The competition among the tire manufacturers for sporting supremacy may not be as cutthroat as the sportbike market, but it's pretty damn close. The amount of money and R&D time spent on creating ever-stickier rubber for the street-going rider has increased dramatically in the past two decades, as tire companies have infused much of the technology and knowledge gained from World Championship competition into their production product. The game of one-upmanship between the tire manufacturers shows no signs of easing, even with the onset of spec tires in racing today.
Case in point: Dunlop recently introduced its successor to the highly-capable Qualifier sport tire-designated the Sportmax Q2-to the motojournalist industry at Spring Mountain Motorsports Park in Pahrump, Nevada. Unless you've been living in a cave the past three decades, it's common knowledge that Dunlop has utterly dominated Supersport-style racing using DOT-legal treaded tires in the U.S. In order to build a new sport tire that would outperform the Qualifier-itself no slouch in the handling and grip department-Dunlop used much of the lessons learned in designing its superb N-Tec D211GP DOT racing tires that were the tire of choice for AMA factory race teams in '08 (we used them in the track testing portion of our '08 literbike comparison, "Turn It Up To 11", June '08).
This diagram shows the profile...
This diagram shows the profile differences between the previous Qualifier (blue) and the new Sportmax Q2 (red). The taller profile results in a steeper edge drop for a larger contact patch at max lean angles.
One of the biggest differences between the previous Qualifier and the new Q2 is the tire's profile. Compared side-by-side with the Qualifier, both the front and rear Q2 are taller in the center, with sides that taper in more aggressively to the edge; the obvious intent being a larger contact patch when cornering. Dunlop engineers utilized three-dimensional FEA (finite element analysis) computer modeling to simulate tire contact patch pressure distribution, and the effect that different construction materials had on tire stiffness, especially at maximum lean angles. Once a number of working prototype tires were built from this information, a sophisticated drum analyzer was used to study various conditions, including different inflation pressures, stress loads, and lean/slip angles. The primary focus was on the contact patch behavior from upright to max lean, with the Q2's overall profile design given the Intuitive Response Profile (IRP) moniker.
Carcass construction consists of Dunlop's "cut-breaker" cross-ply design in the front, with two nylon plies and two aramid reinforcing belts paralleling the previous Qualifier setup. In the rear, Dunlop's Jointless Band (JLB) construction employs an aramid circumferential belt like the Qualifier, but with a new design developed from racing that provides greater stiffness. Another feature is the company's Carcass Tension Control system (CTCS) that has the JLB wound onto the carcass with higher tension in the crown for stability, while the shoulders have slightly less tension for compliance to aid traction. The 180/55ZR-17, 190/50ZR-17, and 190/55ZR-17 sizes have one nylon carcass ply and one aramid JLB belt, while the larger 200/50ZR-17 size uses two nylon plies and a single aramid JLB belt.
The Sportmax Q2 utilizes Dunlop's...
The Sportmax Q2 utilizes Dunlop's MT (Multi-Tread) compound technology, with a harder compound in the center for wear and heat resistance and a softer formulation on the shoulders for grip and handling.
Like the new Sportmax Roadsmart sport-touring tire (Late Braking, May '08), the Q2 also makes use of Dunlop's MT (Multi-Tread) multi-compound technology. A harder, longer-wearing compound is used in the center of the tread, with a softer, grippier compound on each side directly derived from Dunlop's DOT race tire formulations. Partially responsible for the increased grip is the usage of ultra-fine carbon black (UFCB) and a proprietary resin to bond the compound's polymers together. Because UFCB has small diameter particles with a very dense structure, the resulting bond is said to be very tight, resulting in the claimed added benefits of short warm-up time and good tread wear.