Dunlop increases MotoGP investment, but...

Dunlop has announced a major investment in new technology at its Fort Dunlop plant in Birmingham, UK, aimed at delivering success in the MotoGP World Championship - although the identity of its 2007 team(s) remains a mystery.

In 2006, Dunlop continued to dominate the 125cc and 250cc classes, while experiencing increasing competitiveness in the premier class, largely courtesy of Tech 3 Yamaha rider Carlos Checa - who took two seventh placed finishes.

But, Checa aside, the other Dunlop riders - James Ellison at Tech 3, plus Alex Hofmann and Jose Luis Cardoso at d'Antin Ducati - were often left at the tail end of the field, something Dunlop hopes to change by investing in new manufacturing technology at its Fort Dunlop plant. The new technology includes advanced tyre building machinery that is designed to produce the bespoke tyres needed to suit the needs of specific riders, bikes, circuits and even climates.

This machinery not only constructs the body of the tyre in a new way, but brings flexibility to the design and production process by precisely applying different elements and components to specific areas of the tyre as it is being built. Track surfaces are mapped using a highly sophisticated form of satellite navigation from which the findings are fed into the computer and the machine builds the tyre accordingly.

"This investment in technology is a result of a concerted team effort by the Birmingham based Dunlop Motorsport Team in partnership with our sister facilities around the world," stated Jean-Felix Bazelin, general manager of Dunlop Motorsport. "Specialists in the USA, Japan, Germany and the UK contributed to the development of the concept and the new race tyre build process, which will give us the opportunity to succeed in MotoGP.

"We can create tyres with a variety of compound applications across one tyre tread face, optimised to the exact needs of each racing circuit. The circuit mapping means that we will design and build tyres with specific compounds and construction elements to match the number of left and right handed corners on each lap, resulting in an asymmetrical tyre that will precisely match the demands of the different cornering speeds, lean angles and surfaces of each circuit. This new process, using fully computerised technology gives us absolute accuracy and uniformity. Not only does this help the teams and riders, it improves efficiency in the production process by reducing waste in material, energy and time.

"Fort Dunlop can be considered as a motorsport 'centre of excellence' in the global organisation. This investment is a signal that Motorsport is at the heart of the Dunlop brand, and we are proud that we are able to reveal an investment in one of Birmingham's most famous manufacturing plants," he concluded.

However, despite Dunlop's commitment to MotoGP - and the new tyre restrictions which will initially apply only to Michelin and Bridgestone - it is not yet clear which team(s) they will be supplying next season.

d'Antin Ducati is all but certain to switch to Bridgestone tyres, as used by the factory Ducati team, while Checa's decision to leave Tech 3 Yamaha for a Michelin shod LCR Honda has cast uncertainly over the Dunlop/Tech 3 project. Ellison is expected to leave the team, but former race winner Makoto Tamada has recently been linked to Herve Poncharal's outfit after losing his Konica Minolta Honda ride.