balance Optimisation System, a premium balance guaranteeing the smoothest driving possible.

Five staff in total will service customer needs which in the busy Preston area will include passenger, four wheel drive, vans, fleet and light truck.

“We are in a high traffic area, our central location just five minutes away from Northland Shopping Centre will keep us extremely busy.”

Fiona, a qualified book keeper, has been instrumental in the floor plan of the new tyre site, providing a females perspective.

“The layout of the store and provisions for a comfortable waiting area have been carefully considered for servicing all customer types, but especially for females,” Fiona Failla said.

“Females, make up a large section of the tyre buying public, and our aim is to make them feel as comfortable and informed as possible in what is traditionally viewed as a male dominated industry,”

JAXQuickfit’s newest store features the JAXQuickfit wheel tyre selector offering advice and recommendation based on vehicle type.

The waiting room is fully equipped with a coffee machine, TV, and a selection of magazines to suit a variety of reading tastes and for those who prefer to shop, a free shuttle service will operate between the store and nearby Northland Shopping Centre.

Australian-owned JAXQuickfit Tyres is unique in representing the top five global manufacturing giants of the tyre industry, including quality and high performance passenger car, light truck and four-wheel-drive tyre brands … BFGoodrich, Bridgestone,Continental, Dunlop, Goodyear, Michelin and Pirelli together with value for money brand options.

This enables it to offer customers a mix of brands that span the premium, major and budget market sectors.

In 2009 JAXQuickfit celebrated its 60th year in business. Nationally, the network serves more than 42,000 customers per month through its approaching 80 stores along the eastern seaboard.

JAXQuickfit Tyres’ (www.jaxquickfit.com.au) Preston store is located at: 3-7 Bell Street, Preston. Phone (03) 9480 3155.

For further information:
Jeff Board
CEO
JAXQuickfit Tyres
(02) 8801 3001

Continental Tyres has taken out top honours in the first tyre test of 2010, carried out by respected German automotive magazine “Auto Zeitung”

The ContiPremiumContact 2 earned top marks for safety in both wet and dry conditions, with test editors praising the product’s “superior wet properties” and “top dry performance.”

In total, ten products used for a variety of compact and mid-sized passenger cars all in the 205/55R16 size class were tested.

With safety given top weighting in testing, the ContiPremiumContact 2 proved the benefits of an optimised product offering which combines excellent braking, maximum grip and low rolling resistance over tyres that focused solely on significantly reduced rolling resistance.

The findings showed how the concentration by some tyre makers on low rolling resistance values, can inherently lead to longer braking distances on wet roads.

In a side-by-side comparison, it took the last- ranked tyre 5.8 meters longer to brake from 100km/h than the top rated ContiPremiumContact 2.

It was a case of double celebration for the German tyre manufacturer, when for the third consecutive year, Continental Tyres was also voted “Best Brand” in the ‘tyre’ category by over 20,000 readers of the same magazine.

About Continental:

With sales exceeding €24 billion in 2008, the Continental Corporation is one of the top automotive suppliers worldwide. As a supplier of brake systems, systems and components for the powertrain and chassis, instrumentation, infotainment solutions, vehicle electronics, tires and technical elastomers, the corporation contributes towards enhanced driving safety and protection of the global climate. Continental is also a competent partner in networked automobile communication. The corporation currently employs approximately 134,000 at nearly 190 locations in 37 countries

I have been racing at Bathurst for over 25 years and this race was up there as one of the toughest with the full four seasons hitting us throughout the 12 hours, but I am happy to say we got over the line in first place!

It is a real team effort driving in these enduro races, and our Dunlop tyres were a big part of that team. The Direzza DZ03Gs really dominated the race and to be honest, if you weren’t racing on them you didn’t really stand a chance of winning.

In other motorsport news, the 2010 V8 Supercar circus kicks off with a Middle East double-header this month at Abu Dhabi and Bahrain. The opener at the Yas Marina Circuit will be interesting as none of the drivers have ever raced on the rack before so there is no data to work with when setting up the cars.

Word I get is the track is very grippy and the teams I expect to excel are the better resourced teams such as FPR, HRT, and Triple 8 due to the depth of their engineering ability.

I think it is worth pointing out Dunlop’s engineering expertise as well in producing such a versatile control tyre that will be racing in Middle East on purpose built GP circuits, and then within a month will be back in Australia on the streets of Adelaide. It is truly amazing that it is able to perform on all track types and conditions with such success.

Capping off a weekend’s fast-paced racing, the team’s win in 202 laps and 1254.4kms in treacherous wet-weather conditions was assisted in no uncertain terms by the vehicle’s Dunlop Direzza DZ03G tyres.
Ken Wieden, Dunlop’s Motorcycle and Motorsport Manager said that Dunlop was proud to be associated with such success at the prestigious event.

“Having around 80 per cent of the field fitted with our Direzza DZ03Gs over the weekend was already a massive vote of confidence, but to have supported the entire podium to reach such success only further asserts the tyre’s superiority.

The Bathurst 12 Hour is not for the faint-hearted and we are very pleased to be associated with such high calibre performances,” Wieden said.

Representing the latest evolution in the Dunlop range of tarmac rally tyres, the Direzza DZ03G offers a symmetrical, directional tread pattern along with exceptional grip and excellent drainage capability.

Bathurst 12 Hour Results
1st Outright   Morris/Holt/Bowe  BMW 335i DUNLOP
2nd Outright  Wall/Wall/Symmonds  Evo 9 DUNLOP
3rd Outright  Seton/Crompton/King  Evo 10 DUNLOP
1st Class       C Keene/Morall Mazda3  MPS DUNLOP

This long term partnership between Dunlop and the FPR team has now been renewed for a further three years, until 2012.

“Dunlop is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of high and ultra high performance tyres with an impressive track record of motorsport success, so Ford Performance Racing is a great fit for our brand,” said Phillip Cavagna, Vice President of Marketing, Dunlop Tyres.

“It also reinforces Dunlop’s long standing relationship with Ford Australia and Ford Performance Vehicles to engineer and supply Original Equipment tyres for their new road cars.”

Winton Raceway’s V8 Supercar event in May is named as the likely event where only the ‘Sprint’ tyres will be used.

“After a successful trial of the Dunlop ‘Sprint’ (soft) tyre in 2009, V8 Supercars is proud to announce that for the 2010 Season we will be conducting one race meeting where all competitors will use ‘Sprint’ tyres only,” teams were advised.

“After the positive feedback received from teams and drivers alike, V8 Supercars expects this exciting new format to create close and entertaining racing at the circuit.”

In the remaining Dunlop SP Sports Maxx ‘Sprint’ tyre rounds at Queensland Raceway, Hidden Valley, Symmons Plains and Sandown, the V8 Supercars have also decided that teams will now only be able to utilise the soft option tyre during Sunday’s final 200km race.

The innovative technology fully demonstrates the tyre manufacture’s initiative to extend the usable life of the tyre without compromising on safety, giving superior value for money.

The award’s judging committee, which included senior editors and reporters, remarked: “The Chinese name of DuraPlus is Nai Cheng, which means endurance driving, meaning a longer drive life is the tyre’s leading appeal. We strongly recommend the tyre because it not only inherits Goodyear’s safety DNA, but is also highly endurable!”

Barry Gall and sons David, Peter, Craig, Ashley and Glen are all involved in the business,manufacturing some of the most well known custom designed all-terrain caravans, and since the start of their production, first choice Original Equipment tyre fitment has always been Goodyear Wranglers.

For over 10 years now, they have also been packing up the camp gear, lacing on the Wranglers and hitching a van up to the LandCruiser to head out and document some of the most remote travels possible in Australia and produce popular ‘warts and all’ style adventure DVDs.

Over this time 7 titles have been produced and, after a two year break for them from the cameras, 2010 will mark their much anticipated 8th release “Crossin’ the Canning”, which was filmed in late 2009.

Their latest trip starts from Brisbane heading up around the Gulf and on to the Northern Territory’s Shady Camp for a rarely seen mullet spawn through a weir thick with waiting Saltwater Crocodiles. After some Barramundi fishing they then headed back to the Daly River and on to Western Australia’s Kimberley region via the Gibb River Road and of course through the red dunes of the Canning Stock Route from wells 51 to 36.

The Gall Boys have certainly put their tyres through their paces over the years, including this most recent epic adventure, and with such great performance and reliability from their Goodyear Wranglers; they are always their number one choice when setting out on remote travels.