The World's Largest Tyre, from Michelin, Europe's number one tyre manufacturer, is on display at London's Science Museum.

The tyre, which weighs over 4 tonnes (approximately 450 times the weight of the average car tyre) and stands four meters high, is manufactured to fit specialised dump trucks including Caterpillar's Model 797, which has an unladen weight of 262 tonnes and a laden weight of 558 tonnes.

Michelin is donated the £20,000 record-breaking tyre to the new Welcome Wing of the Science Museum. It will be on display as part of the 'Talking Points' exhibition, which is designed to intrigue, inspire and provoke thought amongst visitors. The £50 million Wing, which covers a 10,000m² area, was officially opened by Her Majesty the Queen on Tuesday 27 June 2000, and was open to the public from 3 July 2000.

Michelin currently manufactures 303 million tyres each year, equipping every vehicle imaginable from bicycles to the space shuttle and Concorde. The Group employs 130,000 people in more than 80 manufacturing facilities in 19 countries around the world, including four manufacturing plants in the UK: Stoke-on-Trent, Burnley, Dundee and Ballymena.

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