p to now, all sportbike tires had three things in common: they were round, black, and used a single compound across the entire tread. But now all that’s changed, because Michelin has launched the new Power Race, the first-ever commercially available, street-legal, dual-compound motorcycle tires.
     The Power Race replaces the Pilot Race at the top of the Michelin range, positioned as an ultra-high-performance tire for track days and racing use. The tire’s revolutionary Two-Compound Technology (2CT) follows in the tracks of other street-tire innovations that Michelin has pioneered, including radial technology in 1987 and silica-charged rubber compounds in 1999.
     With the Power Race, for the first time street riders can mount a tire that uses different compounds in the center and on the shoulders of the tread, achieving optimal performance while adapting to the constantly changing forces acting on a tire’s contact patch.

The Michelin Power Race family comprises six different tires (three front, three rear) and seven MotoGP-derived tread compounds.

     Taking a cue from MotoGP tires, the Power Race design divides the tread into two zones, each of which uses a rubber mix suited to its specific performance requirements.
     Multi-compound technology was inspired by a simple observation: when a motorcycle is upright, only the center of the tread is in contact with the ground, and when it leans, it rides on the tread shoulder. The center tread compound of the Michelin Power Race is hard enough to withstand the severe forces of rapid acceleration or hard braking, while the tread shoulders use a softer compound, to match the reduced stresses experienced at full lean, when speeds are lower and there’s little or no acceleration. The softer compound in turn provides better grip while cornering.
     Michelin has sought to meet each rider’s specific needs of by offering not just one version of the Power Race, but three: Medium, Medium Soft and Soft. The three differ both in the compounds used, and in the tread surface area devoted to each of the compounds.

The new Michelin Power Race allows riders to choose their tires the same way that MotoGP riders do.




     Just like MotoGP racers, riders can now choose exactly the right combination of compounds to suit their personal riding styles. The Michelin Power Race family comprises no less than seven rubber compounds and six tires (three front and three rear) to cover the broadest possible range of street and track applications.
     Why seven compounds? The front and rear tires of a motorcycle are subject to very different forces. The front tire is generally under less strain than the rear and therefore can use a softer tread, for grip, precise steering and feedback. The rear tire uses a harder compound, since it has to transfer engine torque to the ground, and is therefore prone to faster wear.
     The Soft versions (front and rear) of the Power Race employ a single soft compound to give maximum grip on every part of the tread in contact with the ground. These tires heat up quickly across the entire tread width and are recommended for qualifying sessions and races that are run in cooler conditions.
     With so many options available, Michelin has gone the extra mile to help riders choose Power Race tires, publishing a CD-based tire guide that draws upon the company’s extensive racing experience. The interactive, user-friendly guide makes straightforward recommendations based on five criteria: temperature, weather conditions, type of track or road, use and engine displacement.
     Besides multi-compound technology, the Power Race copies a number of other features found in Michelin MotoGP tires. Power Race tires are made from a rubber formula specifically developed for the racetrack, known as C-RAO (Compounds-RAcing Optimization). It’s a combination of three 100% synthetic components identical to those used in MotoGP tires during the 2004 season: proprietary Michelin Racing Synthetic Elastomers (MRSE) and two additives, Macro-Molecular Compound (MMC) and High-Technology Synthetic Compound (HTSC).
     In addition, virtually the entire Power Race range is manufactured using Michelin’s highly secretive C3M process, the same used to make MotoGP tires. Michelin won’t say much about C3M (which stands for carcasse, monofil, moulage et mechanique), but they will concede that the process consists of a single step, instead of the seven used in conventional tire production.
     With C3M, Michelin can make the tire on a solid insert mold, so that the raw tire has the same shape as a cured one, which isn’t the case in traditional manufacturing. This means that precise quantities of tread compound can be applied with pinpoint accuracy—a feature of critical importance in the manufacture of a multi-compound tire like the Power Race.
     Capitalizing on all this technology, Michelin has produced a tire that is not only multi-compound, but also the lightest front tire on the market (8.5 pounds on average). This minimizes rotational inertia, for better acceleration and braking performance. What’s more, the combined weight of front and rear wheel assemblies is lighter than with any other DOT racing tire (21.4 pounds on average).
     It already looks like Michelin has a winner on its hands. Late in 2004, riders using Power Race tires captured five national championships in Formula USA and Championship Cup Series racing. And in January, Robert Jensen, who won three of those titles, put Power Race tires on his 2005 Yamaha R1 racebike and set a new track record at Florida’s JenningsGP circuit. If you’re not on Michelin Power Race tires this year, expect to see them in a winner’s circle near you.

The Power Race incorporates much of the same technology that helped Valentino Rossi win the 2004 MotoGP World Championship.

The new Power Race is positioned at the top of the Michelin Pilot line of performance tires.