Continental to Acquire 51 Percent of Matador Rubber Group

SUCCESSFUL TEST OF A NEW
SPORT TYRE
The Matador Company completed another
successful test of the SM-20 sport tyre. This
time there were tested SM-20 tyres of the
size 200/650 R18. There were tested various
construction variants. The experts of the
Matador Motorsport have chosen for the
production a tyre, which stood the test the
best.
This time the testing was performed by Master
of the Czech Republic in Rally and winner of the
last year Rally Matador Tatry - Václav Pech with
his racing vehicle Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX as a
testing vehicle. “The tested tyre demonstrated
very good driving properties and convinced me
that it is reliable also when driving at high speeds.
Furthermore, it also had very good times,“
says Pech in connection to the test results.
“We are glad that we can introduce also this
size of sport tyre to the production, which in
comparison to its predecessor SM-2 had faster
acceleration by almost 1 second per kilometre,”
says Peter Novosad, the head of the Matador
Motorsport, who also revealed that Václav Pech
will start with this new tyre at upcoming Rallye
Matador Tatry 2007. It means that drivers, who
decide for this tyre, will be able to achieve very
good results in a competition.
Matador Motorsport tested new tyre in Běla
pod Bezdědem in the Czech Republic – on the
same place where Jan Kopecký, driver of the
Matador Motorsport in the serial World Rallye
Championship, tests his tyres.
MATADOR TESTED THE NEW
15” COMPETITION TYRE
Shortly before the start of the Matador Cup,
the company Matador introduced the new
competition tyre SM-20 of the size 15”.
A pattern of the tyre Matador 180/580 R15
SM-20 is similar to the tyre of the size 17”,
with which Václav Pech, the Czech champion
in rally, won last season.
The tyre with the SM-20 tread pattern replaces
the previous model SM-2 and on the basis of
tests and speed tests it demonstrates unambiguous
improvement of driving properties in
comparison to SM-2.
Matador Motorsport tested the new tyre on
the part of the speed test “Hvozdná” around
Zlín in two different compounds: R3 – medium-hard
and R5 – hard. Chosen section was
suitable in particular for its asphalt surface,
where was verified the service life of tyres.
The organization of this test was a responsibility
of Miroslav Jandík, the driver of the Matador
Motorsport, who will participate this year
in the Championship of the Slovak Republic in
rally with new automobile Mitsubishi Lancer
EVO IX. “We secured the first test of this new
tyre in cooperation with Matador; this tyre is
designed for vehicles similar to Honda Civic
Vti, which we borrowed from the driver Tomáš
Marek for the purposes of testing. Drivers Jaromír
Tarabus, Tomáš Marek and Jan Jelínek
changed behind the wheel during the tests
and were able to compare the Matador tyre
with competition; Jan Jelínek used his experience
with tyres of the Slovak producer from
the last season. He ended up on the second,
silver place at the Matador Cup. During the
tests the technicians of the Matador measured
and analysed in particular temperature,
pressure and wear and tear of the tyre.”
The test confirmed that similarly as in case
of 17” sizes, the competition tyres of the
brand Matador will be competitive and drivers
using them will be able to achieve
high-quality results.
“I am glad I could test these new tyres as
one of the first people and I will be pleased
to participate also to other tests of tyres of
this brand. With Matador 180/580 R15 SM-
20 I plan to participate to the whole Championship
of the Czech Republic in rally,” says
Tomáš Marek, the Czech driver.
Technicians of the Matador will introduce
another sport tyre in April, which will follow
the 17“ size of the tread pattern SM-10 – intermedia,
thus completing the whole 15“
series designed for rally. Apart from this,
other new tyres will be introduced at the
Rally Matador Tatry 2007 in April, in particular
sizes 200/650 R18 and 190/620 R17 of
tread pattern SM 20 and SM 10.
A unique advantage of the Matador sport tyres
is homologation “E”, which means that
these tyres can also be used in ordinary operation.
6
MATADORLIFE
THIS YEAR, MATADOR
TESTED WINTER TYRES
AT TÁLE
The second year of the “Matador Winter
Grip” event this year took place in the Low
Tatra Mountains, at Tále. This time, Matador
tyres were again tested on difficult,
snowy terrain, even though the weather
was not at all conducive to this event.
Temperatures above zero and rain in the
days leading up to the event complicated
the well-prepared terrain, but the organizers
found a solution so that the tyres
were able to be tested in the end on snow
and ice. Participants at the event had the
opportunity to experience interesting, and
certainly also fun, adrenaline attractions
with the test cars, which this year included
vehicles from Mercedes, Škoda, Seat,
Jeep, KIA and Honda.
NORDICCA tyres were this time tested on
difficult terrain. The test drives included
slalom, road circuit and off-road routes.
Guests at the event and journalists from
around Europe had the opportunity to
show their skills by driving and mastering
the difficult terrain in a timed slalom. In
the opinion of the test participants, the
tyres managed to master any traps and
obstructions to an excellent degree. Foreign
experts from the media in the Czech
Republic, Croatia, Great Britain, Germany
and Russia, were also satisfied.
The event’s program did not, however,
only include test drives, but also many
other attractions for the participants of
Matador Winter Grip 2007, particularly
dog-teams, a grill party, fire show, evening
skiing and snow-tubing.
This year’s Matador Winter Grip 2007 was
divided into two parts. The first one took
place during 16 – 18 February and was organized
for journalists from around Europe
and for the business partners of the
M-Machinery and M-Rubber Research Institute
divisions, and the second one during
18 – 21 February for the business
partners of the M-Pneu division.