In the November 2015 edition of Performance Bikes magazine, Simon Hargreaves decided to take his BMW S1000RR long term test bike for a bargain £45 track session with No Limits at Cadwell Park.
The OE rubber on the bike wasn’t completely finished off by any means, but for that added boost out on circuit, he decided to fit a new set – and opted for the treaded Dunlop GP Racer D211 tyres designed for fast road and track day use.
After four sessions on circuit, Simon gives his first impressions:
“I’d fitted new tyres for the job. The BMW’s original Pirelli Supercorsa SPs have been superb on the road and at Snetterton – stable, good warm-up, predictable, enough grip to go fast and enough sliding to be fun. After 3000 miles or so they were still legal, but tired, so a pair of Dunlop Sportmax D211 GP Racers went on. The fitter pumped them to 34F/38R, which was like riding on ice. Dunlop’s stiff NTEC belt construction prefers lower pressures, especially on track.
After mocking editor Matt’s trackday tyre pressure obsession a few months ago, the first thing I did at Cadwell Park was get the pressure gauge out and drop the Dunlops to 28F/25R, still higher than Dunlop’s advised 25/21. But they felt brilliant so I left them there – a bit quicker steering and admittedly less stable at the front than the Pirellis, but with a lovely soft wiggle from the rear. Nice.”
Stable enough however to keep their composure when Simon rode straight into an oncoming Pigeon at 110mph just a few weeks later, but that’s another story.
Find out more about the Dunlop GP Racer D211 here.
