The Dunlop tire brand is now offering classic and vintage car fans a brand new series of classic tires. The focus is on sporty premium automobiles built between 1960 and 1990 - from the legendary Porsche 356, the Dino 246 GT/GTS or the Aston Martin DB5 (probably the most famous car of the British top agent James Bond) to the Mercedes SL, Type 107.
"While the tread and contour design of our 'Sport Classic' tires has a classic look, their performance corresponds to the state of the art in tire technology," says Michael Fett, Dunlop Product Manager at Goodyear Dunlop Tires Germany. The international tire manufacturer is thus taking account of the fact that many classic cars also have a powerful engine. "Our new high-performance tires bring this sporty driving pleasure safely to the road," says Fett. The Sport Classic series will be available in Germany, Austria and Switzerland in the ten most popular tire sizes for classic vehicles.
Around 10,000 engineering hours of development work
A considerable amount of development work has gone into Dunlop's small but mighty classic tire family: the engineers have invested around 10,000 working hours, including 900 test bench trials with a total of 150,000 kilometers driven and 100 practical tests on three test tracks in Luxembourg, France and Portugal. "The challenge in the development of classic tires is to provide the tire with a tread design that does justice to the look of the classic vehicles and at the same time achieves good driving characteristics," says Fett in a nutshell.
The engineers have reached into their bag of tricks and optimized the tire design: A special cover layer over the belt package reinforces the carcass and makes an optimum contact area on the road possible. "This ensures high driving stability and steering precision even at high speeds," explains Fett. The modern rubber compound used is based on the latest technologies. This allows the tire to adapt better to the road surface - a prerequisite for excellent wet grip and braking performance. In addition, numerous grip edges in the multidirectional block design provide more grip in wet conditions and wide tread grooves efficiently drain water. "The wet and aquaplaning performance of the Sport Classic tires is on a par with our modern tires," concludes Fett.
The Sport Classic series from Dunlop is available in the following dimensions
| Tire dimension | Application examples |
|---|---|
| 165/80 R15 87H | Porsche 356, 911, 912, 914; VW Beetle, Karmann Ghia; Volvo Amazon, PV 544 |
| 185/70 R15 89V | Austin Healey; MG A; Morgan Plus 4; Porsche 356, 911, 924; Triumph TR4/5/6 |
| 185/80 R14 91H | BMW 2000 CS; Mercedes W108, W116 (S-Class); Triumph Stag |
| 185/80 R15 93W | Aston Martin DB5, DB6; Bentley S1/S2; MB 300 SL; Jaguar E-Type, Mk 2; Rover 3.5 |
| 195/70 R14 91V | Alfa Romeo Montreal; BMW 2.5-3.3L; Mercedes W113 (Pagoda), W114 (dash-8), W123; Opel Commodore, Monza, Senator; Rover Vitesse |
| 205/60 R13 86V | BMW 02, Ford Capri, Escort; Opel Ascona, Manta, Kadett, GT |
| 205/70 R14 95W | BMW 3.0 CSI; Bitter CD; Dino 246 GT/GTS, Ferrari 308; Mercedes-Benz R107 (SL), W108, W116 (S-Class), Opel Diplomat, Admiral |
| 205/70 R15 96W | Ferrari 250 GT; Daimler Sovereign; Jaguar XJ; Maserati Bora, Merak |
| 215/60 R15 94V | Porsche 911; Audi Quattro 100, 200 (Type 44) |
| 215/70 R15 98W | Ferrari 365 GT/GTB/GTC; Jaguar XJS, Jensen Interceptor; Maserati Ghibli |
The price of the new Dunlop tires ranges from EUR/CHF 160 to 450 depending on the supplier and dimension.
Further information can be found here, for example.
