Yokohama Tires display at the 2019 SEMA show
The outdoor Yokohama tire exhibit at the 2019 Specialty Equipment
Market Association (SEMA) show was very unique in its compact display of
Yokohama ADVAN tire-equipped race cars. ADVAN tires are race-inspired and
street legal, and allow drivers to experience exceptional handling with their high
performance sports cars.
In 2019, Yokohama Tire Corporation celebrated its 50th
anniversary in the United States. ADVAN
tires are manufactured in the US at Yokohama’s 1.2-million square foot Salem,
Virginia facility. Yokohama also has a $300 million one-million square foot commercial
truck tire manufacturing facility in West Point Mississippi.
The first featured car at the SEMA 2019 display was this 2006
BMW M3 E46 GTR raced by Tom Milner’s Prototype Technology Group (PTG) in 2006
with ADVAN 2005 series tires. During its 11 seasons with BMW, the PTG
partnership yielded titles in IMSA, the United States Road Racing Club
championship, the American Le Mans Series and Grand-Am Series. Powered by a
3.4-liter inline six cylinder engine, Team PTG finished in sixth place in the
2006 American LeMans Series GT2 class.
This Panoz Esperante GTLMe was one of two raced by PTG
during the 2007, 2008 and 2009 American Lemans Series seasons in the GT2 class.
Powered by 5-liter Ford V-8 engines, the PTG team finished seventh in 2007,
sixth in 2008 and fifth in the 2209 season final standings.
Also on display was the ADVAN 2006 Porsche 911 GTS Cup racer.
For the 2020 racing season, Yokohama is
the title sponsor and the ADVAN A052 series is the specified tire for the
Porsche Sprint Trophy USA West and Porsche Air-Cooled Cup USA series, as well
as the Porsche Sprint Trophy USA West Invitational.
This Yokohama display also included this striking display of
hoods with graphics showing the layouts of the tracks which challenge the
competitors in the Porsche GT3 Challenge Cup USA presented by Yokohama.
This is the 2018 Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport driven by Yokohama
brand ambassador Travis Pastrana to victory in the Porsche Pikes Peak Trophy by
Yokohama class at the famed Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in 2018 and
2019. The three-time AMA Motocross and
Supercross Champion, X-Game winner and stunt performer set the class-winning
time of 10-minute, 33.897 seconds in 2018 in this car equipped with ADVAN A502
tires.
Also on display was this Yokohama sponsored and equipped 2019
Toyota Baja trophy truck built by Racer Engineering.
No 2019 SEMA exhibit would have been complete without a display
of 2020 Toyota GR Supra this one of course was equipped with ADVAN APEX V601® high-performance
tires.
Check out the ADVAN website at https://www.yokohamatire.com/advan-tires
All photographs by the author who is a proud member of SEMA
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