Brock's VX Bathurst Car

[drof]

I know that it is probably only a press release car, but can someone please tell me how your so called "GOD" Peter Brock got away with Bridgestone tyres on the car (Centre spread picture in the latest AutoAction Magazine), as Dunlop is the control tyre for this year? Should'nt the car regardless of if it is the race car or not, be showing all the sponsers logo's. Did'nt one of the race drivers get told off for wearing his own sponsers hat on the podium instead of the Dunlop hat? Will Peter Perfect be given detention for this error or will he come up smelling of roses!!

Regards

Dave from Kiwiland!!

[Graeme]

Brockie's not the only boy in the paddock doing that trick.

At the Perth race round in June I noticed that the HRT cars had Bridgestone graphics stencilled on their tyre sidewalls in red colouring.

My guess is you run the race on your specified Dunlop control tyres but you're free to paint a sponsor logo on the tyres as much as you are free to paint a logo on a wheel spoke or a bumper or any other part of the car.

Of course, it's difficult to read what's on a tyre when it's revolving at a zillion revolutions but it makes a statement when the car is in the pits, or in a stills promotional photo session.

[Richard Poole]

HRT use old Bridgestone tyres to get the cars from the pit garages to the pit lane. When the cars get to the pitlane the 'transport tyres' are exchanged for the race Dunlops.

Some teams run Dunlop logos on the tyres, the rest have no sponsor logos on the tyres.

[David]

Dunlop are not a sponsor of anything as far as Team Brock or HRT goes.
Dunlop is the control tyre as set by the controling body.
Bridgestone IS a sponsor and as such all teams who are sponsored by Bridgestone have Bridgestone advertsing on the cars.
Same as Perkins ran Dunlop advertising when Bridgestone was the CONTROL tyre...not sponsors.
Two totally different things.

[thekid_600]

They try to minimise the amount of wear and tear on the actual dunlop tyres...... remember each team is only allocated a certain number of tyres per race, after which they are all returned to dunlop. non-race track surface, such as behind pits, can be abrasive and sharp on tyres.

in fact, those teams testing for enduro drivers or just simply testing on non-official race days use the old bridgestone controls from last year.

actually, i find it fitting that that promo brock VX has bridgestone on it...... they've sponsored brocky since i dont know when.

[drof]

Why on earth would Dunlop pay huge money to be the control tyre suppliers only to have teams using Bridgstone's for whatever reasons. The only return Dunlop would get is the Advertising of their product on a V8 Supercar, so if I was in Dunlop's shoes I would want all V8 supercars to have Dunlop Tyres on regardless if there going from A to B or any photo shoot.
Also why would teams test on last years control tyre as it defeats the whole purpose of test days, as these days are used to get the car's set-up correct and we all know there is a difference between the Bridgstones and the Dunlop's.

Dave from Kiwiland!!

[GTSCoup]

The race Dunlops are very tightly controlled and seem to be treated like gold by the teams. Do you guys get the RPM TV program over in NZ?. They ran a story on the GRM workshop and Bargs showed the 'Tyre Bank' and said they cannot get new tyres until they return the old ones. The last thing the teams would want to do is potentially damage good race tyres driving through the pits or through a carpark for a photo shoot.

I had actually read that the teams use last years Bridgestones for sponsor ride days, then they use their race spec rubber for test sessions. The control tyre deal is with AVESCO and not with each individual team.

As long as the teams race on Dunlops then that must be Ok. Like last year when Dunlop sponsored the DJR and Castrol (probably other teams as well) they used Bridgestones but didn't show any logos on the cars, only Dunlop.

[thekid_600]

drof,

in response to your question about why teams use old control tyres to test, the reason for that is because they're testing for driver talent, NOT times and set up etc. they use old bridgestones to test out a potential enduro driver. that way not only do they not waste precious dunlops, they also have last year's data to compare to the test driver's times. both are bridgestone's so as far as driver talent is concerned, the brand of tyre doesnt matter.

hope this explains a little better.

[drof]

But don't they use these days (also sponser/press ride days) to get around the maxiumim test days permitted? Don't teams use these driver test days as car test days to get around the rules?

Dave from Kiwiland!!