Tires – French tires more competitive than ever! – The Bibendum is still running …

Posted on by admin

French tires more competitive than ever !

Tires - French tires more competitive than ever! - The Bibendum is still running ...

It was on the sublime Portimao track in Portugal that Michelin presented its latest motorcycle tire to the international press: the Michelin Power One. Or rather its latest tires because behind the same name actually hide 27 models ! Test.

The Bibendum is still running…

"Michelin loves competition", insist the managers of the French brand. But what the Bibendum is looking for above all in the race is to"compete against others to progress".

With the Mondial Superbike and MotoGP both having become single-brand championships – as far as tires are concerned, of course – the manufacturer naturally turned to World Endurance which will now represent its technological showcase (read).

Jean-Philippe Weber, head of motorcycle racing at Michelin, explains the facts: "when it’s 6 or 7 ° C, it’s raining and only two bikes are spinning on the track, it can be difficult for the development team to find the necessary motivation".

"So we decided to enter a motorcycle in the World Endurance Championship.", continues the French,"because in the race we will have no choice, we will have to go !"

The CBR1000RR in question will not be equipped with the same number of sensors as the other five development motorcycles, but it will remain for Michelin a real research laboratory. "The watchword for our pilots will be not to fall, not to take risks in order to fulfill their primary mission: to collect as much information as possible over the entire race.", predicts Jean-Philippe Weber.

For the first time in its history, therefore, Michelin is entering the World Endurance Championship with a motorcycle bearing its colors. On the handlebars of this Honda n ° 63 will take turns three sizes: William Costes, Hugo Marchand and Josep Monge.

The name of this fine team? The "Power Reseach Team", which will be supported in the preparation of the machine by Jean-François Daffix, Honda dealer in Aubières. "He has been taking care of our test motorcycles since 2007", specifies Jean-Philippe Weber (the year in which Michelin swapped its R1 tests for the brand new CBR1000RR).

"The Fireblade had just arrived, we knew Honda had to hit a big hit, so we picked this model for 2008 and we’re continuing with it in 2009", explains the person in charge of the competition questioned by Site on the reasons for this choice.

The Michelin team does not therefore commit to the win in the first place: "Honda France and the Yamaha Austria team are here to make results with our Power One". We will therefore closely monitor the development of these two teams: the first at Bol and Le Mans, the second over the entire season … Stay tuned !

Related articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *