Dunlop invests in UK for MotoGP racing tyres

Birmingham, UK -- Dunlop has announced a £1 million-plus investment in new technology at its Fort  Dunlop plant in Birmingham aimed at delivering long term  success in the MotoGP world  championship.

The plant currently produces around 300 000 racing tyres annually.

The new investment covers manufacturing technology at the Fort Dunlop plant in Birmingham. 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.

In a press release, Dunlop said, "This machine not only constructs the body of the tyre in a new way, it 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."

“We can create tyres with a variety of compounds 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” said Jean-Felix Bazelin, General Manager, Dunlop Motorsport.