Table of contents

• Endurance test of Dunlop sports tires Road tires, slicks, IDM qualifying rubber
• IDM superbike crack Gareth Jones as co-tester
• Dunlop Roadsmart 2
• Cost-per-kilometer winner
• Dunlop Sportsmart
• IDM pro is amazed at the high level of grip
• Dunlop D 211 GP Racer
• Standard tire for the Yamaha R6 Cup
• Dunlop D 211 GP Racer Slick
• An increase of 0.2 seconds compared to the D 211
• Dunlop D 212 GP Pro
• Arrived in the land of milk and honey for racing tires
• Dunlop KR 106/108
• Gareth Jones doesn’t keep it slipping
• Dunlop KR 108 qualifying slick
• Qualifying slick are not for normal people
• So was tested
• Five to six rounds per skin and tester
• Lap times
• Every second gained costs a lot of money
• Conclusion

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PS brought in IDM superbike ace Gareth Jones as a co-tester.

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Dunlop Sportsmart: mileage 6,500 km; Costs per km 0.04 euros.

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Especially the rear touring skin reached its limit very quickly. But it also lasts a long time.

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Lap times: 1.32.27 min (professional); 1.32.45 min (amateur).

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Dunlop Roadsmart 2: mileage 7,500 km; Costs EUR 0.03 per km.

BMW

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The test bike of our choice because it gets every rubber small: a BMW HP4 with “Competition” package.

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Dunlop sports tires tested: Roadsmart 2, Sportsmart, D 211 GP Racer, D 211 GP Racer Slick, D 212 GP Pro, KR 106/108, KR 108 Qualifier.

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PS tester Robert Gluck.

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Lap times: 1.24.41 min (professional); 1.27.22 min (amateur).

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Despite the very soft setup of the BMW, the KR 108 rear tire shows a clean running pattern.

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Dunlop KR 108 qualifying slick: mileage 20 km; Costs per km 24.10 euros.

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Lap times: 1.24.39 min (professional); 1.27.72 min (amateur).

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Qualifying slicks are the flashbacks of the scene. Once the Poles have left, they are allowed to go.

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Sir Steinmetz helped with the assembly and checked the air pressure.

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The testers also had to work – here when swapping the front wheel.

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Everyone filled out their own test sheet with driving impressions.

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“You’re three seconds faster. How is that? “” Just step on the gas! “

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Dunlop D 212 GP Pro: Mileage 250 km; Costs per km 1.74 euros.

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The lap times tumble, the tires bite. The D 212 GP Pro is a very hot topic.

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Lap times: 1.28.21 min (professional); 1.28.82 min (amateur).

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Already carries a lot of sports genes. With the Sportsmart you can really let it go.

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Dunlop D 211 GP Racer: mileage 300 km; Costs per km 1.05 euros.

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Lap times: 1.25.81 min (professional); 1.28.71 min (amateur).

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A great moving picture shows that the D 211 GP Racer and BMW HP4 get along well with the Mireval asphalt.

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Dunlop D 211 GP Racer Slick: mileage 300 km; Costs per km 1.07 euros.

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Lap times: 1.25.63 min (professional); 1.28.48 min (amateur).

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The GP Racer Slick is a D 211 without a profile, for hobby racers who like a profile-less look.

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Lap times: 1.24.96 min (professional); 1.27.84 min (amateur).

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For touring and road sports tires, professionals and amateurs start with almost congruent lap times. An indication that both drivers are very close to the physical limit.

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tire

Endurance test of Dunlop sports tires

Endurance test of Dunlop sports tires
Road tires, slicks, IDM qualifying rubber

Content of

What can which tire do? The same question finally demands an answer! PS scraped the rubber of all common Dunlop sports tires, including an IDM qualifying slick.

Robert luck

09/17/2013

You, dear reader, are to blame! After the PS tire test, countless letters to the editor arrived in which the writers complained that we had not compared the sports tires (PS 6/2013) directly with the touring tires (PS 7/2013). You would like to know how a touring tire compares to a sports tire and how a sports tire compares to a racing tire.

Buy complete article

Endurance test of Dunlop sports tires
Road tires, slicks, IDM qualifying rubber

10 pages) as PDF

€ 2.00

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6 pairs of touring tires in the test

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IDM superbike crack Gareth Jones as co-tester

For logistical reasons, the major tire tests always have to be carried out separately – that cannot be changed. But the question of “What which tire can do” never let go of us either. Dunlop Germany offered itself as a partner to drive all common models of their road tires on their test track in France – from Roadsmart 2, the touring tire, to the qualifying slick of the KR 108 family, as used in the IDM. Many thanks for the commitment and the perfect support! The author also got help from IDM Superbike crack Gareth Jones, who got permission from Yamaha Germany to take a seat on the test bike from Munich. Here, too, a big thank you to the MGM team and boss Michael Galinski.

The test can of course also be transferred to other brands, since all the major tire manufacturers have a similarly large product variety as Dunlop. Statements about durability, prices and ultimately also the costs per kilometer are not hard facts, but only clearly reflect one tendency: time is money! And now have fun reading, because this story brings one or two surprises to light.

Dunlop Roadsmart 2

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Dunlop Roadsmart 2

Going to the racetrack with a touring tire on a BMW HP4 is about as intelligent as competing in an athletics competition on ice skates. Nevertheless, the Roadsmart 2 has to deal with this, after all, road drivers often ask themselves whether they should put on the more durable touring tires or the more grippy sports tires. The Roadsmart is also justified in terms of horsepower, i.e. brisk to very brisk driving on country roads. Its grip level is sufficient for 95 percent of the situations on the country road, its longevity is a big plus on the cost side.

Cost-per-kilometer winner

In Mireval on the closed test track, the Roadsmart 2 behaved exactly as it always does with touring tires on high-performance motorcycles on circuits. After three to four fast laps, the heavily challenged rear tire in particular began to overheat. With the result that he began to slide badly.

Both test drivers particularly liked the front wheel, which supports the handling, especially the turning of the HP4. However, at the expense of steering precision, as the bike is not completely neutral in medium lean angles. If you want to know when exiting a curve, you can look forward to a broad limit area with the Roadsmart 2, which is transparent to the pilot thanks to good feedback. Which also explains why the amateur and the IDM professional drove almost identical lap times. The two tenths of a second difference make it impressively clear that both were able to develop a good feeling for the grip of the tire, which must clearly be attributed to the tire.

The assumption that a little more grippy rear wheel would have done a lot more is academic in nature. Because the performance of the cost-per-kilometer winner and touring professional on the racetrack is definitely sufficient.

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HP comparison test touring tires

Touring rubbers delight PS testers

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Tire test 2013: 6 touring tires 120/70 ZR 17, 180/55 ZR 17

Touring tire test 2013

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Tire test 2013: 6 touring tires 120/70 ZR 17, 180/55 ZR 17

Touring tire test 2013

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Dunlop Sportsmart

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Dunlop Sportsmart

He is about to be replaced (Sportsmart 2 in PS issue 11/13) and now has to show what he can do. We’re talking about Sportsmart, the road sports tire from Dunlop, targeting PS readers and other fast guys from the country road. Built for sporty motorcycles of all displacement classes, it should mainly be aimed on the road and there in all weather conditions, but also on a sporadic excursion to the racetrack. And you also notice this sporty gene in him. Built according to the classic Dunlop philosophy, the Sportsmart feels stiff. It takes a few meters to build up temperature, but then convinces with a hearty grip. The racing driver Jones ironed around the course more than four seconds faster with the street sport skin than with the tourer, while the horsepower driver was 3.6 seconds faster.

IDM pro is amazed at the high level of grip

Where does the immense time difference come from? Mainly, of course, on the composition of the rubber compound. Once the Sportsmart has reached its operating temperature, it even amazes the IDM superbiker with its high level of grip. Above all, however, the NTEC construction, which Dunlop uses from Sportsmart on in all subsequent, sportier tires, makes the difference. NTEC stands for extremely stiff carcasses, which allow the tire pressure to be reduced and thus increase the tire contact area and thus the grip. The stiff overall structure means that stability and feedback are retained.

We tested the Sportsmart – because it is a street tire – with the air pressure of 2.9 bar recommended by BMW on the rear wheel and attested that it had an impressive grip for a street tire. A few laps with 1.6 bar in the rear wheel to test the NTEC technology reduced the lap time by another four tenths of a second. However, this air pressure is only of limited use in everyday life.

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MOTORRAD tire test 2013

6 sports tires of size 120/70 ZR 17, 190/55 ZR 17 in the test

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tire

MOTORRAD tire test 2013

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Dunlop D 211 GP Racer

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Dunlop D 211 GP Racer

Now it starts with the race track suitable rubbers. And you can feel that from the first meter. Jagged bends and crisp feedback literally jump at the pilot. The Dunlop D 211 GP Racer was driven by us in the mixture “M” (medium) front and rear. There are also two other mixes available for the front and rear: “S” (soft) and “E” (endurance). The GP Racer can theoretically be driven on the street, but we recommend using this hobby sport tire only on the race and there with tire warmers.

Standard tire for the Yamaha R6 Cup

As a profiled sports tire, it was once used as a racing tire in the super sports class, but this task was made easier by the D 212 GP Pro. The fact that the D 211 does not belong to the scrap heap is proven by the lap times of the Yamaha R6 Cup, in which the skin is used in front in “M” and rear in “E” as a standard tire. How much higher the grip of the D 211 is compared to the Sportsmart is proven by two things: a) the expected mileage indicated by Dunlop for the racetrack: Sportsmart 700 to 1000 kilometers, D 211 200 to 300 kilometers. And b) there is still the gap between amateur and professional, which is now frighteningly opening. Jones improved his lap time with the D 211 by a full 2.4 seconds, the amateur by just a tenth of a second.

An indication that the amateur is approaching his limit and cannot immediately implement the additional liability offered. In the assessment of the tire, however, both agree again: The D 211 literally inspires the HP4, you can now bang nimbly into the corners and be sure that the rubber will hold. Unless you are an IDM pilot and enjoy well-groomed and controlled drifts on the hindquarters.

Dunlop D 211 GP Racer Slick

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Dunlop D 211 GP Racer Slick

Slick, slick – hurray! Slicks stand for the crown of sports tires, for maximum grip and minimum lap times. But the skins without profiles also differ considerably.

Actually, the name D 211 GP Racer Slick says it all. Basically, the GP Racer Slick is identical to the GP Racer, only that it has no profile. What does that bring? On the one hand, you have another tire model on offer with little effort, on the other hand a slick in the range that meets the needs, but also the skills of a hobby racer.

An increase of 0.2 seconds compared to the D 211

While high-end slicks like the Dunlop KR 106/108 only work perfectly in a very narrow setting window of the chassis, the GP Racer Slick is more forgiving. This means that pilots who are not landing gear specialists get along very well with the rubber.

On the HP4, with its shock absorber that slowly yields at this grip level, the slick worked perfectly. The character of the tire conveys a real racing feeling, the BMW drives very precisely and lightly, and the amateur can heartily burn out of the corners. So bold, in fact, that he never has to worry about grip. Not a single slide could be wrested from the hobby slick, braking maneuvers on the last groove occasionally even caused the rear wheel to lift off.

The amateur increased by 0.2 seconds compared to the D 211 with profile. Even the professional increased exactly by this time unit with the slick. Whether this is actually due to the closed holes that represent the profile? Who knows. But it is astonishing that two drivers who are only 2.9 seconds apart can improve each other by the same two tenths of a second.

The D 211 GP Racer Slick is likely to have another advantage over its high-profile brother. Tread tires tend to tear, especially in cool weather and cold asphalt – as can happen during racing training in wintry Spain. The closed tread of the slicks offers less contact surface due to the lack of tread edges, which is why the slick should tear less severely.

Dunlop D 212 GP Pro

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Dunlop D 212 GP Pro

With the Dunlop D 212 GP Pro, the first high-tech supersport tire is strapped to the HP4. This is the skin with which Dunlop competes in its supersport activities – this is how the tire is also used in the SSP-IDM. It can now be bought through normal tire dealers, no longer exclusively through the racing service as it used to be. Four different compounds are available for the front wheel (“1” = soft, “4” = endurance), and five for the rear. In Mireval we started with a mixture of “3” on the front wheel and “4” on the rear wheel, which was quite tough overall.

Arrived in the land of milk and honey for racing tires

With the preheated skin, it becomes clear from the first meter that you have now arrived in the land of milk and honey for racing tires. Crisp feedback, easy, super-precise turning and an impressive neutrality in an inclined position burn into our popometer. With a lot of confidence you stab in the very fast corners and open the gas earlier than ever before. With the impressive result that the amateur is over six tenths and the professional almost seven tenths faster than with the hobby racer slick.

While the amateur only notices a slightly underdamped strut and the associated restless hindquarters, the professional gets to the point in detail. The D 212 offers so much lateral grip that it overtaxes the shock absorber of the standard HP4. Its damping is insufficient and it therefore begins to pump in the acceleration phase. This effect is reinforced by the fact that the power of the HP4 makes the tire harder, i.e. it also gives in under the massive power and becomes unstable on the flank.

The solution, according to Gareth Jones: revise the shock absorber or choose a different line. One in which the tire does not have to withstand too much acceleration force in an inclined position. Then the SSP skin also works perfectly on the superbike.

Dunlop KR 106/108

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Dunlop KR 106/108

Finally the ultimate comes to the BMW, the slicks of the KR family. And to come straight to the point: Yes, the slicks are expensive. But: never before has beating the HP4 been so deeply relaxed and fast as on these rubbers! Right, deeply relaxed! No slides, no strange idiosyncrasies – nothing disturbs the enjoyable burning on the slopes. Outstanding grip in all situations, whether when braking in or when firing violently out of corners. Hold on, hold on, hold on the KRs! And with a suitable setup that is now easier to find than before, even over a day on the rear wheel.

Gareth Jones doesn’t keep it slipping

The time saver compared to the D 212 is perhaps the slightly better grip of the softer compound, but most certainly the stability it has gained. Where the super sports tire had to give in under the power of the HP4, the KR slicks of the compounds “2” at the front and “3” at the rear act with the utmost aplomb.

Like the D 212, the KR slicks are also available in four (front) and five (rear) mixtures. These should be selected to match the surface of the track and the temperature. The right tires for the track and chassis primarily increase durability – grip is rather secondary, as this is always enough for the hobby racer. Proof of that? With pleasure. Gareth Jones grumbled in all seriousness that he couldn’t get the rear tire to slip. Too much grip and too little power on the part of the BMW HP4 miss this slippery pleasure. And we’re talking about the hottest iron currently on the market and a tire that everyone can buy. Meanwhile, the amateur is happy that he has become six tenths faster with the stable KR slicks.

With regard to the mileage of KR-Slicks (and D 212) it should be mentioned again that this depends heavily on the weather and chassis conditions. If they match, long-lasting fun on the race is guaranteed.

Dunlop KR 108 qualifying slick

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Dunlop KR 108 qualifying slick

The myth of qualifying slick! Anyone who watched training sessions for the Superbike World Championship or the Grand Prix class knew that ten minutes before the end of the last timed practice session the “miracle weapons” were being unpacked. In other words, special qualifying slicks that only provide even more grip on the rear wheel and thus enable unearthly lap times.

Qualifying slick are not for normal people

Such tires are still used in the IDM today, which is why we are trying out a copy of this type. First Gareth goes out on the track, burns off quickly, pulls out a hot lap, then turns a slightly slower one to give the tires a chance to recover and then tries again with a fast lap. With sobering results. Rubber compound, suspension setup and route do not come together. Nevertheless, it is two thousandths of a second faster with the qualifying slick than with the standard KR 108. That’s what I call motivation and commitment!

I have to wait until my qualifying rear wheel is warm enough. It’s been 65 minutes since my last lap on the KR slicks by the time I get away. I go out and try to implement Gareth’s suggestion to pull it full right away. The line fits in the curling lap, then I push as hard as I can. Miss a turning point by several meters and screw me up the whole lap from that point on. All in all, I drive way too cramped, want too much and deteriorate by half a second.

Conclusion: These highly specialized tires, this crème de la crème of sports rubbers, are not for normal people like me. If you want to convert the extra grip into lap time, you need a driver like Gareth Jones, who earns his money by racing and can concentrate perfectly on this one lap. In order to be able to fully exploit the potential of the compound with the number 8863, a professional rider also needs a racing motorcycle with a suitable setup and someone who knows which air pressure in the tire leads to the desired result, i.e. the pole position. When everything fits together, this one fast lap is certainly better than flying.

So was tested

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The testers filling out the test sheets.

Before the start of testing the Dunlop tire range, the test pilots drove the BMW HP4 on the magnificent Dunlop circuit in Mireval near Sète (F). The chassis setting was done by the DDC, the traction control was used on the first two tires in “Slick” mode at level “-4”. After that, starting with the D 211 GP Racer, PS tester Robert Gluck drove to TC level “-7” and IDM racer Gareth Jones without TC. The ABS was switched off during the entire test drive.

Five to six rounds per skin and tester

Jones opened the test session for each tire, drove five to six laps per skin before handing it over to the author. This also drove five to six laps. Then the tires were changed and the HP4 refueled. Starting with the D 211 GP Racer, the tires were preheated in the pits with tire warmers.

The test distance of over 440 kilometers went without any problems except for a few slides – intentional and unintentional.

Lap times

The lap times of professional (red) and amateur (green).

For touring and road sports tires, professionals and amateurs start with almost congruent lap times. An indication that both drivers are very close to the physical limit. From the first sports tire, the D 211 GP Racer, the pro really gets going, pressing the amateur’s eye for three seconds. Here it becomes obvious that the IDM pilot Gareth Jones knows how to deal with liability and, above all, the liability limit.

Every second gained costs a lot of money

After that, the time development runs almost synchronously again – only on different levels. This can be explained as follows: While the professional achieves the actual, physical grip gain of the sports tires “hard” and measurable, the amateur follows exactly the same time development within his “comfort zone” as the pro – but with the difference that he never uses the real one Limit, but always drives to its psychological limit.

The service life of the tires decreases disproportionately. Every second gained costs right: time is money!

Conclusion

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Pictures: Dunlop sports tires endurance test

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The professional
Wow, I am amazed … Sorry, in German: I am very surprised by the performance of some tires. Even the front touring tire gives so much feedback that it is fun to drive fast with it. The Dunlop Sportsmart is extremely sporty for a road tire and can also be used on the racetrack. From the D 212 onwards, my world is reached, where it only goes against the clock.

The amateur
Wow, I am amazed … Nonsense, I’m not an Australian and certainly not a racing driver. This story brings amazing things to light. Gareth gnawed 7.9 seconds, I at least 5.2 seconds per lap from the best time of the touring tire. That shows what a tremendous potential there is in racing tires. But the touring tire is not without it either – because it lasts at least 20 times longer.

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