Nova unveils first rallycross tire at French championship

Westbury, UK – Nova Motorsport has unveiled its first rallycross tires at the Loheac round of the 2024 French Rallycross Championship, where the brand serves as the title sponsor.

The ACB11 tire, manufactured at Nova’s factory in Palmeira, Portugal, uses the same moulds, compound and construction as those used to make the same tire under the Avon Motorsport and Cooper Tires brands.

Earlier this year, the UK company acquired assets, including the brand license, for the manufacture and sale of racing tires under the names “Avon Motorsport” and “Avon Racing” from Goodyear. (ERJ report)

In April, Nova purchased the Camac factory, which has a nameplate capacity to produce over 500,000 tires per year, and refurbished the plant to produce motorsport tires as well as Camac tires. (ERJ report)

In its latest statement 3 Sept, the UK tire maker said the ACB11 tire had “an unrivalled success story” in rallycross championships, having won 10 FIA World Rallycross Championships and “over 20 successive European crowns.”

According to commercial director James Weekley, rallycross forms “one of the founding pillars” of the Nova Motorsport strategy to produce specialist motorsport tires.

Nova, he said, is bringing back the ACB11 for “one of the fastest, most exciting and most competitive… forms of motorsport on the planet.”

Rallycross, he said, is among the most challenging disciplines for a tire maker due to the combination of high-powered cars, jumps, bumps, aggressive kerbs, and intense wheel-to-wheel action involved.

Here, Nova is tapping into the “extensive previous experience” of expertise acquired from the Avon Motorsport and Cooper Tires brands, the commercial director explained.

Furthermore, the company has set up a new lab to expand its technical abilities and uses the specialist compounding expertise of its parent company SPC, said senior product category manager, Matthew Vincent.

This, said Vincent, will enable the company to “precisely replicate” the tires made at the previous Avon Motorsport factory in Melksham and develop new formulations for future championships.

The ACB11 will be available for the start of the 2025 season.