I had never heard of this tire until this morning. I'm intrigued only because they come in a 285/30/15 and a 305/30/15 size. Since I had been looking at 275 Hoosiers for the Challenge car these look interesting. Has anyone here had any experience competing with or against these tires, or has the GRM staff tested them?
Vitour Tempesta P1 - Now In Stock!!! - VU Development
I've heard of the manufacturer before, found a great test here, they found these were faster than the Nankang CRS in autocross, although at a slightly different aspect ratio:
https://occamsracers.com/2023/04/17/tire-test-data-vitour-p1-vs-nankang-crs/
FYI - VU Development is notorious cheater, and permanently banned from the SCCA, Sammy Valafar's company. Do not be surprised if these turn out to be illegal.
In reply to Javelin :
That makes me want his home brew cheater tires that say 200tw on them even more.
In reply to Javelin :
That's an unexpected twist.
Captdownshift (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to Javelin :
That makes me want his home brew cheater tires that say 200tw on them even more.
Are you sure about that?
I'd be shocked if the SCCA allows these. I'd be doubly shocked if they actually made all the sizes advertised, in the same tread compound, with the same tread depth, and all the tires actually met the DOT specs and were legit 200 TW. There's a lot of "self certification" in the tire world...
The legality is only a minor issue for a Challenge car, but I had thought I could throw them on my other cars afterwards and go do a little autocrossing for the first time in 25 or 30 years.
"legit 200 TW"
That's funny, how are a Hankook RS4 and a Bridgestone RE71RS both labeled as "200 TW"?
I'm interested to see someone good and even vaguely trustworthy do a real test on these. But from what I've seen so far they're very mediocre other than the availability of wide 15" sizes. Turns out that there is a limit to "compound>width", when the tires are >25% wider, a mediocre compound can be marginally faster than a good compound.
For a challenge car with no tire restrictions, I can't imagine a reason you'd pick these over the hoosiers unless you just can't afford the hoosiers.
In reply to dps214 :
They're $368/set cheaper if I look at them versus new Hoosiers. I do have a connection to get some Hoosier take-offs that would be way cheaper. I'm just curious about how the Vitours might behave, but there's very little info out there.
This is the address for Vitour Tires manufacturing plant:
...so I should hold off on buying those 15x12 wheels just yet?
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
LOL, I have a set of 15x10 Bassetts for my Challenge car, that's why I'm looking for a 275 width, or more. Cheaper than the price of Hohos would be nice.
In reply to Javelin :
This is the picture of the HQ of Zhongce Rubber Company from their website. They make several tire brands, three of which I've seen at local tire stores, all discount brands. That doesn't mean the tires are any good though. I think GRM ought to have Andy Hollis do a comparison test before the 2025 Challenge, just for me!
In reply to Javelin :
Coming from rallycross, there are lots of semi questionable (can you say retread) options that are imported by shipment size that can be less than a container. Heck of Demontweaks distributes something (big $$$ shipping cost from the UK) it's considered mainstream.
I also laugh at the egotistical and idiot importer who has gotten himself banned everywhere. Because, every single sanctioning body is really pay for play. If you want to make a part or fabricate a part or import a part, that makes your car faster, but is not legal within the rule set. All you really need to do is have the capacity to bring enough to market at a price that you get to dictate and tell the sanctioning body how much you're willing to pay to support them. Then you become a sponsor of the sanctioning body, then you have influence, then your part suddenly start to become legal and pretty much necessary to be competitive within a class.
The only difference is that other drivers will now have the same parts as you and those drivers very likely will be faster. So by cheating if you're able to produce or import something that gives you an advantage and you could theoretically do so in volume, you're literally passing up residual income because you would rather cheat.
We have been in discussions with VU (Sammy) for several months now. So far, we have not solved some logistical issues. But expect to do so soon.
1) Our summer test schedule has been packed with other tests. We've done three so far, and another is in process.
2) Our policy is not to test pre-production tires. We've been burned before on this when the final production version changes (looking at you, Falken). This has recently been fixed as production tires are now in the country, but only in those two sizes.
3) We need comparables and we've gone to that well with the most appropriate manufacturers a lot lately. We have plenty of 235&245 17's around and some 245-15's...but no 225-15. VU attempted to source some comps but could not. Time will fix this, as our well opportunity refills.
Captdownshift (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to Javelin :
Coming from rallycross, there are lots of semi questionable (can you say retread) options that are imported by shipment size that can be less than a container. Heck of Demontweaks distributes something (big $$$ shipping cost from the UK) it's considered mainstream.
I've been rallycrossing on remoulds and recaps since 2014, and the Alpha rally tires people love so much in rallycross are remoulds. They seem just fine, although I was a little annoyed that the 13" Black Rockets I ordered were supposed to have been remoulds on street carcasses, and what showed up were recapped Michelin rally tires. I have 100hp, I can't throw any away trying to roll stiff sidewalls.
Speaking of Michelin, the only rally tire failure I have seen was a brand new Michelin, in IIRC 2016. A local bought a set of new tires for Nationals, mounted them at the site on Friday, drove to his hotel a couple minutes up the road, whereupon one of them had a carcass failure.
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
Yup! I'm saying saying that they don't perform at all. I'm saying that if the niche market can get their hands on it and it works, then the niche market will utilize it. Which basically means if it works, you'll be able to move as many units as the niche market is able to support.
I run outside of SCCA sanction at lots of events. I'm going to try and get my hands on the 305 for the Miata. Should be perfectly square on 15x12.
I'll need bigger flares in front or just run the 285 up there.
Edit: "305/30/15 $315/each Delivered Price to Anywhere in the Continental USA (Estimated Delivery 12-21-2023)"
I'll order a set at the beginning of December.
In reply to dr_strangeland :
Please be sure to share your thoughts on them afterwards. As Andy points out, there aren't a lot of wide tire choices in small diameters , and these Vitours might fill some of that gap.
Here are links with feedback from Several Drivers that have been able to drive in the Vitour Tempesta P1...
One of them took 2nd place in class at KOTM 5.0
Another Won the 2023 SCCA Solo Nationals in the XB Class by 2 Seconds...
https://www.facebook.com/jeremy.mccauley.336/posts/6545595132165395
https://www.facebook.com/jeremy.mccauley.336/posts/6549940825064159
https://www.facebook.com/jeremy.mccauley.336/posts/6550636484994593
https://www.facebook.com/Eunos735/posts/10160555264009242
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10160548521819242&set=a.78470274241
https://www.facebook.com/Eunos735/posts/10160260747249242
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10160614082539242&set=a.78470274241
https://www.facebook.com/HilaryAndersonRacing/posts/10231668749128365
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10160168519424242&set=a.78470274241
Thanks mmaspec.
FYI for everyone else.......a previous post made mention that Sammy's Miata somehow managed to get 3 degrees of camber. I had 3 degrees on the Miata i took to the 2017 Challenge, and it's as easy as buying a pair of extended ball joints. I think I spent $165 for them, certainly more today (Edit: nope....$159 from FM). You wouldn't even notice the difference looking at the car.
In reply to DeadSkunk (Warren) :
Except Sammy did it in Stock class, not Street Touring. 
In reply to Javelin :
I didn't say it wasn't cheating, just that it's easy to do and pretty invisible. Sammy clearly isn't in the same class as Smokey Yunick.
I still find the tires interesting for my Challenge car that has Miata suspension and will go to 3 degrees.
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