Continental to Acquire 51 Percent of Matador Rubber Group

MATADORLIFE
completely the tyres, rims or even the
suspension. “It is absolutely incredible
that none of our three cars got a single
puncture in these conditions. The Izzarda
tyres very well absorbed the bad
conditions of the road and the rubber
did not suffer very much. The Izzarda
A mass of sand, blazing sun and uneven
terrain. All of that was prepared to
test the members of the Libya 2007 expedition
that recently ended with their
return home. The expedition attendants,
six Czechs and Slovaks, drove
more than 8 thousand kilometres on
various types of terrain and in various
extreme climate conditions. They managed
to conquer such difficult terrain,
driving Land Rover Defender cars shod
with MATADOR MP 71 IZZARDA A/T tyres,
which were put under real strain
during the journey.
“We consider it a great success that, during
the entire journey, which measured
more than 8 thousand kilometres, twice
only did we have to repair a puncture on
three cars. The tyres acquitted themselves
really well, whether by the quality of their
cord, correct balance of rigidity of the rubber
compound, good steering with extreme
under-inflation, and last but not least
by the well-designed thread pattern. Moreover,
on the way back home we were
surprised by a snow storm in the Austrian
Alps, so we also managed to test the tyres
in snow conditions”, says Aleš Vašíček,
one of the members of the expedition.
The expedition began with a fast transit
through Europe and was followed by embarkation
on a ferry heading towards Tunis.
It took us 24 hours to reach the African
continent. “When leaving home, nobody
really knew what to expect during next
few weeks. We realized what the real Africa
is like as late as when we passed
through Tunis, entered Libya and saw the
first dune field,. Everything that we had
experienced on our journeys up to now,
was scant preparation to what was to
come”, Vašíček said as he described his
first impressions. According to his words,
the expedition was lucky to be assigned
a desert guide. “At home we couldn’t
even imagine that we were about to go to
places where GPS, detailed maps or other
latest technical equipment would be no
help to us. Navigation in these places es-
tyre with its design and performance
meets all my expectation for a very
good All Terrain Tyre and I will definitely
recommend it for all assistance vehicles
for the next Dakar,” concludes Sujit
Angello Das, Tibau Team Manager.
MP 71 IZZARDA tyres went through
a baptism of fire
pecially follows an instinct that a man has
to be born with. We were lucky to meet
such a man, “old desert wolf” Suleiman
(58). A man who spent ten years in the Libya
army and has since earned his living
exclusively by navigating the desert.”
According to the members of the expedition,
describing the drive through such
a mass of sand is as difficult as describing
the Aurora Borealis. “You can tell the truth
and create an impression of kitsch, or try
to talk realistically and not catch the substance”,
Vašíček explains. According to his
words, the driving technique was most
important, as well as using the kinetic
energy of the vehicle and moving as smoothly
as possible, while not braking and
also avoiding sharp manoeuvres. “We had
to start from the top of one dune so that
the speed carried our Land Rover exactly
to the top of the other dune, where we
had to carefully stop, get over the peak
and with some thought continue further,
following the same pattern”. Dune fields
alternated with flat rocky areas called
“Hammadas”, which formed the unpleasant
part of the trip. The wind was blowing
non-stop and was creating a deformed
and wavy road surface. “The only way not
to shake the soul out of the vehicle and its
crew was to stamp on the accelerator and
maintain a higher speed until better terrain
or even worse rocks, appeared.”
On the European highways, the IZZARDA
tyres were inflated to a pressure of about
5
2.5 bar, on the hammadas to about 2.5
bar and in the dunes to about 1 bar. In extreme
cases of soft sand known as “feshfesh”,
the vehicle’s crews had to deflate
the tyres down to 0.6 bar.
“After such testing areas, with fully loaded
four-wheel drive expedition vehicles
riding on dry, wet and snowy asphalt,
sharp rocks, sand and dust, we have to
state that the Matador IZZARDA tyres stood
up to the task with perfect results and
we can only recommend them,” Says Aleš
Vašíček, a member of the expedition.
The Libya 2007 expedition set off on their
journey through Africa exactly 74 years
after the Aerosperox expedition, which
came through the Libyan Desert on cars
made by the aviation factory Aero-Aerosperox.
At that time, the expedition used
a miniature roadster with a two-cylinder
engine that had an unbelievable capacity
of 0.662 ccm.
MP 71 IZZARDA 4x4
A/T tyre - balanced
in all aspects
A well-proven tyre for 4x4 vehicles used in
road and terrain operation. The tyre MP 71 IZ-
ZARDA provides the balanced performance
when driving on road (60%) and off the road
(40%), it is characterised by improved performance
on dusty and gravel roads. Another large
advantage of this tyre is the excellent grip
on dry and wet surface, at the observance of
the low level of noise. The qualities of this tyre
are also proved by their success in international
tests that were published in Europe in the
international motorist magazines Autobild and
Auto Motor and Sport.
From the point of view of the use, it is specially
recommended for the owners of SUV vehicles
who expect balanced utility and driving
qualities on various surfaces: dusty roads, asphalt,
mud, snow, ice and sand.
In the development of MP 71 IZZARDA the latest
available research knowledge was used.
The tyre consists of two bearing carcass plies,
two steel cord breakers, a third spirally wound
breaker and a reinforced sidewall. The tyre
profile is optimized for equal distribution of
the specific pressure in the track, which results
in equal tread wear, good mileage and high
safety of driving on various road surfaces.