Falken Tyres has partnered with DriveTribe and TV-presenter Richard Hammond’s video production company Chimp Productions, to produce a two-part film series to celebrate the Falken Motorsports Team and their tyre testing regime.
The film, which incorporates all the hallmarks of a mini-episode of a TV motoring-series, fronts Hammond as he goes behind the scenes to witness Falken engineers fine-tuning their racing version Porsche 911 GT3 R, at the Portimao race track in Portugal.
Part one of the film can be seen on YouTube as well as DriveTribe, the automotive social media platform founded by Hammond and his fellow Top Gear and Grand Tour presenters Jeremy Clarkson and James May. Part two, to be aired next week, will form part of the backdrop to a 3-month sponsorship of DriveTribe’s Motorsport section.
Falken Motorsports Team, who are 20-year veterans of the German Endurance racing series VLN and the 24h-Race, Nürburgring, were in Portugal to fine tune their racing slicks and build on a 2018 programme that saw them rack-up two wins and seven podium finishes.
Having experienced Portimao one or or two times before Hammond kits himself out in racing fatigues to see whether he can lend a hand on the track and put his own racing expertise to good use. What he discovered however, was a team of somewhat preoccupied engineers crunching mountains of data as they searched for the ultimate “temperature window” that enables the tyres to perform at their very best.
As Falken Team Motorsports Principal, Sven Schnabl drily points out to Hammond, “the tyres have to last eight laps or 125 intensive miles around the Nürburgring, with performance dependent on the tyres sustaining a few degree window that dictates whether they are switched on or off”.
Dennis Wilstermann of Falken said, “We were thrilled to work with DriveTribe and Chimp on the story of our racing preparation. The video, which captures the kind of sweeping cinematic shots and dynamism of an episode of The Grand Tour or Top Gear, describes the puzzles that come together when fettling or fine tuning a car.”
Commenting after the filming, Hammond said “We had a lot of fun making the video, driving some extraordinary cars. It was also humbling to see the science that goes into race preparation, trying to find tiny variances in the tyre compound that enable them to perform at their best.”
Jonathan Morris, CEO from DriveTribe said, “Motorsports represents one of our most engaged areas on DriveTribe, with content covering every major franchise as well as grassroots racing communities from around the world. The Falken video does a fantastic job in capturing that trackside atmosphere, telling the story behind Falken’s racing team and the thought that goes into their product development.”
“Working with Richard Hammond’s production company Chimp enabled us to tap into some of the most talented and experienced film-makers in the business, delivering a level of production quality that could easily compete with the very best TV motor shows.”
