Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

I I - Dunlo 's Rebound ln MotoGP tion always rather than revolution. But we did make a step change last year- ln what area? Ferguson: Basically construction. Compounds evolve all the time. Male: What happened was, we brought together a lot of groundwork and put it together in one package- We'd done a huge amoum ofwork with [AMA multiple champion Mat] Mladin in the States on construction and durabiliry ln MotoGB we'd done a lot of work with WCM and wlth the d'Antin team on compounds more suitable to this type of motorcycle. About halfuray through last year, we managed to start to bring all this technol- ogr together to make one tire, with all this stuff in it. But it takes a long time. Then suddenly you've got somethinS that's clearly different. You play around with lots of things, $en suddenty you Put it all together, and... lt's a bit like a motorcycle. It's no good hrving a fantastic engine if the chassis is no good. A tire is an engineered product in iust the sarne way. You com- promise the design all over the place. Dunlop is bock in the hunt in MotoGP I I aGlr n The RishI IraGlr a ridgestone's opening-round victory may have clouded the issue, but Dunlop hopes that something else will soon become clear - that the MotoGP tire war is a three-way struggle. After years of playinS second fiddle to Michelin - and then third liddle to Michelin and Bridgestone - the old- est players in motorcycle racing are intent on making a comeback. It's been I 5 years since the last World ChampionshiP on Dunlop tires - and that was Wayne Rainey's title in l99l . Rainey was back on Dunlops in '93, and leading on points when he crashed and suffered his career-ending injuries. Two yeart lateq Rainey's former teammate Luca Cadalora rejected the factory team's Dunlops in favor of lvlichelin- For the next few years, Dunlop's race wins could be counted on the fin8e6 oI one hand: one for Simon Crafar and three for Garry McCoy. But since 2001, Michelin has had it all more or less its own way. The yel- Iow-and-black squad was left to dominate the smaller classes, while engaged in a downward sPiral in MotoGP They were left with teams that had no other choice: like the struggling Proton KR, and more recently the down- market d'Antin Ducatis, and strugSling WCM team. This year, decisive action and a big investment (and some helpful circumstances) see Dunlop fightin8 back, with its first proper factory bikes for years, and a race- winning rider with a long pedisree to boot, Carlos Checa, on rhe Tech 3 Yamaha. set encoLlraging test times at Qatar in his first two days - within half a second of Valentino Rossi on both days - but he was even more impressive at the Catalunya presqEon tests, second overall behind Rossi again. Dunlop (along with lvlichelin) then ran into chatter problems at Jerez, in testing and in qualifyinS. We spoke with international motorsport manager Jeremy Ferguson and Stephen Male, Etrropean motor- cycle motorspoft division manager, on the mominS of the first race, about technical breakhroughs, new tech- niques, and renewed hopes. You seem to have made a big iump forurard technically this year. How so? Ferguson: We made the fundamental step forward technically last year, but there was not the opportunity in l4otocP to demonstrate this. When you look at other areas where we were suPPlying similar technologi, like AMA and British Superbikes, you could see the Perform- ance ofthe product in a competitive environment. ln the UK especially, where Michelin were there with the fac- rory Honda, and got beaten. It's not that since we had the Tech 3 Yamaha that we've made a step forward. Host of this was in Place before, but we hadn't got the vehicle or the rider to demonstrate the fact. You talk about a technical breakthrough. ls this for 250cc tires, too? Ferguson: Not really. The 250s get a little develop- ment to make sure we iust keeP the Process moving for- ward. We introduced multicompounds for 250 during last year. We want to keep it moving forward, but at a pace that is sensible for us and sensible for the teams. I don't think the 250 paddock would be very haPpy if, for example, we tumed up one a{ternoon and said, "Right: you all have to have I 5-and-a-half-inch wheels now." MotocP tires have become so much more technical- ly sophisticated, and therefore exPensive, in terms of materials and manufacturing costs and everything else. To do the same for 250s wouldn't be possible for the resources, equipment or materials, and the cost would be prohibitive anyway. What was the technological breakthrough! Ferguson: I wouldn't call it a breakthrough - evolu- How radical was the chante - was it in con' struction, or materials? Male: Materials is nearer, and the way we PUt the tire together, Back in the 1990s, you inyited us to Fort Dunlop at British GP time to watch you make racing tires, (The process was endearingly old- fashioned and craftsmanlike, we rePorted at the time.) How has it changed since then? Ferguson: A lot.Unrecognizable. No more leather aprons, then? FerSuson: (Laughs) No. More comPuters, more lasers- There are obviously a lot more controls in check- ing each stage of the process - laser controls, comPuter controls- As you would expect in l0 years of ProSress. ls it still a hand-built tire! Male: lt has to be. But is there now mone mechanization in the process? Male: lt's a completely different process. And to a certain extent there is more mechanization. But we still have only a very limited number of people that have the skills to put these things together on a regular basis and produce consistent quality of the product. You couldn't put anybody on that machine and exPect him to Produce the right kind of stuff. What special problems have been brought uP by the MotoGP four-strokes? Ferguson: Nothing fundamentally diflerent- ln some areas, the advance of technology in electronics makes it easier [on tires], but all the time everything is movinS forward. The problems remain the same - a balance between the front and rear, and the importance of 8et- ting maximum grip for race distance out of rear tires. Male: The fundamental problems of motorcycle rac- in8 haven't changed in the 30 years I've been involved lt 28 APR[. 19, 2006 . cYcLE NEws lnre BY MrcHAEt Sco,n PHoros BY Goro & Goosr u ,/ \ / T q -1

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