“This has not been an easy journey. By its very nature, motorsport is a tough and all too often brutal business that can take its toll on you, physically and mentally. As a young woman climbing the ladder in this predominantly male arena, I’ve faced my fair share of challenges,” says Samantha .

Samantha  started racing at an early age, her major influence being her father. “I got interested in racing because of my dad. I spent a lot of time with him growing up, so his interests had a big influence over me, which sparked my passion for cars and racing. I used to watch Formula One, go karting and attend  track days with him, so I learned to love the feeling of speed at a young age. When I was 14 years old, I attended the Ferrari Driving Experience at Circuit Mont Tremblant in Quebec, Canada, and was the youngest ever participant. At the end of the event, attendees were offered to sit passenger in a Ferrari 458 Challenge race car for a hot lap with a pro driver. Needless to say, I jumped at the opportunity. I vividly remember the extremely late braking, intense G-forces and acceleration. I was strapped into a 5-point harness, but being so little, my legs were still flailing around and I had to brace myself by gripping onto the belts. Although some people may find this terrifying, I remember having the biggest smile on my face. It was an incredible, unforgettable experience that ultimately inspired me to seriously pursue a racing career myself. I started racing when I was 16 years old in regional races around the US, and also competed in my first full national series, the Canadian Touring Car Championship, that same year in 2014. I moved to Pirelli World Challenge in 2015 and competed in the TCA Class with Kinetic Motorsports in a Kia Forte, and continued to compete in PWC for the next 6 years. Since then, I’ve been competing with BMW, created our amazing race team, Samantha Tan Racing, and won multiple championships. It’s been one hell of a journey, but I wouldn’t have it any other way!”

She started off her racing career with a Mini Cooper S in the 2014 Canadian Touring Car Championship and moved on to a Kia Forte Koup in the 2015 Pirelli World Challenge. After that she closed in on BMW as her brand for future races. “When we started the race team, it was around the same time as the launch of the BMW M235iR programme. My dad and I have always been BMW enthusiasts, and I already had plans to move up to TC. BMW was the only manufacturer that was supplying factory built race cars for TC and the BMW M235iR was very competitive that year. It was the best option at the time for us. It perfectly aligned with my future goals as I also wanted to make the transition back to RWD race cars.”

 Through the ages, racing has predominantly been gender biased and there are many misconceptions about female drivers. But Samantha has a great outlook on this divide. When we asked her about this, she said, “I get this question a lot, and I always like to start off with saying that one of the reasons why I love racing is because the car doesn’t care what gender or race you are. It only cares about whether you can handle it well.

“I have personally never been told that I couldn’t race because I’m a female. However, the gender discrimination that I, and many others, have experienced presents itself in more subtle ways, such as when we are judged or evaluated solely on our appearances, rather than the elite skill level we compete at. When people in the paddock question why we have been given a ride, or in other words, the opportunity to race. When people get offended by the fact that it’s my name over the door at Samantha Tan Racing. When people whistle at me wearing my driver’s suit. When I’ve been pushed off track, ending both of our races, because they couldn’t deal with getting beaten by a girl.  When people have tried to make me feel like their racial/sexual comments are compliments or that it’s ‘okay’. I can’t count the amount of times people have doubted the fact that I’m a driver, saying things like ‘ but you’re so small, so pretty, so gentle’ or ‘you’re more of a model than a race car driver’. My dad has been asked many times why he allows his daughter to compete in such a dangerous sport, and time and time again, he asks ‘would you question this if she were a boy?’. The fact of the matter is he raised my brother and I the same, as every parent should.

“I recently hosted BMW USA’s International Women’s Day event, and I wanted to share some words from the speech I presented there. ‘This has not been an easy journey.

“But I race because I choose to. Because I yearn to.  Because I aspire to prove that motorsport is no longer the boys club it once was. It’s a battleground that only the hungriest and most dedicated people – men AND women from all walks of life – can compete in nose-to-nose, and come out on top.

Tyres play a crucial role while racing, how do you as a racer manage to keep the race tyres at their optimum performance level?

One of the quintessential skills of a good racing driver is the ability to be at the limit of the tyre everywhere on track. To keep the tyres at their optimum performance level, you have to factor in everything: ambient temperature/track temperature, tyre pressures and degradation, avoiding pickup, heat cycles, throttle application and braking management.

The tyres have to be at the right temperature and pressures to be at their peak performance. This means avoiding the curbing during the outlap when the tyres are cold to prevent damage to the sidewalls and ensuring a proper warm up to bring the tyres up to temperature. As the tyres begin to wear, you have less grip and have to worry more about unnecessary understeer and oversteer, or in other words, not overdriving the car, because it’ll put additional temperature into the tyre and wear it out even faster. Braking progressively also adds additional heat into the tyre.

Ultimately, it’s about balancing the car, keeping it at the limit of adhesion and maximising the grip of the tyre by adapting to track conditions.

Over the years that you’ve raced, have you experienced how different tyres behave on a track and do the changes in the Pirelli tyres make a difference in  the years gone by to the current ones?

I have experienced different tyres and their unique behaviours on track! For example, I have tried both slicks and rains from manufacturers such as Pirelli, Hankook, Michelin and Toyo. They all have their own distinctive characteristics and feel on track, but they also all share something in common: the manufacturers are always working to improve the composition and structure of the tyres. As the cars consistently get faster, the tyre compounds must also improve to match that performance increase.

Starting a racing company while still getting a graduation from college must have been tough. Could you take us through your thought process, the hurdles and the overall vision you have for yourself and the team?

It was extremely difficult balancing school and racing. When I started racing in 2014, I was transitioning from my last year of high school to university. I actually missed my high school graduation because I was competing at the Toronto Indy event in CTCC! I completed my degree in economics at the University of California, Irvine last year while still full-time racing for the past five years. There were many times that I would have to study in the car on the way to the racetrack, or do my homework in between sessions, or finish a race weekend and have to fly out that evening to make a final exam the next morning. I had to find the time to train, travel to race events, go to lectures, finish homework, study for exams etc... It was really tough, but it all came down to good time management, negotiating with my professors and relying on some of my college friends to help me take lecture notes. I definitely still had that college experience with multiple all-nighters, but it’s made me stronger as a person and I’m very proud to have finished the university.

My economics degree has helped my ventures with the race team. Initially, when I was in college, I just focused on my role as a driver instead of a team owner. However, after I graduated, I took a more central role and managed publicity, logistics, sponsorships and my own personal brand. I definitely could not have been as successful without my dad guiding me along the way, and am forever thankful for what he has helped me achieve.

Ultimately, my goal is to race in LeMans and to be the first Asian woman to win there. I hope to bring my amazing team with me, as one of my favourite things about racing is sharing the podium with my racing family!

What has been your biggest career high so far, and what do you have planned for the future in your bucket list?

As a driver, my biggest career high is split between winning the 2021 24H Dubai and winning the 6H Abu Dhabi. I was the first Asian woman to win the 24H Dubai and first woman to win the 6H Abu Dhabi! These were both my first ever pro racing wins, so they mean a lot to me. It was a culmination of all the hard work I had done in the previous years and I’m so proud to have shared it with my own racing team. I can’t thank my teammates, Nick Wittmer, Jon Miller and Chandler Hull, enough for putting their faith in me and helping me develop as a driver.

They played the Canadian national anthem on the podium at Abu Dhabi and raised the Canadian flag behind me as I took my trophy. It almost made me cry, I was so happy!

As a team, I think our career high was winning both the 2019 Pirelli GT4 America SprintX West Driver’s Championship and Team Championship! We were finally given credibility and recognition that we had fought for against established teams that had multiple championships on their records.

Do you have any words of advice for women who think of getting into racing but are too afraid to?

The biggest obstacle in racing is finding the funding. Racing is an extremely expensive sport and it requires a lot of sponsors, because if you don’t have the proper funding, it can be a major challenge. You really have to learn how to market yourself, build your brand, fight for recognition and seize any and every opportunity that you can.

Whenever you try anything new, you’re going to fail a lot of times and you’re going to make mistakes. You have to learn to be okay with that. Failure means that you’re trying. You fail and you eliminate a method that won’t work. From failure, we learn, grow and succeed.

As Joanne Molinaro has said, “It’s so much easier to listen to the voices that are telling you ‘you’re not good enough. You’re not smart enough. You’re not strong enough.’ You might even feel tempted to agree with them, just to shut them up. But just when you feel like giving in to those voices, I want you to remember: you are fierce. You are strong. You are a fighter.” Because success is out there for those who fight for it. (TT)

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CEAT Ltd said it will invest up to INR 34 million in its wholly owned subsidiary Tyresnmore Online Pvt Ltd through a subscription to a rights issue, the tyre maker said in a stock exchange disclosure on Wednesday.

The company will subscribe to 27,855 equity shares in Tyresnmore, and its shareholding in the subsidiary will remain at 100 percent, CEAT said.

The investment is categorised as a related-party transaction but has been carried out on an arm’s-length basis. No regulatory approvals are required, it added.

Tyresnmore, incorporated in 2014 and based in New Delhi, sells automotive tyres, batteries and accessories, and provides fitting and wheel services. The unit reported turnover of INR 322.57 million for the year ended 31 March 2025, compared with INR 255.86 million the previous year.

The shares are expected to be allotted by 24 November 2025.

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NEXEN TIRE reported third-quarter 2025 sales of 780.7 billion won and operating profit of 46.5 billion won, the company said on Thursday, as stronger demand in Europe and South Korea helped offset the impact of item-specific tariffs in the United States.

Sales in Europe were supported by an expansion of original equipment supply for newly launched vehicles and higher demand for winter products following tighter seasonal tyre regulations. In South Korea, the company posted its highest-ever quarterly revenue, aided by peak summer demand and continued growth in its tyre rental business.

Profit margins improved from the previous quarter, helped by lower raw material costs and reduced logistics expenses, with prices for natural and synthetic rubber and the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI) remaining on a downward trend.

The company has been rolling out region-specific product strategies. In South Korea, it launched the N’FERA Supreme EV ROOT in August, designed for both electric and internal combustion engine vehicles. It also brought the WINGUARD SPORT 3 winter tyre to Europe and Japan, and strengthened its U.S. high-performance line-up with the N’FERA SPORT, already supplied as original equipment to premium European carmakers. In Australia, it added the ROADIAN ATX for larger sport utility vehicles.

NEXEN TIRE is also expanding its international footprint, with new sales bases recently opened in Spain and Poland, and additional hubs planned in Southeastern Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.

The tyre maker said it is enhancing R&D efficiency through the adoption of a High Dynamic Driving Simulator, the first of its kind in South Korea's automotive sector, allowing reduced reliance on physical prototypes and road tests. The firm also received approval for its near-term emissions reduction targets from the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) in September.

“The solid performance in the third quarter, even after factoring in tariff-related costs, indicates that our strategy for managing external uncertainties is yielding positive results,” CEO John Bosco (Hyeon Suk) Kim said. “We will continue to pursue sustainable growth through product portfolio diversification and the optimisation of global production operations.”

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MAXAM is set to showcase its advanced agricultural tyre solutions at Agritechnica 2025 in Hannover from 9 to 15 November. Visitors can find the company at Stand A04 in Hall 20, where the exhibition theme ‘More Pull. Less Fuel’ will guide the presentation. This philosophy underscores the company's dedication to developing tyres that enhance operational efficiency and contribute to more sustainable farming practices by reducing fuel consumption and soil compaction. The event provides a significant opportunity for MAXAM to demonstrate its commitment to innovation and the expansion of its product portfolio.

On display will be a range of DLG-awarded tyres, including robust models for high-horsepower tractors and versatile options for specialised implements, illustrating the company's technical breadth. Beyond presenting products, MAXAM considers the trade fair a vital meeting point for industry collaboration. It serves as a platform for direct engagement with farmers, partners and machine manufacturers, whose feedback provides invaluable, real-world insights that directly influence the future direction of product and service development, ensuring they remain precisely aligned with evolving market needs.

As a part of SAILUN Group, one of the 10 largest tyre manufacturers in the world, MAXAM leverages its extensive international presence and collaborative research initiatives to drive continuous innovation. The company is dedicated to advancing agricultural tyre technology, creating sophisticated solutions that directly address the evolving demands of modern farming. This focus encompasses critical areas such as enhanced sustainability, improved cost-efficiency and superior field performance.

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Cabot Corporation reported lower quarterly earnings, as weaker demand in its Reinforcement Materials segment and softer volumes in Performance Chemicals weighed on results. However, the company ended fiscal 2025 with solid cash flow and continued shareholder returns.

For the fourth quarter ended 30 September, Cabot posted net income of USD 43 million, or USD 0.79 per share, compared with USD 137 million, or USD 2.43 per share, in the same period a year earlier.

Full-year diluted earnings per share were USD 6.02, while adjusted earnings per share rose 3 percent year-on-year to USD 7.25.

“I am very pleased with another strong year of Adjusted EPS growth where we achieved USD 7.25, up 3 percent year over year, in a year with a challenging macroeconomic backdrop,” said Sean Keohane, Cabot’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “This performance was driven by higher EBIT in our Performance Chemicals segment, which increased 18 percent year over year, partially offset by EBIT in our Reinforcement Materials segment, which declined 5 percent.”

Cabot’s revenue for the quarter fell to USD 899 million from USD 1.0 billion a year earlier, while full-year sales declined to USD 3.7 billion from USD 4.0 billion.

The Boston-based speciality chemicals manufacturer said fourth-quarter cash flow from operations totalled USD 219 million, enabling USD 64 million in shareholder returns through dividends and share buybacks. For the full fiscal year, Cabot generated USD 665 million in operating cash flow, funding USD 274 million in capital investments, USD 96 million in dividend payments and USD 168 million in share repurchases.

Keohane said the company’s balance sheet remained strong, with a net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 1.2 times, providing flexibility to invest in growth while continuing to return capital to shareholders.

The company’s Reinforcement Materials segment reported a USD 4 million decline in EBIT from the prior-year quarter, reflecting lower volumes in the Americas and Asia Pacific, partly offset by cost efficiencies. Global volumes fell 5 percent, including a 7 percent drop in the Americas, where lower tyre production by customers was attributed to increased Asian tyre imports.

Performance Chemicals EBIT decreased USD 2 million year-over-year, mainly due to a 5 percent drop in volumes led by weaker demand in Europe, particularly from construction-related applications.

Cabot ended the quarter with  percent 258 million in cash and spent percent 64 million on capital expenditures. The company recorded a 55 percent effective tax rate in the fourth quarter and an operating tax rate of 27 percent for fiscal 2025.

Looking ahead, Keohane cautioned that market conditions remain challenging, particularly in the Reinforcement Materials sector. “We do not yet see signs of improvement in the external environment, particularly as it relates to regional demand trends in Reinforcement Materials due to the impact of elevated Asian tire imports into western regions,” he said.

The company anticipates improvement in Performance Chemicals, led by growth in battery materials and infrastructure-related applications, while maintaining strong cash flow to support investment and shareholder returns.

“While market conditions remain challenging, we continue to execute on our foundation of commercial and operational excellence, and we remain focused on managing costs, strengthening operations, and positioning the company for long-term growth,” Keohane said.

In fiscal 2025, Cabot also announced an agreement to acquire Bridgestone Corporation’s reinforcing carbons plant in Mexico and released its 2024 Sustainability Report, noting it had achieved 11 of its 15 sustainability goals ahead of schedule and established new 2030 targets.

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