Nova Motorsport produces first tires at Portugal facility

Palmeira, Portugal – Nova Motorsport has started production of its first tires at the company’s newly acquired manufacturing facility in Palmeira, the UK company announced 8 Aug.

First products from the redeveloped tire factory – acquired from Camac in May – are the Avon Motorsport ACB9 Formula Ford and Avon Traction Mileage classic Land Rover tires.

Nova said its R&D team in Portugal had concluded “intensive” rig and track testing of the ACB9 tire to ensure it matches the performance and quality of the original product.

The company’s trackside engineering team, it added, will shortly commence further track testing of the Formula Ford ACB9 tire in the UK with leading Formula Ford drivers. 

“The rapid return to production of the ACB9, fitted by Formula Ford racers globally since the mid-1980s, meets the needs of dealers and competitors reliant on such classic products,” stated Nova. 

The reintroduction of the Avon Traction Mileage tire marks the return of an equally iconic product, continued Nova, noting that the tire was fitted as OE to the first Land Rover from 1949 and “is the authentic choice for today's Land Rover Series I to III classic vehicles.”

For the production launch, Nova has initiated a €20-million investment programme covering the expansion, refurbishment and modernisation of the Camac tire factory in Palmeira.

The site, it noted, has capacity to produce 500,000 tires per year, including the relaunched Avon Motorsport tires, Camac’s historic vehicle-focused products and a new line-up of Nova Motorsport products. 

The project has involved transporting 200 lorries of equipment from the former Avon factory in Melksham, UK to the site in Portugal.

“By utilising state-of-the-art mixing facilities, Nova Motorsport has recreated the championship-winning compounds previously mixed by Avon in Melksham,” according to the press statement.

The company added that it is using same stringent testing procedures and lab test methods, as well as the same technology, procedures, moulds and materials originally deployed by Avon.

According to James Weekley, commercial director, Nova Motorsport, the start of production in Portugal shows dealers, customers, and stakeholders that the company is “on track to bring the products they rely on back into full-scale production in record time.”

Th move, he said, marks the start of a global strategy to reintroduce most of the “legendary” Avon Motorsport range, towards “ensuring strong supply availability in time for the 2025 motorsport season.”

Nova is also “on track” to start full-scale production of the Avon CR6ZZ classic street-legal performance and competition radial tIre and further ‘autocross’ products by the yearend.

This step will be followed by start of the production of a wide range of other tires in the first quarter of 2025, said the company's release.