he 2007 MotoGP season marks a new era in the development of the world’s most prestigious motorcycle racing series. Following five hugely successful seasons of the 990cc MotoGP era, during which Michelin tires won all five World Championships, major changes to the technical regulations for 2007 provide a whole new challenge for factories, tire manufacturers, teams and riders. And, as always, this crucial development work will filter through from Michelin’s MotoGP project to its streetbike product development, continually improving the tires available to Michelin’s road-riding consumers.
     There are three major revisions to this year’s MotoGP technical regulations–a reduction in engine capacity from 990 to 800cc, a limit in the number of tires available to riders at MotoGP events, and new restrictions in the amount of testing that can be undertaken by MotoGP participants. All three of these changes represent a significant change in the way Michelin and its MotoGP rivals go racing, but Michelin is determined to continue its supremacy in GP racing’s premier class, just as it has done despite other rules changes.
     Michelin has largely dominated the last three decades of GP racing’s premier classes, ruling much of the two-stroke 500cc era from the company’s first 500 GP win in 1973, then maintaining that superiority when the sport switched to hugely powerful 990cc four-strokes in 2002. Michelin has earned more than 350 GP victories since 1973, and won 26 World Championships in the past 31 years, including a clean sweep of the last 15 titles. During the past decade, Michelin has enjoyed a winning percentage of almost 95 percent.

     The new rules place an even greater responsibility on the shoulders of the tire companies because they now need to cover all possible track and weather conditions within a very limited allocation of slick tires. This requires a much increased level of behind-the-scenes work.
     “Our job is much more difficult and much more complex now, but of course that makes success taste all the sweeter,” observed Jean-Philippe Weber, Michelin’s director of motorcycle racing. “The big challenge is all the theoretical work we have to do behind the scenes. The new tire rules give us an exciting new opportunity to move forward in MotoGP, creating tailor-made tires for each of our riders.”
     Not only has Michelin developed new tires to suit the new 800s, it has also developed new ways of working with its riders to get the best out of the new tire regulations. Each rider is now restricted to 31 tires per GP weekend (14 fronts, 17 rears), where previously there were no restrictions on the number of tires used. This change demands a shift in approach from the tire manufacturers. Michelin’s new policy is to offer tailor-made tires to each of its riders, according to individual riding style, machine performance and the character of each racetrack.
     Michelin’s seven MotoGP riders have every confidence in the tire maker’s ability to continue offering race-winning tires. “Michelin doesn’t enjoy all this success by being lucky,” remarked 2006 MotoGP World Champion Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC212V-Michelin). “They put in the work and listen to what us riders have to say, like in 2005 they gave us a wider-profile front tire which gave me the confidence and the grip to start winning races. My results really improved thanks to that tire. It’s the same with the 800s–we say these bikes have more corner speed, so we need more edge grip, so they give us give us more edge grip.”
     Former World Champion Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha Team YZR-M1-Michelin) has similar faith in Michelin’s efforts. “Michelin always works step by step, and this is the clever way to work in MotoGP,” said the Italian, who won the previous five premier-class crowns from 2001 to 2005. “They give us more edge grip from the rear, then more traction, then they give us a better front, so it’s always step by step, improving the lap times, improving the race times.”


     Michelin usually begins working on tire choice for each race about a month before the event, but it’s an ongoing process. Final decisions on tire production can be made just a few days before the event. So some tires are manufactured well in advance, others much closer to the date of the race.
     “We may want to use what we’ve learned from the previous race or post-race tests undertaken at the previous event in some of the tires we make,” Weber said. “So, for example, from what we learned with Valentino Rossi during the Istanbul race (on April 22) we are making stronger construction rear tires for the Yamahas. And then, of course, we have to consider the weather forecasts.
     “A lot depends on the weather, so we have to watch the weather forecasts carefully in the week before the race. From that we decide our strategy, produce a range of tires taking the forecast into account and then explain our strategy to the teams. Last year we could be very reactive and send newly made tires to the track overnight during the weekend. With the new rules we obviously have to start production earlier, but our production facility is very flexible, so we don’t need to make our tires too long before the race.
     “At Istanbul we had five different specs of rear slick for our riders to choose from, but we will have more at some events. For example, the weather is more difficult to predict at places like Donington and Assen, so we may have a wider range of specs from which riders can choose their selection on the day before practice starts.”

Tire selections are made on the day before practice begins, when each rider’s 31 tires are bar-coded. From that point on riders have to make do with the tires they’ve got. And it’s quite possible that they won’t always have the best tires for all conditions over the race weekend. At Jerez, the second race of the season, for example, morning temperatures were much lower than forecasts had predicted.
“The morning sessions at Jerez were much colder than expected, which made it quite difficult, but riders just have to deal with that,” Weber recalled. “They need to understand that if they don’t have the best tire for the morning session then that doesn’t mean they need to change the whole bike set-up. So long as they know how they’re working towards the race then it’s okay.”
The permutations of different tire specs certainly aren’t endless because within the allocation of 17 slicks, two or three may be qualifying tires. “Most riders choose between three and five different specs of rear slicks and that’s it,” Weber explained. “If you were to choose six different specs it would be almost impossible to manage because you’d only have two tires of each spec. Each rider has to consider that the more different tires he has, the fewer tires he’ll have of each type.
“Many of the riders seem to like the new rules because in a way their job is now simpler. When they had an endless supply of many different tires it could be confusing, and it was certainly very time-consuming because they had so many different tires to test. Now they know exactly what they’ve got for the weekend, so they can focus on what they’ve got and work to make the best race tire choice.”
The new rules are certainly reducing the number of tires used. “This year we are making fewer tires and using fewer tires,” revealed Weber. “At Qatar (the first race of the season, where Michelin had the same number of riders as in 2006) we used 300 fewer tires than we used in 2006. That’s a reduction of around 40 percent.”

Michelin’s MotoGP stars are contesting this year’s championship with an all-new 16-inch front tire. The new front tire delivers several advantages over the 16.5-inch with which Michelin dominated the last few seasons of MotoGP.
“We designed this tire to deliver confidence and grip by maintaining the same contact patch all the way to maximum lean,” Weber said, “so even when a rider is being very aggressive, going into corners very late on the brakes, the contact patch stays the same, so he is more confident because he always knows what he’s dealing with.
“The other advantage of the 16 is that it allows faster changes of direction. The 16 is five percent lighter than the 16.5 when it’s on the rim, so there’s less inertia, which makes the bike more nimble.”
This isn’t the first time that Michelin has used a 16-inch front in GP racing. Marco Lucchinelli, Franco Uncini and Freddie Spencer all won 500cc World Championships in the 1980s riding on 16-inch Michelin fronts.
“But this is another world from 1982–the stresses and temperatures are much greater now because the bikes are so much better and the riding so much more aggressive,” said Weber. “Yes, we are using a 16-inch front again but everything is different from last time–the design, the construction, everything.”

     While 16-inch front tires may not appear on streetbikes in the foreseeable future, the objective of Michelin’s involvement in MotoGP racing has always been to develop technologies that ultimately benefit consumers. Radial construction, silica-based rubber mixes and multi-compound tires are just some of the innovations that Michelin pioneered in competition over the last three decades.
     Michelin introduced the first dual-compound slicks in GP racing in 1994. But until recently, this technology has been reserved strictly for racers, who enjoyed the added grip that multiple rubber compounds can provide. Now Michelin Pilot Power 2CT tires have changed all that.
     An extension of the already-successful Pilot Power line of ultrahigh-performance tires, Pilot Power 2CT tires add a second rubber compound on the outer edges of the tread that’s 20 percent softer than the center tread. The outer edges of the tread come into use at aggressive lean angles, when the softer rubber compound reaches operating temperature quickly and helps provide optimal cornering grip with very little warm-up time–an important benefit for sportbike owners who use their bikes for track days.
     The respected U.K. weekly Motorcycle News was so impressed with the performance of Pilot Power 2CT tires that the magazine proclaimed them its 2006 Product of the Year.
Pilot Power 2CT tires are available now from Parts Unlimited, in sizes to fit current 600 to 1000cc sportbikes. Suggested retail prices range from $404 to $454 per pair.
     The single-compound Pilot Power, an acclaimed performance tire in its own right, is also available from Parts Unlimited, in sizes to fit a wider range of bikes. Suggested retail for Pilot Power front tires is $346 to $398 per pair.

     What can you tell us about the start of the 2007 MotoGP season?
“Quite frankly, the results so far aren’t up to our expectations. The (May 20) race at Le Mans is the best example. We chose relatively hard compounds for the wet part of the French Grand Prix which didn’t pay off. To be quite clear, we gambled that the rain would gradually stop. We opted for a hard compound rain tire for the majority of our riders. It turned out that the rain increased drastically, so Valentino (Rossi) was unable to fight with his opponents. However, Dani (Pedrosa) chose a softer tire that proved more competitive in the closing stages of the race, so he was able to climb back to fourth position. We now know that our riders could have raced with at least one notch softer compound. However, this disappointment shouldn’t hide all the good work we have done since the beginning of the season, notably with the new 16-inch front, which gets praise from all our riders. We will pursue our development to increase rear tire performance.”
     The early stages of this season have also shown a redistribution of roles amongst the premier class role-players. Is it possible to say that Michelin has been destabilized?
     “Not destabilized, but things have changed. For sure the 800cc hierarchy is totally different today compared to the 990cc era. From a machine performance point of view, one can say that the Japanese manufacturers are all on a similar level after the first five races. At the moment only Ducati seems to have a distinct advantage. Also, the seven riders equipped by Michelin haven’t been spared by race turmoil. The Turkish Grand Prix is the best example. We had the three fastest qualifying times at Istanbul but the first-lap collision seriously hurt us, taking out Dani and Colin (Edwards). One can say that so far circumstances have not been favorable to us. However, our global performance is quite competitive. You need only look at Valentino’s performances, especially in Qatar or China. Despite his top-speed deficit he kept contact with Casey Stoner’s Ducati at Shanghai and did everything he could to put pressure on Casey. At Jerez we achieved a hat trick (pole position, fastest race lap and the win). At Le Mans we had three riders in the first four on the starting grid, including Colin on pole position.”
     How do you approach the rest of the season?
“With a calm and focused attitude. There are still 13 Grand Prixs to go (at press time). Our goal at Michelin is clear: we must concentrate on our mission to give each of our riders the best possible product. This championship is extremely competitive in every way–for the riders, for the bike manufacturers and for the tire manufacturers–which in my opinion shows the excellence of MotoGP. In racing as elsewhere, hard work always pays off.”