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Dunlop reveals new-look Super Soft tyre

01 Feb 2022
Dunlop's softest compound will feature a new blue-walled design
3 mins by James Pavey
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The Dunlop Super Soft tyre compound has been given a facelift ahead of the 2022 season.

Dunlop’s softest compound will be even softer this year, and will feature a new blue-walled design.

The Super Soft tyre was used at the Darwin and fourth Sydney rounds in 2021.

  • 2022 race weekend formats revealed

  • How the new Super Soft tyre performed in Gen3 test

There will again be four tyre compounds; Hard, Soft, Super Soft and Wet.

The Super Soft will return in 2022 at five events, up from two in 2021.

"We wanted something that stands out," Dunlop operations chief Kevin Fitzsimons said of the new blue wall look.

"Blue stands out, it really does. It jumps out at you in all sorts of lighting.

"This here is the 2022 Super Soft… this is a good time to give them a run, and make sure the tweaks we made are in the right direction.

"There are multiple chemicals that go into the make-up of the compound; a bit more of this and less of that softens the tyre up.

"This particular tyre, we don’t want it to last as long… hopefully we get some knowledge today so we can work ahead."

The new-look Super Soft is being tested at Queensland Raceway on Tuesday with the Gen3 prototypes.

The season opening round in Sydney, as it did at the final SMSP round in 2021, will feature a single set of Super Softs in the two races. Hards will also be used.

Sights & Sounds: Gen3 testing Part Three - Heatwave
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The Tasmania, Winton and Darwin rounds will all be conducted with the Super Soft tyre only.

Drivers will also be handed sets of the compound at the notoriously high-deg Townsville event. Hards will also be used.

The Perth, Tailem Bend, Sandown, Surfers Paradise and Newcastle events will all be run on the Soft tyre.

Pukekohe and Bathurst will be run on the Hard tyre. The Albert Park event will be a mixed compound Hard and Soft event.

All six Dunlop Super2 Series rounds will be run on the Hard tyre.

Circuit depending, Dunlop hopes the new Super Soft compound will last 60km.

Fitzsimons said the testing of the Super Soft with the Gen3 prototypes will also provide a telling indication of how the new cars will behave with tyres in 2023.

The Gen3 cars, which will feature less downforce, will make their competitive debuts in the 2023 Repco Supercars Championship.

"We’ve already seen that the Gen3 cars wear the tyres significantly like the old car did," Fitzsimons explained.

"There’s a development plan to try some different compounds so we come up with a tyre that gives us a good event.

"Drivers mentioned in Darwin and Sydney that there wasn’t as many marbles compared to the Soft tyre, so that could be a good thing moving forward.

"These cars won’t have an undertray, so they won’t stockpile all the rubber around corners or over bumps."

The new tyre will make its debut in Sydney in March. CLICK HERE to purchase your tickets.

Sights & Sounds: First Gen3 test day of 2022

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