Former Goodyear Dunlop EMEA marketing and communications director, James Bailey, has joined a Birmingham-based PR, social media and communications agency Reeves, to lead a newly-created unit that will focus on the automotive, manufacturing and vehicle technology sectors.
Dunlop is optimistic about the future of historic motorsport. This was the message given at the Historic Motorsport International (HMI) show last Friday, a London-based event that sees a wide range of companies involved in the classic car and historic motorsport markets meet to prepare for the coming season.
Dunlop, as official tyre supplier and title sponsor to the MSA British Touring Car Championship, has provided an opportunity for three promising drivers to test with a winning team from Britain’s premier racing championship. Three of the UK’s national racing stars joined Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo at Snetterton circuit for the Dunlop Prize Drive Day.
Dunlop, official tyre partner to the MSA British Touring Car Championship, predicts a “significant increase in grip and traction” following the introduction of larger tyre sizes and new constructions for the 2017 season.
Dunlop has stated its intention to continue supporting competitors progressing through the ranks of UK motorsport, as it prepares to enter its third decade as official tyre supplier and title sponsor of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship. One of the most enduring partnerships in motorsport, Dunlop says its link with the BTCC allows it to continue its support of grassroots racing. The manufacturer signed an agreement with TOCA until at least the end of 2021 at the end of the 2015 season.
According to several national and regional dailies, workers have responded with strong emotions to a jobs notification posted within the Goodyear Dunlop retreading facility in Wolverhampton, which the company proposes to close in response to changing market conditions. The notification in question, as reported by the Express & Star, offers Goodyear Dunlop workers job opportunities within the human resources, production and quality departments of a company plant in Mexico.
Goodyear will not make a Formula One comeback in 2017, while Dunlop has reaffirmed its commitment to endurance and touring car racing. The manufacturer’s statements come on the 17 June tender deadline, following Michelin Motorsport director Pascal Couasnon’s confirmation that the French manufacturer had submitted an official application.
Dunlop will seek to extend its 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship and European Le Mans success into next year as the manufacturer launches its 2015 GT testing programme. Dunlop also signalled its intention to expand its endurance racing activities to include new specification tyres for ‘open tyre’ GT classes.
Tyre production at Fort Dunlop, a site that was Europe’s largest tyre manufacturing facility as recently as the 1970s, has ended as Dunlop Motorsport transfers its motorsport capacity to facilities in France and Germany. A total of 241 manufacturing jobs vanished as the final shift left the factory on the afternoon of 30 May; local MP Jack Dromey, who had fought to retain Dunlop motorsport manufacturing in Birmingham since Goodyear Dunlop first announced plans to leave the site a year ago, referred to the end of production as “a day of shame”.
If you would like the latest news from the Chinese tyre industry in Chinese, visit our partner site TyrepressChina.com. Or click below to continue on Tyrepress.