”We arrived in Paris first, only changing two wheels”, went a telegram sent from the French capital in August 1907 by Prince Scipione Borghese. The prince won the Peking to Paris race at the wheel of a Pirelli-equipped Itala with a huge advantage over his rivals. For that time, on those roads, it was an exceptional result: achieved after 16,000 gruelling kilometres that punished drivers, cars and tyres. It was also an adventure that brought the public’s attention to the performance and safety of a product that would soon become recognised by the famous Pirelli logo that is now a well-known sight all over the world.
PIRELLI – 110 YEARS OF MOTORSPORT
Today Pirelli celebrates its 110th motorsport anniversary. And it does so in a way that marks how times have changed. Motorsport has been crucial to both car and bike tyres when it comes to developing technology. Pirelli realised this back at the end of the nineteenth century. Then the company’s founder Giovanni Battista Pirelli saw how motorbike races could act as a test bed for his road going products. And that’s why this milestone is being suitably celebrated in Turin’s national automobile museum
A MUSEUM OF GENUINE PRESTIGE
The collection of treasures on both two and four wheels equipped by Pirelli represent 110 years of competitive history. But they also provide a window into the present, where motorsport and road going products have a closer link.
Prestige is a philosophy. Success in races all over the world forms the shop window for the Pirelli products. The design of the brand’s shops and service centres responds to the specific and exclusive demands of Pirelli’s discerning clientele. The first of these innovative centres has been open for a number of months in Los Angeles. Others are ready to spring up all over the world.
DOORS OPEN TO ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY
Pirelli’s 110 years in motorsport have also provided an opportunity to open up the doors to the company’s advanced Settimo Torinese facility. Inside is Pirelli’s most state of the art technology. At the heart of the facility is the Next Mirs system. That is the most digitised industrial production system that currently exists. It represents the culmination of cutting-edge thinking and technology, patented by Pirelli. This is completely robotised and dedicated to the production of high performance tyres in sizes between 19 and 23 inches.
But Settimo Torinese is not only about complete tyres. The plant also produces compounds, including those used in Formula 1. And all this happens, as is the case everywhere else in the advanced facility, with the maximum respect and care for the environment, as well as the people who work there.
.@redbullracing shows up on the big screen and to let us know they’re excited to race on our massive #Fit4F1 tyres! #110Racing pic.twitter.com/jmAJugwhJF
— Pirelli Motorsport (@pirellisport) 14 February 2017
