HSCC June 2021 issue 129 | Page 63

The company supports the Dunlop Saloon Car Cup
although it ’ s not exactly retirement . “ I think he retired when he actually left Pearsons Engineering but , of course , he never has done because he ’ s still the most over-qualified retired van driver . He still does a bit and he still he still likes to get out and about ,” John said of his father .
Initially , HP was one of two dealers for Dunlop historic tyres but around 20 years ago they became the sole dealer which allowed further improvement in service and better organisation .
“ I started modern racing for Dunlop in , I think , 1992 with the Wilhire 24-hour race , which was my first modern 24-hour race . It went from there and we did Group N saloons with them through the 1990s and other things like the Rover Turbos and the MGF Cup . I helped them with British GT and was working independently for them at Le Mans as well . So I ’ ve always done modern racing
From the early 1990s we were into saloon car racing
with Dunlop and latterly with Goodyear . I guess the big step change for us was to take over the role of tyre service for the British Touring Car Championship , which was five or six years ago . We took that on lock stock and barrel , which was a big scaling up exercise as well .” From running two or three rigid trucks , HP Tyres now runs six articulated and four rigid trucks , with a dedicated crew working on the now Goodyear-branded BTCC operation . Other HP activities include supporting the European Le Mans Series . “ There ’ s actually three main prongs to the business ,” said John . “ We are always in historic racing , which is where we started . From the early 1990s we were into saloon car racing and I guess we have come as far as we can now because we look after the British Touring Car Championship for Goodyear . But always the heart and
passion for me is endurance racing and we are lucky that we do quite a lot of product testing with them as well . I find that stuff really interesting .” The HP team is now a pool of 15 but there is also a bank of 10 external specialist tyre fitters and three sub-contracted engineers as well . The core team is as many as 20 to 25 people in all . “ From the historic perspective , you ’ ve got a whole range of categories and cars that are running on Dunlop tyres . We still make tyres for pre-war Bentleys from the late 1920s and 1930s , all the way through to what the FIA would describe as historics . Things like Super Touring tyres . It was only the other day that someone pointed out that our Alfa Romeo Super Tourer is 23 years-old !” HP Tyres has come a long way since John Pearson Senior struggled to get tyres for his Jaguars , but the company and Dunlop remain committed to historic racing under the expert guidance of the younger John Pearson .
John en route to a Donington victory in his E-type
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