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Stoner Unhappy About MotoGP Single Tyre Proposal

The recent suggestion from Dorna that a one tyre rule should be adopted for MotoGP in 2008 has been met less than enthusiastically by current world champion, Australia’s Casey Stoner. The Bridgestone shod rider recently made public his feelings about the proposal made after a season in which the Japanese tyre major dashed Michelin’s long enjoyed winning streak.

“There has been one [bad] season and now everyone wants to jump ship,” Stoner said. “This is a prototype championship. These bikes are built just for this championship and these tyres are built just for this championship. If we bring in a single tyre rule, then you bring in single manufacturer bikes, and then it’s the R6 Cup.”

12th October 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Single Tyre Proposed for MotoGP

MotoGP may go the way of Formula One and become a single tyre championship next year if the proposal adopted by Carmelo Ezpeleta, CEO of series organiser Dorna Sports, is adopted. Such a move would serve the purpose of cutting costs and is aimed at eliminating what many have called the current “imbalance” between Bridgestone and Michelin.

24th September 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Committed to MotoGP

Michelin’s participation in the 2008 MotoGP championship looks assured following reports of Yamaha’s decision to not change the brand of rubber used by Valentino Rossi. The move confirms what Michelin motorsport director, Frédéric Henry-Biabaud, told Tyres & Accessories during an exclusive interview at the weekend.

When asked whether Michelin was planning to walk away from MotoGP, Henry-Biabaud flatly denied reports of this nature. On the contrary, he explained, Michelin is committed to providing a top quality service to its teams in this series, and has actually gone as far as diverting resources from its former Formula One budget into making the very best two-wheel competition tyres.

19th September 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Contemplates MotoGP Withdrawal

Michelin may bow out of MotoGP racing at the end of the current season if the Honda and Yamaha factory teams switch to Bridgestone for 2008, reports Eurosport.

After ruling the roost for a number of years, the 2007 season has seen Michelin’s fortunes decline, with Bridgestone shod rider Casey Stoner securing eight victories in contrast to Michelin’s four. Both Yamaha and Repsol Honda’s tyre contracts are due for renewal at the end of this year, and to date neither party has offered any firm indication that they intend to re-sign with Michelin.

Should Michelin not retain its factory teams, it may choose to end its relationship with the championship. “If we don’t have any factory teams I don’t think we’ll stay. Or we won’t have a really good reason to continue the development,” Jean Philippe Weber, Michelin’s director of motorcycle racing, told Eurosport. “If our partners don’t trust in our potential then maybe we don’t have to stay.”

5th September 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin to Investigate Rossi’s MotoGP Tyre

Michelin has taken the rear tyre from MotoGP rider Valentino Rossi’s Yamaha back to Clermont Ferrand for a thorough investigation into its sudden failure during the Turkish Grand Prix on April 22.

Rossi experienced difficulties throughout the race and later complained of tyre problems. “I immediately started to have problems with the rear tyre,” he stated after finishing tenth. “It did get up to temperature, but then I started sliding all over: something went wrong on the right side of the tyre and it gave us a lot of problems.” It is believed the tyre began to vibrate violently on lap 14 of the race.

Pierre Alves, Michelin’s technician in the Yamaha garage, believes the problems to be the result of how the tyre has been made and not a matter of rubber degradation. “It seems that it is inside the tyre rather than what happened in Laguna [July 2006], when it was starting to blister,” he explained.

A source from within Michelin has commented that Rossi’s recent tyre problems may have been caused by a manufacturing problem rather than anything inherently wrong with the tyre’s design.

24th April 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Dunlop GP Racer Wins Magazine Tyre Test

Dunlop, fresh from victory in the opening two rounds of the 2007 British Superbike Championship, scored another win in an independent test of superbike tyres. The test was conducted by leading UK monthly magazine ‘Superbike’, who tested the leading fast-road and track day tyres on the market. All the tyres tested were road-legal but aimed at the fast-growing track day market, where owners take road bikes onto race tracks where they can exploit the full-potential of their bikes.

‘Superbike’ tested eight different tyre brands at the demanding Albacete circuit in Spain. The magazine mixed subjective feedback with measured lap times, using three expert riders and a Suzuki GSX-R1000 superbike. The Dunlop GP Racer was declared equal first in the test, and also secured the fastest average lap time of the eight contenders. Superbike’s Jon Pearson declared the Dunlop-shod bike to “feel planted at full lean, especially on the faster, longer corners.”

16th April 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone Equipped Stoner Triumphant in Qatar

It was a win for Bridgestone in Qatar as Australia’s Casey Stoner rode his Ducati to victory in the MotoGP season opener. He squeezed out pole position starter Valentino Rossi’s Yamaha during the race’s final laps to take this, his first MotoGP victory.

12th March 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Tyre War a Close Fought Battle

While Michelin appears confident about maintaining its apparent advantage in the MotoGP tyre war, competitor Bridgestone believes the fight is still too close to call.

With the switch from 990cc to 800cc bikes in 2007 a greater emphasis has been placed upon cornering, with the bikes’ reduced power allowing greater cornering speeds. Michelin has replaced their 16.5-inch front tyre with a 16-inch alternative that permits lighter handling, and this new tyre performed well during February’s qualifying tests in Qatar, with Honda’s Dani Pedrosa achieving the fastest times.

7th March 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Dunlop Prepares for Busiest MotoGP Season Ever

The 2007 MotoGP season starts on March 10th with the Grand Prix in Qatar. This year’s calendar has 18 races, one more than 2006. Between Qatar and Valencia on 4 November, the teams will have raced in Turkey, China, USA, Japan, Malaysia and Australia as well as throughout Europe.

5th March 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Getting Competitive with Dunlop

With Dunlop’s new product activity in 2006 restricted to the release of the niche market D407 Harley Davidson tyre and the Sportmax GPR100 maxi scooter tyre, the main excitement coming from the Dunlop camp centres upon racing and motorsport. And this enthusiasm comes from the very top – in the past few months the company has publicly voiced its intention to step up support for both motorcycle racing and MotoGP.

5th February 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Continental: ‘ContiRaceAttack Features Revolutionary Contact Patch’

The news on the Continental/Cambrian stand at the Stoneleigh Expo was twofold: the company has released a new trackday tyre and are winning a race of their own, having grown 22 per cent in the last year.

29th January 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Completely Different – Michelin MotoGP Tyre

Gauloises Yamaha MotoGP rider Colin Edwards has given Michelin’s new 16- inch front tyre a definite thumbs up during pre-championship simulation races in Sepang. The smaller diameter front tyre is designed to provide greater stability during braking and cornering for the new generation of 800cc machines being introduced into the MotoGP competition.

25th January 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

More than 29 Managers to Leave Goodyear Dunlop UK in 2007

29 managers have lost their jobs at Goodyear Dunlop UK. The job losses are part of a restructuring programme, which will cut around 100 jobs in total. The management cuts will almost exclusively be from positions at the company’s TyreFort headquarters in Birmingham, with about 69 job losses coming from non office-based staff. However, at least some of the jobs lost at Hi-Q and TruckForce depots are a question of administration, with employment simply transferring to the various holders of the new franchise agreement instead of Goodyear Dunlop itself.

8th December 2006/by Tyrepress Editors

Valentino Rossi Wins Monza Rally on Pirelli Tyres

MotoGP champion, Valentino Rossi has won the Monza Rally, taking charge in his Ford Focus WRC to win by a clear margin on Pirelli P Zero racing tyres. Mario Isola, Rally Manager for Pirelli Competizioni: “We congratulate Rossi on his excellent performance, which we are extremely proud to have been a part of.”

Valentino literally left all rivals in the distance in the final race of the Italian rally season, which brought both rally and track racers together in a single event. Against such names as Dindo Capello, Markku Alen, Piero Longhi, and Didier Auriol, Rossi took to the front right from the start and finished the race with a comfortable margin over his adversaries.

29th November 2006/by Tyrepress Editors

Dunlop Makes a Splash at Paul Ricard

Dunlop broke new ground – and shifted plenty of water – at the Paul Ricard circuit near Marseille, France last week, with a first-ever dedicated wet test bringing together top teams from MotoGP, Superbike and Endurance for a two day programme at which multi-compound wet – weather tyres made their track debut.

The tests brought the title-winning French SERT (Suzuki Endurance Racing Team) alongside the Tech 3 Yamaha MotoGP team and the Airwaves Ducati British Superbike squad – all lining up for the full spray treatment at the multi-million dollar Paul Ricard HTTT (High Tech Test Track) facility more usually dedicated to F1 and Le Mans race cars.

28th November 2006/by Tyrepress Editors