DUNLOP AND V8 Supercars

The V8 Supercar Championship Series, as we know it today, started in 1993 with Commodores racing against Falcon in an “open tyre” competition.

Under the professional leadership of a newly formed organisation, AVESCO (now V8 Supercars Australia), it quickly grew into the most popular and successful motorsport competition Australia has ever seen.

Named the official control tyre supplier at the start of the 2002 season, Dunlop recently won its third consecutive contract to supply its control tyre to the V8 Supercar Championship Series and Fujitsu Development Series until 2012.

In June 2008, Dunlop successfully released a new and improved control tyre, called the ‘SP Sport Maxx Control’.

The 2009 V8 Supercar Championship Series sees the next evolution in tyre regulations with the introduction of a new softer option tyre, called the ‘SP Sport Maxx Sprint’. Designed to create more exciting racing between competitors, the SP Sport Maxx Sprint will be used in conjunction with the SP Sport Maxx Control at selected races throughout the 2009 calendar.

Tyre Details

SP Sport Maxx Control

Introduced during the 2008 V8 Supercar Championship Series to replace the existing control tyre design that had been used since 2002, the ‘SP Sport Maxx Control’ is the culmination of ongoing technical development and forward thinking by Dunlop Motorsport.

The SP Sport Maxx Control will continue to be the standard tyre that will be used by all teams at all V8 Supercar rounds in the 2009 Championship.

SP Sport Maxx Sprint

The 2009 V8 Supercar Championship Series has seen the next evolution in tyre regulations with the introduction of a new softer option tyre, the ‘SP Sport Maxx Sprint’. This second tyre will be used alongside the SP Sport Maxx Control and has been designed to create more exciting racing between competitors.

A soft tread compound has been adapted to the exact same casing as the current SP Sport Maxx Control tyre and will be used in the ‘sprint’ races, being introduced at Winton (VIC) and then used at Symmons Plains (TAS), Hidden Valley (NT), Ipswich (QLD), Sandown (VIC) and Barbagello (WA). At these rounds, teams will be allocated one set of four of the new SP Sport Maxx Sprint tyres for racing where it will be compulsory for them to use at some stage during the weekend.

As a major parameter requested by V8 Supercars Australia, the SP Sport Maxx Sprint tyre performance deteriorates with time, coming back to the lap times of the current SP Sport Maxx Control tyre after approximately twenty laps. It is 1.5 to 2 seconds quicker per 60 second lap, and will last approximately 80 km before this deterioration sets in.

For 2009 the distance of a sprint race will be 100 km. Thus, the deterioration rate will not allow the soft tyre to run a whole race, let alone at competitive times.Therefore, strategies each team employs as to when they fit the SP Sport Maxx Sprint tyres will play a very important role and result in much more action both on track and in pit lane.

The SP Sport Maxx Sprint tyre will be recognisable both on and off the race track by a distinctive yellow marking on the wall of the tyre.