Roberts Team To Dunlop
roton Team KR riders Nobuatsu Aoki
and Kurtis Roberts will use Dunlop tires
for the 2004 season, after team owner
Kenny Roberts ' bid to get Michelins came
to naught.
The team has used Bridgestone tires for
the past two years but was unceremonious Iy dumped at the end of last season , in favor
of Suzuki and KawasakJ.
The Dunlops were not a popular choice
with the riders , but Roberts did believe that
they might find some advantage, in being
able to work directly with Dunlop engineers to develop improved tires specifically
for the team 's KRV-fIVe machine .
"To be honest, we are using tires that
the other teams have all rejected - but I
hope we can change that and help Dunlop
to improve the product. I am sure they can
P
that Dunlop have a similar belief. They
have established a specialist R&D
group, using the latest software: '
Dunlop's chief designer Dave
Watkins echoed the enthusiasm.
"Together with our japanese colleagues in Kobe, we have been focus-
WE CAli STAR.T
DESIGNING
ing more and more on this computer-
structor
YOUR TY~I!S ••• .
whose
sole
activity
is
MotoGP. Uke us, they are able to
respond quickly to the pressures and
demands of racing . And even in
today 's world of instant IT technology,
them being so close means our com-
aswell as Dunlop's recent commitment to a
new software package that gives predictive
ates at home in California from injuries sus-
money," Roberts said.
The upside was the proximity of the
Anglo-japanese tire company's English
headquarters in Birmingham to Proton KR's
own Banbury base, less than 65 miles away,
'OMJ'tlTER
MODELLING,
aided development over the past 12
months," Watkins said. "This is a really exciting chance to work in this field
hand in hand with a specialist con-
puter modeling group can frequently
get together with the Proton Team KR
engineering team and develop a really
close working relationship that will
benefit us both :'
Kurtis Roberts missed the IRTA
tests in Catalunya and also the one
slated for this week in jerez as he recuper-
do it, but it's just a matter of time and
H T WORRY I
