By Alex Kapadia

Dunlop will return as title sponsor of the MSA British Touring Car Championship from 2010 in a new four-year agreement with the UKs premier motor racing series.

The tyres company has been the exclusive tyres supplier to the BTCC since 2003.

Through this new long-term partnership, Dunlop will continue to provide the BTCC’s teams with tyres manufactured at Fort Dunlop in Birmingham - home to the company’s European Motorsport Operations.

The UK plant produces over 200,000 high technology racing tyres each year for the World Moto2 Motorcycle Championships, International GT and Endurance racing in addition to the BTCC.

The Dunlop name has become synonymous with racing and thrives on its motorsports heritage. The company endeavours to incorporate lessons learned on the tracks into tyres for everyday drivers.

The first round of the 2010 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship will take place at the Thruxton circuit in Hampshire on Sunday 4 April. All rounds will be televised live on ITV4 with highlights on ITV1, ITV4 and Men & Motors.

By Alex Kapadia

Prices for Dunlop, Falken, Sumitomo and Ohtsu tyres are set to increase by between 5 and 15 per cent from next month.

SRI (Sumitomo Rubber Industries) has cited the rising cost of raw materials, including natural rubber and crude oil, as the reason for the tyres price rise.

Most of the price increases will range from 5% to 10% depending on tyre category, size and market, and the maximum increase will be approximately 15%.

The rise in costs will apply to passenger car, light commercial vehicle, truck and motorcycle tyres and will take place in Europe, Asia, near and Middle East, North America, Central and South America, Africa and the Pacific nations.

SRI confirmed: “The tyre prices will be increased because the prices of tire materials, including natural rubber and crude oil, are going up and apt to surge again, and the company cannot absorb such additional costs by their own internal efforts.”

Michelin won two awards at the annual Tyre and Fast Fit Awards on Wednesday, including the Product Innovation Award for its lower rolling-resistance tyres. The National Tyre Distributors Association praised Michelin’s dedication to research and development and for the technical innovations that have benefited a broad area of the tyre and transport industry.

Michelin spends 4 per cent of its turnover on the R&D process and has focussed heavily on the design and production of tyre technology that reduces fuel costs without compromising tyre quality. By researching tyre performance, Michelin was able to make adaptations according to the resistance forces affecting vehicles and create energy dissipating, low rolling resistance technology. The result is reduced fuel costs and the “green tyre” that is both beneficial for the customer and the environment.

The NTDA also awarded Michelin the Industry Advertising Campaign Award for its recognisable position as an industry icon. The TAFF award was given to Michelin to recognise the 108 years of innovative, creative and charismatic advertising campaigns. The NTDA praised th3 2006/07 Michelin advertising campaign, claiming that the company “now has an even friendlier face!”

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http://www.ntda.co.uk/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=123&Itemid=74

An independent tyre test has found the Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 to be Australia’s top choice tyre for large cars. Goodyear Dunlop’s Australian and New Zealand operation, South Pacific Tyres, also received merit for the Dunlop Sport Maxx as the best tyre for medium to small cars.

The tyre tests were conducted by Wheels Magazine, a leading Australian motoring publication that was the first of its kind for the country when it hit newsagents in 1953. Wheels Magazine released its Tyre Test 2007 issue in March, promising readers that its research was “exhaustive”. The six brands that were represented at the Wheels Magazine tyre test were Bridgestone, Goodyear, Pirelli, Dunlop, Hankook and Falken. The magazine claims that other leading brands were “invited to take part, but declined”.

The Wheels’ Tyre Test was adapted in 2007 from the previous year in order to create two separate categories for tyre testing. While in 2006 the tests were conducted on 17-inch tyres alone, this year’s tests were run on 245/45R 18 tyres and 205/55R 16 tyres. The tyres were mounted on a 6 litre V8 Holden Commodore SS and a turbo diesel VW Golf respectively, which were driven by professional rally and race drivers who tested cornering, braking and hot laps on wet and dry roads.

The Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 tyre beat the Bridgestone Potenza to win the 18-inch category, leaving testers particularly impressed with the Eagle F1’s wet breaking and wet hot lap abilities. In the 16-inch category, the Dunlop Sport Maxx on the VW Golf made an impression in the categories of dry breaking and wet hot lap, beating the Pirelli Zero Nero OE tyre.

South Pacific Tyres New Zealand’s General Manager of Sales and Marketing, Frank Hughes, stated: “Tyre design and construction involves trade-offs in different performance factors. For example, handling, cornering and braking in the wet or the dry can all be altered by the design and construction of the tyre, the tread pattern and the rubber compounds used.”

“These tests show that the Eagle F1 in the large size and the Dunlop Sport Maxx in the smaller size offer the best package for the average driver in a wide range of conditions,” added Mr Hughes, going on to announce on behalf of the company that he was “especially pleased with the critical wet braking performance which was over three percent better for the Eagle F1 GS-D3 than the Bridgestone Potenza which is the original equipment fitment on the Commodore.” Mr Hughes went on to state that “the Eagle F1 is a massive seven percent better than the worst tyre in the class. At the point when the Goodyear tyre had stopped the car, when fitted with the worst tyre, it would still be travelling and potentially crashing at 16 km/h,” he eagerly concluded.

http://wheelsmag.com.au
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Having claimed victory in the opening two rounds of the 2007 British Superbike Championship, Dunlop has continued its winning streak by scoring top place in an independent test of superbike tyres. One of the UK’s leading monthly magazines, ‘Superbike’, conducted tyre tests in order to assess the leading fast-read and track day tyres on the market. The magazine tested only road-legal tyres, but concentrated on the needs of a fast-growing track day market. The tests were centred upon the increasing amount of bike owners who frequent race tracks, and as a result, require tyres that are suitable for everyday use as well as being capable of handling top speeds at various intervals.

The tyre test consisted of eight different brands of tyre and was conducted at the challenging Albacete circuit in Spain. Both subjective feedback and measured lap times were collaborated to form the results, with three expert riders exerting the powers of a Suzuki GSX-R1000 superbike on the tough track. The Dunlop GP Racer achieved the fastest average lap time of the eight tested brands, claiming a dual first place overall. Jon Pearson, a member of the ‘Superbike’ staff, commented on the effect that the Dunlop GP Racer tyres had on the Suzuki superbike, stating that the bike felt “planted at full lean, especially on the faster, longer corners.”

Dunlop Motorcycle Sales and Marketing Manager, Lisa Faulkner, stated: “The lessons learned in our MotoGP and championship winning British Superbike campaigns translate directly into fast road and track tyres such as the Dunlop GP Racer. The tyre shares its compound technology and construction with many of our race winning tyres.”

Dunlop has designed its GP Racer to be the ultimate fast road and track tyre in its extensive Dunlop road tyre range, which also includes the latest Sportmax Qualifier (road) and Sportmax Qualifier RR (road and track) tyres. Along with the GP Racer, the Sportmax Qualifier has already attracted its share of attention, scoring the highest marks in ‘Ride’ magazine’s reader survey.

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Michelin has announced its contentedness with the new rules being imposed on motorsport tyres.

Following a meeting in Barcelona, The World Motor Sport Council plans to introduce two new regulations concerning motorsport tyres, set to come into effect on New Year’s Day 2007. The new regulations were outlined in a press release issued by the Federation Internationale de L’Automobile (FIA) and aim to maintain competition between tyre manufacturers in the World Championship. Negotiations held by Michelin, Dunlop and Bridgestone aimed to determine the effects and action required in response to the Motorsport regulations.

Michelin has backed the decisions which allow tyre suppliers in F1 to provide two sets of tyres for each of their contracted teams, as opposed to previous regulations which enforced to two types of tyres for all of their teams. This change comes in response to the Bridgestone/Ferrari advantage in 2002, where Bridgestone was able to design tyres specifically for Ferrari as its only top team, while Michelin was forced to compromise in order to satisfy both Mclaren and Williams. Tyre companies will now be able to tailor tyres to their teams and competition bewteen tyre companies will be maintained.

Nicolas Goubet, Michelin’s director of motorcycle racing, spoke on behalf of Michelin when he proclaimed that they were “happy with the new rules”, adding that, “the tyre agreement is a very good agreement, especially if you look at what is happening in other Motorsport championships, particularly in Formula One switching to a single tyre maker rule.” For Michelin, the new regulations ensure that tyre companies are able to compete. Goubet expained that the CEO of Dorna, the MotoGP rights holders, “wanted different tyre brands to continue fighting on the racetrack.”

Despite Michelin’s excitement about the freedom the new agreement allows in way of competition, Goubet also expressed the concerns the regulations incite: “Once the objective to keep everyone involved was clear, the second most important point was to ensure that we don’t have too much cost inflation, because costs can escalate when you have major manufacturers competing in a highly prestigious series.” In light of the threat of inflation, new restrictions on tyre testing has been introduced: “In this respect, the most important factor was to reduce the possibility of test teams to test tyres. From next year test teams can only run at official IRTA tests plus one track during the season and one track during the off-season.”

Michelin has enjoyed a win-rate of 95% in the last ten years of premier class Motorcycle racing.

[http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/2369307.stm#Tyres]
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Unauthorised tyre imports are being targeted by Goodyear Dunlop.

With reports of a significant decline in sales for British tyre companies, pressure has been put on dealers to buy cheaper, and the temptation to resort to international suppliers has increased. However, the strict regulations concerning the official authorization of tyres intended for use in the U.K are being frequently overlooked in the process. These regulations are in place to ensure tyre safety… that tyres are suited for the specific road conditions in Britain. Tyres imported internationally run the risk of differing in design specifications and therefore pose a tyre safety risk to British drivers.

Goodyear Dunlop’s concern about tyre safety has led them to investigate the increasing problem of illegal tyre imports. A series of investigations due to take place within the next three months has begun with legal proceedings against a retail supplier in the South East of England, who has been dealing in unauthorised imports, illegal tyres, carrying the Goodyear Dunlop brand name.

This is the beginning of a campaign launched by Goodyear Dunlop, designed to reduce the tyre safety risks posed to U.K customers by using imported tyres that are not designed for British road conditions, and have not been subject to official approval. The offending tyres hail mainly from Asian and African markets and have been designed specifically for these environments, where the climate differs dramatically from conditions in the U.K.

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