In 2023, Bridgestone is celebrating a decade of involvement with the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge (BWSC) and also the 60th anniversary of Bridgestone Motorsport globally

Bridgestone has been a proud partner of the BWSC since 2013, when the event was an ideal platform to showcase Bridgestone’s low rolling resistance Ecopia technology, which had launched just the year prior.
The event has continued to become more relevant to Bridgestone over the years, aligning to both its previous corporate social responsibility initiatives, and now to its Bridgestone E8 Commitment (Energy, Ecology, Efficiency, Extension, Economy, Emotion, Ease, and Empowerment).
Placing sustainability at the core during this memorial year, Bridgestone says it is committed to evolving global motorsport activities in a new way and to build itself as a “sustainable global premium brand” while “supporting the global motorsport culture.”
Given this, it is no surprise to hear that the BWSC is one of the cornerstones of the company’s motorsport program, because it is a truly sustainable global motorsport event.
In celebration of its decade as the title partner, Bridgestone recently named the largest cohort of Bridgestone-supported teams in the history of the event, with 35 teams (of a total of 43) to take the 3,000km journey from Darwin to Adelaide on Bridgestone tyres.
2023 also sees the introduction of Enliten technology, a base technology for product design that reportedly realises the “new premium” in Bridgestone’s BWSC tyre for the first time – marking the technology’s competitive debut in an exciting milestone for Bridgestone Motorsport’s history.
“Bridgestone remains committed to the BWSC as a demonstration of its transformation towards a sustainable solutions company through the development of new tyre technology and by showcasing the values of the Bridgestone E8 Commitment,” Bridgestone Corporation Executive Director Global Marketing Strategy, Tomoyuki Takagi, said.
“We are delighted to see the return of this incredible event and are excited to continue expanding our involvement in the BWSC through supporting participating teams.
“Through our widespread support, we are sharing in the excitement of sustainable mobility solutions, and supporting innovation developed through the BWSC.”
The BWSC is the world’s foremost solar car event and Bridgestone’s long-term commitment to the BWSC plays a key role in its support of global motorsport culture, as a sustainable global premium brand.
The return of the BWSC in 2023 marks the first event since Bridgestone’s decade-long title partnership extension was announced in 2019.

Bridgestone says that it strives to realise its vision “Toward 2050, Bridgestone continues to provide social value and customer value as a sustainable solutions company,” and the BWSC plays a unique role in the convergence of motorsport, and sustainable solutions for the future.
At the same time, the event provides Bridgestone with a real-world research and development platform in some of the harshest conditions in the world to test new applications of the tyre equipped with Enliten technology.
“The Bridgestone World Solar Challenge provides us with an ideal platform to develop and showcase the tyre equipped with Enliten technology for innovative vehicles and support the development of mobility solutions around the world,” Tomoyuki said.
“As the automotive industry continues to become electrified, the BWSC allows us to showcase our technology and developments to the world.
“The Bridgestone World Solar Challenge is directly linked to our history as a tyre company, and our future as a sustainable solutions company.”
The BWSC has been running since 1987 with the purpose of contributing to the development of solar cars, supporting young engineers, and contributing to the environment while using a new power source: solar light.
Participants are challenged to design, build and develop the world’s most efficient vehicles. The 2023 event will be the 16th edition of the challenge and takes place from Sunday, the 22nd of October.
The BWSC is just one of Bridgestone’s global partnerships within its sustainable global motorsport pillar, joining the Bridgestone FIA ecoRally Cup, an international competition for road production vehicles with an electric drivetrain.
This activity is also one of the reasons Bridgestone motorsport initiatives have been awarded the prestigious Three Star of Environmental Accreditation from FIA, Federation Internationale de l’Automobile, the not-for-profit world governing body of motorsport.
Globally, Bridgestone’s motorsport program for 2023 also consists of topline categories: Super GT series, with the provision of POTENZA race tyres, and as the exclusive tyre supplier to the NTT INDYCAR series with the Firestone Firehawk tyres, as well as development categories such as the Toyota Gazoo GR86/BRZ Cup in Japan, and grass roots events like the All-Japan Gymkhana Championship.
Within Australia, Bridgestone is also the exclusive tyre supplier to the BMW Driving Experience program, which provides Bridgestone with a dynamic showcase of the POTENZA Sport and ALENZA 001 tyres that are perfectly suited to the BMW Driving Experience fleet of M vehicles.

For more from Bridgestone, visit www.bridgestone.com.au