Steve Martin is the man leading the Pirelli tyre race in Superbike in 2003. His task is to develop the Pirelli race tyres, but his aspirations are for the world championship.

With Pirelli tyres deemed to be the tyres for all solo classes next year in SBK, Martin would surely be the odds on favourite around the paddock for a top ride.

I spoke to him during the race weekend at Assen to see if this year’s dream will turn into next year’s reality.

Q: From what I’ve seen, the season has been going fairly well, at least the start of the season was looking promising. We spoke at a tyre test at Misano and you said that you wanted to get into a position where you could challenge for a race win, and it doesn’t seem that this has happened.

A: No, unfortunately not. I seem to be… Well, I’m not sure what has happened. We’ve been doing a lot of compound testing, but we’ve been a bit on hold with the new rules and regulations. I mean, I’m not really sure, but I’d say that that might have had a bearing on it because no one’s really known what direction they were going at Pirelli. Things have started to pick up now, but it is really just a matter of wait and see. We’ve really only done that one test session this year. We haven’t done any others so it’s been a bit hard to improve.

Q: So since then your only testing has been with racing?

A: It’s always hard because we get the information for this track and we don’t come back there until next year. Whereas the tracks that we’ve gone well on, like Valencia where we tested before, we’ve found what we had to change, changed it. When we’ve gone back and we went reasonably well.  Misano and also Australia are the only three tracks that we’ve tested on this year.

Q: In Misano you were saying about the German tyres and the Italian tyres.

A: Pirelli is two companies. Germany is the Metzler side and Pirelli, which is obviously the Italian side. Each branch has different programs. The Italians are running the slick program and the Germans are running the Supersport program. They do intermix some information. Some information is available in between the two. I know the Supersport guys use some of the compounds that we’ve been testing all year.

Q: The testing of tyres has been a little bit slow, but is picking up now obviously because of the changes to the rules for next year. Are they accelerating the testing?

A: We’ve got a new profile to try for this weekend, which I’ve tried. It’s not in the right compound for the track so it is difficult to say. But it’s a start. I’m happy to see something new coming out of the factory. I wont be able to use it this weekend, but I’ve done some laps on it and given them feedback so that they improve it. And if they improve it, it could be good. Hopefully they can improve it by the next race meeting. They need to change a few things with it. But they’ve made the first one, I’ve tested it and I’ve told them exactly what they need to change. I’m not saying that I know what they need to change inside the tyre, but if they can fix what I’ve told them, which is three small, little problems then it will be a really good tyre. But of course the hard part is fixing those problems. I’m pretty precise as to what they need to do, so if they can do that then it is going to be good.

Q: I suppose they need to fix the problems without introducing any new problems?

A: Normally they don’t introduce any new problems. Things are pretty good in that aspect. It’s just because of the slow turnaround time. We wait and wait and wait. Obviously it is not that easy to get the turnaround.

Q: Three races to go until the end of the season, what are you hoping for at the moment?

A: I want to finish on a high note if I can, but once again that’s not up to me. It is up to the development and how the tyres work on the track. I always try my best and if I have the right stuff under me or something that works OK, I always go OK. It’s a difficult question, I mean, I just want to do the best that I can. This is my dream, but finishing 14th or 15th in qualifying is just… well I don’t really sleep well at night. You gotta try your best. But in the end, Pirelli are the ones that have given me the three year opportunity to come over here.  Honestly though, it’s been a good three years experience in our life. But it hasn’t been a world championship threatening ride, which is what I want. When I came over here I really thought I can do it because I’ve raced against these guys before in 99, and I could stay with the easy then. But it is a development team, developing tyres so you can only do what is allowed.

Q: Everyone will be running the Pirelli production tyres for next year what is your opinion of that?

A: I don’t know how the guys will find the tyres. I think that the one make tyre rule will definitely make it a lot closer racing, especially for me. It should be good.  I don’t want to delve in to it because I don’t know how it all came about really. But for me, if I ride in this championship next year it will be a good opportunity because I will be on the same tyres as the other guys for the first time. I will then be able to say ‘OK, I can beat these guys’ or ‘No, I can’t’. If they can beat me, good, but if they can’t, I’ll be happy.  To me what it means is that it will give me an opportunity to run with the top guys on the same tyres, so we’ll see where we’re at. But it is hard to see at the moment.

Q: What do you know about the factory bikes next year for Ducati? Is there a possibility that you might be on one?

A: That’s all a bit too new. Ducati are still in the very early stages of what they are going to do next year because they have so many programs that they are trying to coordinate. So probably that is one of the last things, but I would say that they’d want people to run the 999 next year.  The 998 is eligible and it is still a very good bike but obviously the 999 is the latest thing and it is faster and has more power so that will probably be the bike to have.

Q: But then they must try Pirelli tyres on it.

A: True. But basically the bike is the bike. If it’s got ten more horsepower down the straight then it goes faster. Around the corners they all spin. They’ve all got the power to spin the tyre. I’ve ridden the 999 and it is one of the nicest motorcycles that I’ve ridden, power wise. Even the way that it comes on the power its just so smooth, like you don’t even know. Whereas mine, with ten less horsepower, you feel it really wicking up. With this thing its like ‘Oh, the gas is on’. You don’t feel it so much.

Q: What would be the dream ride for next year?

A: My dream ride would probably be to race in the World Superbike Championship for a factory team and have an opportunity to win the World Superbike Championship. That would be my number one job. Other than that? I don’t know. It is just a matter of waiting and seeing.