Dunlop motorsport manager Kevin Fitzsimons
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6:00 AM Sun 29 January, 2012
Source: BigPond Sport
THERE's few people as experienced in the V8 Supercars paddock as Kevin Fitzsimons. Taking on the role of motorsport manager when Dunlop won the control tyre rights in 2002, Kevin has now chalked up a total of over two decades involvement in Australian touring car racing and unbelievably, has not missed a race since 1990!
At last year's Sydney Telstra 500 Dunlop reached a milestone of 100,000 tyres used, and the company has re-signed with V8 Supercars as the control tyre supplier until 2017.
BigPond Sport chatted with Kevin about his involvement in the sport…
BIGPOND: Kevin, what's been the most noticeable change in the sport since you started?
The main thing I've noticed is just the immense growth of the sport and the increase in professionalism, in everything from the teams and drivers to sponsors and the events. I remember the very first Clipsal event in Adelaide when competitors would arrive in their panel vans and trailers. We've come a long way since then, overall it's a pretty classy act now. So the sheer growth of the sport is what stands out the most, but I'm proud that Dunlop also continues to keep moving with the times.
BIGPOND: What does your role as motorsport manager involve?
Well, I do multiple roles so I'm basically a department of one! I essentially look after all the logistics and production for the race tyres. I'm responsible for ordering the correct number and types of tyres and processing those orders from Japan. I then manage collecting the tyres from the wharf and transporting to our warehouse. In between events I'm also involved in engineering, production, media activities and arranging staff travel and accommodation at events.
On race weekends V8 Supercars allocate tyres for each team, so we'll fit the tyres and scan their barcodes accordingly and keep records of who has what tyres. During the development series and V8 Supercar sessions Noel Kelly and myself will manage one end of pitlane each.
At any one event we have up to ten tyre fitters and a total of about fifteen staff on site. If it looks like there'll be changeable weather conditions we'll have more fitters on standby.
BIGPOND: Do you order all the tyres for a season in bulk at the start of the year?
No, the factory in Japan can't produce enough tyres in advance for an entire year so they are shipped continuously throughout the year. When I get the breakdown of tyres for each season from V8 Supercars I then arrange production runs accordingly.
It happens well in advance, for instance our production run last November was for the soft tyres that will be used at this year's Grand Prix, Hamilton, Tasmania and Perth races. Our December run was for the hard tyres at Hamilton, Tasmania and Perth. The factory can't make hard and soft tyres in the same month so I have to take that into consideration as well during the production planning.
BIGPOND: How many tyres do you handle during a V8 Supercar season?
On average we handle about 15,000 tyres per season, across both the main and development series'. Last year we had an unprecedented demand for wet weather tyres. In 2010 we used about 300 wets, last year that skyrocketed to 1600. The wet weather at Bathurst contributed to a lot of that demand, and that in turn created a bit of angst! It was the first time something like that happened since I've been in this job, as the tsunami in Japan last year delayed a couple of our production runs and meant our wet weather shipment was delayed until the Friday of Bathurst.
BIGPOND: How are plans for the Car of the Future tyre situated?
The next round of soft test tyres will arrive next week, it's the same tyre that was used in the first round of COTF tyre testing at Phillip Island and Winton late last year. I'm pretty confident we've got the compound sorted, but in future testing we'll try the current soft tyre and a version that's softer again. Once the tyre compound has been confirmed we will need to get it into production by May so that we have stock ready for when teams start their COTF testing in August.
BIGPOND: You've been around the sport for such a long time, what do you love most about your job?
Well for starters I think I'd go stir crazy sitting in an office all day! I really enjoy the different challenges that this role brings, and the fact that it's never the same. When I started it was Brock, Johnson and Bowe who were dominating, then it was the Lowndes and Skaife era and now I enjoy watching the next group of future stars work their way through the ranks.
Being at the Clipsal 500 and seeing people fill the grandstands for the first Australian event of the year - it still gives me a buzz. I think the day that stops I'll second guess whether I want to be involved anymore. But at the moment, I'm still getting paid to pursue my hobby so I've got to be happy about that!
