Our Racing Heritage

Motorsport has always been an integral part of Dunlop's heritage and success in Australia. It was during February 21-25 in 1905, that Henry Barton James, an employee with Dunlop, conducted the Dunlop Reliability Motor Contest, a trial from Sydney to Melbourne over a distance of 572 miles. This was the first major motorsport event in Australia and only the fourth such event in the world. This trial was over all classes of road and attracted twenty-three cars of which seventeen finished.
Over a century after that very first Australian motorsport event, Dunlop has established an impressive record in all forms of motorsport, both on two and four wheels.

Formula 1

Dunlop has achieved 83 Formula 1 Grand Prix Victories.
Australia's own Jack Brabham won back-to-back World Championship titles for Cooper in 1959/1960 on Dunlops.

LeMans 24 Hour and Other European Championships

From its very beginnings it is obvious what Dunlop set out to do, to deliver a better driving experience for drivers and a better riding experience for riders.

Dunlop has achieved 34 LeMans 24hour race victories in what is regarded as the oldest, toughest, longest and arguably most prestigious endurance race in the world.
9 consecutive Le Mans 24h LMP2 class wins in the 2010s
10 consecutive European Le Mans Championship wins in the 2010s
2016 FIA World Endurance Championship and 2017 Le Mans GTE Winners with Aston Martin
18 overall Nürburgring 24h race wins

Bathurst 24hour Race

Australia's first major 24hour motor race was held at Bathurst's Mt Panorama circuit on the 16th & 17th November 2002. The Bathurst 24hour Race is equivalent of running 4 Bathurst 1000's back-to-back. In 2002, the Dunlop shod, factory backed GMH Monaro won the very first Bathurst 24hour race. With the MT 900R Mosler finishing 2nd Dunlop got the quinella. The vehicle in 3rd place finished 27 laps behind the winning Monaro. Dunlop repeated this feat in the 2003 Bathurst 24 hour with a 1-2 finish for the 2 car GMH backed Monaro team.

Touring Cars Australia

From a minor support category making up the race programs of the late 1950's, Touring Cars evolved through various forms and grew steadily in popularity. By the early 1960s they had their own Australian Championship, that grew from a single race in 1960 (won by a Jaguar!) into a multi-race series by 1969.
Such was the category's growth that by the mid-1970s, the Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) had become the most popular and competitive series in the country. Eventually, it evolved further into today's V8 Supercars.
1980 - Peter Brock (Marlboro-HDT Holden Commodore) wins the Australian Touring Car Championship on Dunlops.
1981 - Dick Johnson (Tru Blu Ford Falcon) wins the first of five ATCC titles on Dunlops.
1981 - Allan Moffat debuts the revolutionary Mazda RX7 racer on Dunlops, winning on debut the Sandown 400 endurance race - without a tyre change.
1982 - Dick Johnson (Tru Blu Tuff Ford Falcon) wins the ATCC again on Dunlops.
1983 - Allan Moffat (Mazda RX7) wins the ATCC on Dunlops.
1984 - Dick Johnson (Greens Tuff Ford Falcon) wins the ATCC on Dunlops.
1986 - John Bowe (Volvo 240T) introduces the first Dunlop radials to Touring Car racing mid-season with immediate success. The factory Volvo team switched tyre brands to take advantage of the improved Dunlop tyre performance.
1988 - Dick Johnson (Shell Ford Sierra) clinches his fourth ATCC title on Dunlops.
1989 - Dick Johnson (Shell Ford Sierra) clinches his record fifth and last ATCC title on Dunlops.

V8 Supercars

V8 Supercars was a new category born in 1993 pitting Holden's Commodore against Ford's Falcon. Under the professional leadership of a newly formed organisation, AVESCO, it quickly grew into the most popular and successful motorsport competition Australia has ever seen. It began as an 'open tyre' formula but switched to a 'control tyre' at the beginning of the 1999 season. Dunlop became the 'control tyre' at the start of the 2002 season.
1993 - Dick Johnson (Shell Ford Falcon) wins the first ever V8 Supercar championship race on Dunlop tyres.Dick Johnson (Shell Ford Falcon) wins the first ever V8 Supercar championship race on Dunlop tyres.
1993 - Larry Perkins/Gregg Hansford (Castrol Holden Commodore) wins Dunlop's first Bathurst 1000 race of the V8 Supercar era.
1994 - Dick Johnson/John Bowe (Shell Ford Falcon) wins the Sandown 500 race on Dunlop tyres. 1994 - Dick Johnson/John Bowe (Shell Ford Falcon) wins the Bathurst 1000 on Dunlop tyres - completing the Sandown-Bathurst endurance race double.
1995 - John Bowe (Shell Ford Falcon) wins Dunlop's first Shell Championship Series for V8 Supercars.
1995 - Larry Perkins/Russell Ingall (Castrol Holden Commodore) wins the Bathurst 1000 on Dunlop tyres.
1997 - Larry Perkins/Russell Ingall (Castrol Holden Commodore) wins the Bathurst 1000.
2002 - Dunlop entered into its first year of a 21 year contract with the V8 Supercars as the official control tyre.
2002 - John Bowe (Ozemail Falcon) sets the fastest ever lap of the Mt Panorama (Bathurst) circuit (2m 08.387 secs) during practice for the Bathurst 1000.
2003 - Greg Murphy produces the “lap of the gods” to take pole position at Bathurst on the Dunlop control tyre.
2017 – Scott Mclaughlin produces a Bathurst record lap time of 2.03.831 on the Dunlop control tyre.
2020 – Cam Waters produces a new Bathurst record lap time of 2.03.559 on the Dunlop control tyre

Rally

Modern rallying, with special stages run over closed roads, dates back to the early 1960's, and was first established in Scandinavia. The Monte Carlo Rally dates back to 1911 when rallies were largely regularity trials whose results were settled by a series of driving tests at the finish.
1930's - Dunlop became a major supplier of tyres in Rally.
1962-1967 - Dunlop and BMC partnership won 25 European Championship rallies.
Dunlop was not only a partner of BMC, - the factory teams of Lancia, Porsche, Saab, Sunbeam, Triumph, Rover and Volvo were also supplied by Dunlop.
1973 - The World Championship was introduced with the East African Safari, then driven over 5000kms with just two overnight halts in four days.
During the 1970's, Dunlop dominated with wins in 1973 (Toyota), 1972 and 1977(Ford) and in 1974 and 1976 (Mitsubishi).
1979 - Ford and Dunlop are World Rally Champions, the culmination of a 9-year partnership during which the RAC Rally was won for seven consecutive years, including a personal hat-trick for Timo Makinen.

Motorcycle - International

The first official motorcycle races started in 1904 with the Motorcycle Club of France's Coupe Internationale contested by teams of Denmark, Germany, France, Great Britain and Austria.
Dunlop has achieved on the world stage:
More 125cc and 250cc Grand Prix wins than any other tyre manufacturer
Official tyre supplier to the Moto2 and Moto3 World Championships since their creation
More Isle of Man TT wins than any other tyre manufacturer
2022 Isle of Man TT - every solo race won on Dunlop tyres
Outright lap record holder at Isle of Man TT
Winner of the 24h Bol d'or 2022 (yesterday!)
Winner of the 24h Spa 2022
Chosen by 42 of the 52 entrants at the 2022 Le Mans 24h
Winner of every Supercross race in 2022

Motorcycle - Australia

Dunlop has been the dominant force in Australian motorcycle racing for several decades now and the brand’s successes date back to the very beginnings of motorcycle sport at the start of the 20th century.
Road Racing
In the modern era, the two premiere categories of motorcycle road racing are Superbike, being modified 1000cc street machines running on slick tyres and Supersport , 600cc capacity modified street machines running on road legal, patterned tyres.
Since the inception of these two categories early in the 1990s, Dunlop riders have won ten Superbike titles including five consecutive titles between 1994 –1998,plus a further four between 2000 –2003.
Most recently, Yamaha Racing Team rider Jamie Stauffer dominated the 2006 season on his R1 SP Yamaha, taking a commanding win in the national Superbike Championship.
Dunlop’s record in Supersport is just as impressive , winning 10 championships in the 14 year history of this category since 1993 – more than all other manufacturers combined . Completing the double for both Yamaha and Dunlop , Jamie Stauffer also won the 2006 Australian Supersport Championship in a spectacular display that saw him wrap up the title well before the season end . Dunlop riders also filled second, third and fourth positions in the final points tally.
Motocross
The Australian Motocross and Supercross scene has been dominated Dunlop shod ‘bikes for decades. Dunlop’s scorecard includes 14 consecutive victories in the Australian Motocross Championships and 11 consecutive Supercross titles.
In 2006 , Team Motorex KTM’s Ryan Marmont sealed both the Supercross and Motocross lites Championships , adding two more titles to Dunlop’s growing list.