![thumb The 17 and 18 inch Dunlop V8 Supercars tyres](https://speedcafe.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/18-inch-tyres.jpg)
V8 Supercars’ Car of the Future development program will take on an international feel once tyre testing gets underway after next month’s Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000.
With the first of the car’s 18-inch Dynamic wheels set to arrive from the United Kingdom following next month’s Bathurst 1000, Dunlop will soon be able to kick off its tyre development program.
According to Dunlop’s V8 Supercar operations manager Kevin Fitzsimons, the tyre giant will send an engineer from its Japanese racing program to Australia for the COTF testing.
“I don’t know if they’ll be here for the initial test or not, but once we get into the nitty gritty there’ll definitely be an engineer from Japan here who is involved in GT development and so on,” Fitzsimons told Speedcafe.com.
“They’ll be after general feedback and go from there. If we can get to test at Phillip Island and then potentially at Winton on the soft tyre relatively close together then that’ll certainly be beneficial to have someone here just for a few days.
“That’ll depend on if the circuits are available for hire at the times we need them as much as anything.”
Like the existing 17-inch Dunlop, the new tyre will be a bespoke V8 Supercars design.
CLICK HERE for Speedcafe.com’s Q&A with Kevin Fitzsimons