Dunlop and future of Motorsports in 125 years.

This is no ordinary crystal ball gazing. Tyre major Dunlop commissioned a futurology report as part of the Dunlop Future Race Car Challenge. According to this report, racing car drivers of the future (maybe 125 years from now!) may experience intelligent tyres. These tyres will adapt to the needs of the driver and the track, bringing a whole new dynamic to Motorsports.

You can imagine how exciting this would be to the Motorsports world. They can expect to see shape changing materials such as polymer gels that will enable tyres to change shape and size to suit the race and the track, even in the most gruelling of weather conditions. Thus, if a tyre begins to wear, layers of microspikes could be activated to surface the tyre on demand, increasing the grip and reducing drag around the toughest of corners. The entire F1 tyre changing team can then be packed off, with this technology in place!

Renowned futurologist Dr. Ian Pearson, who is the author of the report strongly believes that grouping will be a key material leading the way in Motorsports. This material will be offering huge potential for tyre redesign. “Graphene flakes could be placed in tyre to not only give excellent grip, but allow more of the tyre surface to stay in contact with the road surface,” he claims.

The report has been the just the beginning of Dunlop’s journey to find out what future technology holds for Motorsport. In launching the Dunlop Future Race Car Challenge, the tire brand is encouraging fans and Motorsport enthusiasts to share their thoughts and ideas on how racing cars may look like in 125 years.

If one goes back 125 years, it must be remembered that it was a vet, John Boyd Dunlop, who invented the pneumatic tyre, not a driver or a motor car engineer. “Maybe it took someone like a vet to invent something completely outside the box,” said Jean-Felix Bazelin, General Manager at Dunlop Motorsport in encouraging fans to shape the future of Motorsport race car design. “I think the tyre of the future will be a smart tyre. This tyre will be able to communicate with the driver, the team manager, the car and the public.”

Source: Dunlop.