Dunlop Reach 50,000 Tyre Milestone at Bathurst 1000

Dunlop proudly supplied its 50,000th tyre to the V8 Supercar Championship Series at the most prestigious race on the Australian motorsport calendar. Dunlop reached their 50,000th tyre milestone after beating rival manufacturers to win its third consecutive contract to supply its highly-acclaimed control tyre to teams participating in the Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series. Since 2002, Dunlop has been the sole tyre supplier to the Championship, providing and servicing more than 9,000 tyres per year.

At such the prestigious event, Dunlop was delighted to supply the milestone tyre to veteran driver, John Bowe’s, Ford Falcon BA, in his last season in the Championship. Both Dunlop and Bowe entered Mount Panorama in high spirits with Bowe and co-driver Jonathon Webb scoring the Glenfords Racing team’s best-ever result in Round Nine at Sandown, whilst Dunlop arrived at Bathurst after recently winning the official tyre supplier contract to the V8 Supercar Championship Series through to the end of the 2012 season.

Kevin Fitzsimons, V8 Supercar Operations Manager, said that it seems fitting that the 50,000th tyre has been allocated to the Glenfords Racing team and John Bowe for the race. “Dunlop has a long and proud association with Bathurst and John Bowe so we were delighted to hear that our 50,000th tyre had been allocated to him,” explained Kevin Fitzsimons.

The Dunlop V8 Supercar control tyre is manufactured at the company’s specialised racing tyre factory in Nagoya, Japan, where each of the 1,100 tyres to be supplied at Bathurst take more than three hours to be hand-crafted.

Glenfords Racing driver, John Bowe, said: “From the first race of 2002, which was when Dunlop commenced the V8 Supercar control tyre contract, the V8 Supercar Championship Series has gone from strength to strength. This is due in no small part to the stability, quality, consistency and service that Dunlop has brought to the category.

“So it was a pleasure for me to drive on Dunlop’s 50,000th tyre in my final Bathurst after seeing the tyre company roll out consistent product year after year whilst providing world class service on and off the track.”