MAKOTO TAMADA JOINS TECH 3 FOR 2007 MOTOGP
26 October 2006 - Goodyear

Tech 3 has chosen Makoto Tamada to join their team for the 2007 MotoGP World Championship season.

The Japanese rider will ride the new 800cc Yamaha and continue the development of Dunlop tyres, the performance of which has significantly improved during 2006.

“ We are very happy to welcome Makoto Tamada “ says Herve Poncharal, Tech 3 Yamaha Dunlop team manager. “ He is an excellent rider who has already proved his ability by winning two Grands Prix and being on the podium five times in the MotoGP era. We are sure that he will be able to help Dunlop continue to become ever more competitive – a challenge that is even more interesting since we will all jointly work with the new Yamaha 800 with the full support of the Yamaha factory.”

Makoto Tamada, who made his MotoGP debut in 2003 also looks forward to joining this project: “I am happy to be back on Dunlop tyres again, and have good memories of riding on Dunlop in the Japanese Superbike Championship. I am excited by the challenge that the Tech 3 Yamaha Dunlop project offers.
I was able to judge at close quarters the current level of the Dunlop Yamaha package throughout a close race I had with Carlos Checa at the last GP in Portugal.”

The announcement comes on the same day that Dunlop announce a major investment in their MotoGP tyre build programme.

The new investment covers manufacturing technology at the iconic 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.

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.

This investment is not just an example of new technology, but an example of team effort, according to Jean-Felix Bazelin, General Manager, Dunlop Motorsport: “ This investment in technology is a result of a concerted team effort by the Birmingham based Dunlop Motorsport Team in partnership with our sister facilities around the world. Specialists in the USA, Japan, Germany and the UK contributed to the development of the concept and the new race tyre build process, which will give us the opportunity to succeed in MotoGP”

A MotoGP race motorcycle delivers 250 horsepower at the rear wheel which is transmitted through a contact patch between the tyre and the track surface no bigger than two credit cards side by side at speeds up to 200mph. The colossal cornering speeds result in staggering lean angles in excess of 50 degrees from vertical and this too subjects the edge of the tyres to unprecedented punishment. The huge variety of different corners, surfaces and climates in the MotoGP season mean that bespoke tyres are required for every event.

“We can create tyres with a variety of compound applications 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” added Bazelin.

This investment aims to bring continued success for our riders and teams in MotoGP and Superbike racing. It is also a success for the Birmingham plant.

Dunlop has been manufacturing winning tyres in Birmingham since 1902. The Birmingham plant now produces around 300,000 specialist competition tyres a year for UK and export markets all over the globe and employs a 300-strong group comprising research, development, manufacturing, engineering and commercial teams.

Bazelin concluded: “Fort Dunlop can be considered as a motorsport ‘centre of excellence’ in the global organisation. This investment is a signal that Motorsport is at the heart of the Dunlop brand, and we are proud that we are able to reveal an investment in one of Birmingham’s most famous manufacturing plants.”

Makoto Tamada’s digest:
Born in 1976
Debut in GP: 1998, category 250 cc
Debut in MotoGP: 2003
Results in MotoGP:
- 2 victories (Japan and Brazil in 2004)
- 5 podiums
- 3 pole positions

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