Dunlop's Daytona Tire Test: Part I
By
time. More than keeping the riders in
the garages or their hotel rooms or
his was not what Dunlop needed.
Rain on the first two days of the
annual December Daytona Dunlop
bikes run between tire changes during the 200. The results were promis-
the nearby Barnes & Noble, it kept
Dunlop from gathering as much data
as they would have liked in order to
HENNY RAY ABRAMS
ing, but hardly definitive, and they
pointed out that at least one problem
but rain early in the day meant only
build tires for the March running of
the Daytona 200. Of all the laps
turned on Wednesday and part of
Thursday, only two sets were run at
area from last year's race still
remains.
The X-factor in this year's test was
the new chicane. Designed to eliminate the kind of multi-bike crashes
about 90 minutes of useful track
close to the distance that the Super-
that have plagued the Supersport
tire test meant that all the testing
would have to be crammed into one
day. An extra half-day was added,
32
JANUARY
8. 2003'
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Brotherly love: The brothers Bostrom,
Ben and Eric, sweep through
Daytona's new chicane during
Dunlop's recent tire tests at the
Floridian racing facility.
race the past two years, the new layout created a whole new terror: The
extended run from the shortened chicane to the banking meant that riders
were entering the east banking about
