"Every time a new car is placed on the market, the tyre engineers are given the far from easy task of creating its very own "tyre", in other words an item that best accommodates the car's specific requirements".
This could be mistaken for an excerpt from a press release distributed on the occasion of the launch, which took place a few weeks ago, of the latest new product from Pirelli: the P Zero. Just one name but many different versions for an ultra high-performance tyre which changes according to the characteristics and to the requirements of the premium and prestige cars it is destined to be fitted on.
So, as we said, these words could have been written yesterday but, in actual fact, these are the initial words of a short article on Pirelli's house organ Fatti & Notizie dating back to 1959.
So it is at the end of the 1950s that Pirelli's “Perfect fit” strategy began. It was only in 1966, with the launch of one of the cars destined to revolutionise the world-wide automotive industry, that this strategy took a concrete form. That car was the Lamborghini Miura and it was fitted with the Cinturato HS CN72 belted tyre in the 205 VR 15 size, with a tread design developed specifically for this car, in accordance with the “Perfect Fit” strategy. The Cinturato (Belted tyre) designed by Pirelli researchers for the car which went on to be named after the fighter bull breeder Don Eduardo Miura Fernandez, a great friend of Ferruccio Lamborghini, was in fact more silent and comfortable than the traditional CA67. So much so that the designer of the Miura himself, Marcello Gandini recalls, “at the time, the only type of tyre available for this type of car was the Pirelli 205/70-15”.
And, to quote him, 50 years later, we could say: the only tyre available today for the Lamborghini is still the Pirelli.
Yes, because since then the Pirelli-Lamborghini partnership has gradually been reinforced, marking some of the most important milestones not just in the technology of the Italian and world-wide automotive history but also that of society.
Indeed, very often the stars of famous Pirelli advertising campaigns have in fact been Lamborghini supercars. A very popular one from 1970 in fact showed the Miura as the testimonial for an advertising campaign on the first prestigious Original Equipment. The claim stated as follows: “The Miura has chosen Cinturato Pirelli”.
So how can you fail to choose to celebrate 50 years of this extraordinary car together with Lamborghini?
