Racing on real public roads is thriving. The centre of the world is the Isle of Man, as it has been since 1907. The tradition survives strongly also in Ireland. Dunlop has always played a leading role.

The first Isle of Man Tourist Trophy (TT) race in 1907 was won by Charlie Collier, on a Matchless, at 38.21 mph. He was using Dunlop tyres.

In 2010, the same event – now expanded to a fortnight with five different solo classes – brought Dunlop five more wins, for a second year in succession, to add to a total that has kept on growing steadily over more than a century.

Remarkably, the wins were all claimed by the same rider: Honda-mounted Ian Hutchinson, a new record. In a remarkable year, “Hutch” also added wins at the two major Irish road races: one at the North-West 200, and three more at the Ulster GP.

Dunlop has been integral to all 100-plus years of TT history. As the bikes developed from the pedal-assisted machines of 1907 to today’s monstrously fast Superbikes, Dunlop played a leading role in developing the tyres that could cope with the extraordinary demands and stresses of long and ultra fast public road tracks with constantly changing surfaces, where top speeds approach 200 mph.

Quintuple winner Hutchinson used both Dunlop NTEC slicks and D211GP tyres for his grand-slam TT week; close relatives of Dunlop’s road-legal Sportmax range.

Among a cabinet of trophies, Dunlop’s TT landmarks include many historic firsts:

1957: first 100 mph lap – Bob McIntyre (Gilera)
1966: first 100 mph lap on a production bike: tyre subsequently named TT100 and still in production as part of Dunlop’s “classic” range
2007: first 130 mph lap – John McGuinness (Honda)
2009: five TT wins from five races for Dunlop, and a new lap record of 131.6 mph.
2010: another five wins, and more lap records