Ross Brawn and Jenson Button make a pit stop at Bridgestone Technical Centre02/10/2009

Bridgestone Technical Centre staff receive motivational Jenson Button visit

Brawn GP Team Principal Ross Brawn and current Formula One World Championship leader Jenson Button took time out of their busy schedules this week to make a pit stop at Bridgestone’s Technical Centre, Tokyo to meet, greet and motivate factory staff and tyre engineers.

The Technical Centre, which was expanded in November 2000, is located on Bridgestone’s 601,000m² Tokyo Plant site. The site is Bridgestone’s primary production facility in East Japan, producing not only Formula One tyres but also passenger car, truck and bus tyres, as well as aircraft tyres.

Button meets F1 tyre production team

On arrival at the facilities, Ross and Jenson Button were greeted by the Bridgestone Technical Centre management team and given a brief overview about the site and its production capabilities. Next on the agenda was a photo and autograph signing session with the team responsible for Formula One tyre production, before moving on to the centre’s auditorium for a question and answer session in front of approximately 300 excited staff members.

The day ended with a visit to the “Bridgestone Today” corporate museum, which showcases a range of Bridgestone’s rubber, tyres and other diversified products. Both Ross and Jenson were given a guided tour of the site where they learnt about Bridgestone’s corporate history, saw the world’s largest and smallest tyres and tried out some of the practical demonstration models.

Button pleased to meet Bridgestone staff

“It was fascinating to visit the Bridgestone Technical Centre in Tokyo on Wednesday and see what goes on behind the scenes. We were so warmly welcomed by the staff and it was a pleasure to meet some of the people who work so hard to design and produce our Formula One tyres. The Bridgestone Today museum was really interesting with everything from historic F1 tyres to seismic isolators for buildings and a rubber fin for a dolphin!”
Jenson Button, Brawn GP team driver

Thanks to Ross and Jenson

“We were very pleased to welcome Ross Brawn and Jenson Button to the Bridgestone Technical Centre. Ross has visited the facilities before for team technical meetings, though this was both his and Jenson’s first relaxed visit solely to meet production staff. Both Ross and Jenson made positive comments about our tyres during the visit and these comments will help to encourage and motivate our staff to continue with their hard work. Many thanks to them both for taking time out of their busy schedules to visit the Bridgestone Technical Centre, ahead of an important weekend for them in Suzuka.”
Hirohide Hamashima - Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development

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