Supplying a one-make series is no mean feat, and Pirelli have been sole supplier to both World Superbikes and British Superbikes since 2004 and 2008 respectively.
No without some initial teething problems, their extensive time as official sole supplier to both paddocks including all support classes has come about thanks to hard work and ever improving products which have eventually won over the majority of riders. In British Superbikes, they service more than 200 riders at each round with tyres and fitting services.
In issue 311 of Fast Bikes magazine, former TT star and Pirelli’s head of operations in the BSB paddock Jason Griffiths gives a fascinating insight into how everything works behind the scenes.
What are the main challenges of supplying a single make series?
“Being the official supplier to any one-make championship is a very big undertaking, especially so when your facilitating paddocks the size of BSB and WSB. It’s a mammoth task and requires exceptional organisation, production consistency, plus first class logistics and tyre fitment services.
Stock levels have to be well managed and new rubber needs ordering a minimum of six weeks prior to an event to guarantee supply reaches a round in time. To a certain extent, supplying the BSB paddock is a much simpler task than the World Series, because of the comparably small distance from Italy to the UK. Getting tyres shipped all around the world in such huge numbers on tight deadlines takes a lot of work. It’s a huge responsibility.”
What happens to all the used rubber?
“Technically speaking, they’re the property of the race teams. On occasion we will ask to hold on to some tyres for analysis purposes, but more usually teams will take their own tyres away with them and use them again on test day, or sell them on to other people. Of course, tracks like Thruxton tend to completely destroy tyres to an extent that we can’t retrieve data from them and teams can’t get any more use from them either. In such circumstances the best thing we can do is collect the used rubber and send it away to be recycled; mostly being used in road surfacing or on playgrounds.”
How much will a team be likely to spend on tyres per season?
“The average spend does vary significantly dependent on what class you’re competing in, how busy your testing programme is, and how many riders you have in your team. Of course, not everyone has the same budget, either, so some riders might be able to have new tyres when they ask for them, whereas others have to get the most out of their fitments. From a superbike team perspective, I’d expect a two man team to spend between £25-50,000 a year.”
How closely involved are you with the teams in the BSB paddock?
“My role is quite varied, but I’m essentially here to be Pirelli’s point of contact for the race teams and the organisers. In days gone by, when there were many more tyre options to choose from, I’d of had much more involvement with the teams, advising them on compounds and such like. Nowadays, people tend to have a good idea of what will work between the options we have, so my advisory role is less needed. However, there are still plenty of occasions when people come to me for impartial advice, making sure they have the right tyres fitted and they are running the best pressures. I’m here to help in whatever way I can.”
How quickly does race tyre tech make it to the road?
“In the case of the BSB paddock, every tyre used in all of the championships can be purchased through official Pirelli outlets. You can buy the slicks that Shakey uses, or the Supercorsas used by the Supersport competitors. WSB is where we do our development work. BSB will typically gain one new WSB-derived slick product each year, which will simultaneously be made available for trackday and race customers too. So, to answer the question, it takes a year for development tyres to reach mass production and be available for purchase.”
You can pick up the latest issue of Fast Bikes now for even more behind the scenes information from the paddock.
You can view the latest range of British Superbike spec rubber all available to the UK trade from Cambrian Tyres right here!
