Dunlop announces tyre development programme

Multiple-championship winning tyre manufacturer Dunlop Motorsport celebrated the future power of motorsport at Silverstone at the weekend, highlighting that new fuel solution technologies can only be optimised with new tyre design concepts. The Birmingham based tyre manufacturer is announcing that is embarking on a specific development programme to cater for future generations of electric and hydrogen powered race cars.

This announcement coincides with the UK round of the FIA World Endurance Championship where GreenGT H2, the first Hydrogen Fuel Cell Le Mans car, will be unveiled to British media.  Dunlop Motorsport explained the science behind its motorsport tyres and how they are developed for specific applications including future technology vehicles like the GreenGT H2.

As Sebastien Montet, Race Design & Development manager for Dunlop Motorsport explains, there are three main challenges for tyre designers to overcome that will drive tyre design for the future power of motorsport:

“With vehicles such as the GreenGT H2 we need to think about the vehicle weight, different engine characteristics and an improvement in fuel efficiency. A change in vehicle weight will mean an increase in the forces carried by the tyre, different engine torque characteristics mean the tyres require an increase in longitudinal stiffness, and improved fuel efficiency will be optimized in lower rolling resistance in the tyres we design.”

Montet adds: “Torque vectoring cornering control is often seen as the ‘Hand of God’ for corner capabilities on the track and the road in the future, but the substantial benefits of this technology counts for nothing without the appropriate tyre design.
“Whilst the lateral torque distribution control unequally distributes the engine torque to the left and right wheels, torque vectoring technology provides the differential with the ability to vary the amount of power sent to each wheel which results in optimum lateral acceleration. The suspension can therefore be used to control the vehicle response whereas the torque vectoring focuses on the stability.”