Dunlop and Michelin

Sir,

I should like to make it clear that I did not, as F/L. Axten implies, make comparisons between Dunlop tyres and those of any of our competitors. I did make some general observations about “braced-tread” tvres, with particular reference to our own version current at the time, the Duraband. (This is about to be superseded by an even better one, the S.F.).

That apart, F/L. Axten, although he appears to think he is attacking me, is really only confirming what I said, i.e. that people who thrash their cars—and consequently their tyres—can expect to get vastly better mileages from braced-tread tyres. I added that more modest drivers, who get adequate mileages from standard tyres, will tend to be conscious only of the disadvantages of braced-tread constructions. To say that tyres which will stand a tousing from sporting types will also stand “Grandmas’s tootling” is true (so long as Grandma isn’t a kerb-basher) but irrelevant. Our steel-spiked tyres (the choice of so many Monte Carlo Rally drivers), or our racing tyres, will also stand up to normal motoring. This does not mean that they are the most suitable choice.

It all depends, as I said before, on what you want. The simple fact is that in every class—racing, rallying and just plain motoring —an impressive proportion of the topmost drivers and designers, people who really know what they are doing, specify Dunlop. Your readers, if they wish, can very easily check this for themselves (they could start by looking at the results of the recent R.A.C. rally, where the winners of every class, and almost all the runners up, were on Dunlop tyres) and draw their own conclusions. [Lolly?—ED.].

London, S.W.1.  J. D. SINCLAIR. Chief Press Officer, Dunlop Rubber Co. Ltd