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Dunlop 5 Daytona Tire Test: Part /I their success. The bearded, bespecta- By HENNY RAY ABRAMS cled ex-racer enjoys the confidence D o you know where the most dangerous stretch of Daytona International Speedway is? You might think you know, but you probably don't. You not only don't know where it is, you also don't know why it is. Jim Allen knows because it's his job and because he's probably responsible for the tires they're racing at Daytona. Jim Allen is in charge of road racing in the U.S. for Dunlop Tires and it's his job, and the job of the Dunlop factory, to make sure their tires don't fail. Their record of success in AMA racing is impressive. Dunlop won every AMA Superbike race in 2000, all but one in 1999, and every Daytona 200 since 1990, as well as an overwhelming majority of the support races. Allen is directly responsible for 14 JANUARY 17, 2001 • cue of all the factory Superbike teams. No single person has such a direct relationship with the factory riders, who have faith in both his adVice and honesty. It isn't hyperbole to suggest that the factories' continued usage of Dunlop is due to his personal service, especially when you consider that the Honda and Ducati World Superbike teams use Michelin rubber. . . For most of the past decade Dunlop had little competition in the AMA Superbike world. Michelin pulled out of Superbikes completely in 2000 when the Fast by Ferracci team stopped racing. But it hasn't stopped Dunlop from constantly improving the breed. Dunlop designs and builds tires for a number of the AMA tracks, I e n e _ s but the track they lavish the most attention on is Daytona. Dunlop makes tir~s that can only be used at Daytona and if they're not used in Florida, they're not used. At last year's December tire test, Dunlop discovered a problem and had to scrap 400 tires. "From tire to tire we weren't satisfied with their safety, purely for technical reasons. The tires were not up to the job," Allen said. And in spite of all their indoor drum testing and analysis, they didn't discover it until they ran them at the' Speedway, a track Hke no other in the world. It's asking a lot of one tire to cover all the circumstances it encounters at a track like Daytona. Mooza and Hockenheim are also high-speed tracks, but they're essentially flat. Daytona has high speeds in both straight lines and on the banking, as well as the slower speed infield, all with a mix of turns. The 1.8-to 2-gforces on the banking have a crushing effect on the tire [ike nowhere else. "The most dangerous part is where the speed picks up as it comes down the chute," Allen said of the Speedway. "That's where the tire has reached maximum temperature and that's where the tire has begun to grow." Where the track flattens out exiting NASCAR Turn Four and leading to the short, flat chute on the run to the banking before start-finish is where tires suffer most and it and it has a lot to do with double wave deflection.