[joelster]

Originally Posted by DaveC113

Wow, that's by far the worst report I've heard!




The Grassroots Motorsports test seems legit?

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/ar...-p1-tire-test/

I do think that lighter cars seem to do best, but I'm hoping a 345 will have enough rubber to keep it from overheating.

Cost ended up at $450 each and free shipping. I think the 295/35/18 REs I used recently went up and are now a bit under $450/tire. Yoks in 315 are over $500 each.

They didn't test it against the Yok A052 or the RE-71RS though. Who runs Nankangs? Go to an event with 150 cars and you might find 1 guy running Nankangs but you'll find 50+ cars running the Yoks and Stones. I have a few guys on my feed that ran them and they said some positive things about them, but again, they got them cheap, so their experience was a little biased.

[DaveC113]

Originally Posted by joelster

They didn't test it against the Yok A052 or the RE-71RS though. Who runs Nankangs? Go to an event with 150 cars and you might find 1 guy running Nankangs but you'll find 50+ cars running the Yoks and Stones. I have a few guys on my feed that ran them and they said some positive things about them, but again, they got them cheap, so their experience was a little biased.

Yeah, it's a track test, but the CRS, if warm, is the equal of the A052 and RE71, the only issue is it takes too long to warm up.

Schotz runs CRS and Ryan Otis tested them at Nats test n tune ('23) and reported they were the equal of the others.

Also @Scargoes, that test also showed the Vitours are more like A052 as far as heat so at 104 F on track they were probably too hot almost immediately. There was a track day this year in the high 90's and the OEM SC3s overheated after a few laps!

I still hold out some hope the 345s will work well for autox and hopefully outlast and outgrip the 295 REs. We'll see!

[apexit53]

Originally Posted by DaveC113

Yeah, it's a track test, but the CRS, if warm, is the equal of the A052 and RE71, the only issue is it takes too long to warm up.

Schotz runs CRS and Ryan Otis tested them at Nats test n tune ('23) and reported they were the equal of the others.

Also @Scargoes, that test also showed the Vitours are more like A052 as far as heat so at 104 F on track they were probably too hot almost immediately. There was a track day this year in the high 90's and the OEM SC3s overheated after a few laps!

I still hold out some hope the 345s will work well for autox and hopefully outlast and outgrip the 295 REs. We'll see!

I know Shotz was faster on the stones. Granted it was his last run of nats so ill let him comment. Just what I saw during my job for their heat.

[joelster]

Not to mention that he's one of those alien drivers and his car is by far the best prepped car in the class. Show me another CAMC car under 3500lbs. I'll have to ask him what he was running at KoTM with $5000 on the line. I bet he was on RE-71rs's or Yoks.

Edit: he was on 71's

[DaveC113]

CRS just needs more heat which isn't ideal for AX.

I doubt that there's a significant difference between the A052, RE, CRS and P1 if they're all at optimal temps, and those temps differ a bit between tires. A052 and P1 don't need much heat, RE a bit more and CRS even more.

A local CAM driver did try out the 335/315 CRS on his S550 Mustang, which is right at 3500 lbs... he had excellent results with them but was frustrated with the warm up vs the A052s he normally runs. Another local tried the same sizes on his C6Z and couldn't get heat in them.

In any case, seems like the P1s heat range is more like the A052, which is a good thing for AX, and maybe TT on a cool day or with a lighter car.

[Msquared]

There are other authorized dealers that I assume are still selling Vitours: Phil's tire, Generations Automotive, and vitourp1.com are all authorized dealers. The latter is Dallas Reed, who has been the "USA Marketing Director" for Vitour for a while now...I guess to clean up the mess made by the first guy. I don't know if this letter means much for end users of the tire, but apparently the company that makes them is at least responding to the problems.

[DaveC113]

Originally Posted by Msquared

Attachment 1158505

There are other authorized dealers that I assume are still selling Vitours: Phil's tire, Generations Automotive, and vitourp1.com are all authorized dealers. The latter is Dallas Reed, who has been the "USA Marketing Director" for Vitour for a while now...I guess to clean up the mess made by the first guy. I don't know if this letter means much for end users of the tire, but apparently the company that makes them is at least responding to the problems.

Just saw that! Got mine from Phil's with heat cycling. They have a BF deal, 10% off + free shipping.

[SCCAForums]

Originally Posted by apexit53

I know Shotz was faster on the stones. Granted it was his last run of nats so ill let him comment. Just what I saw during my job for their heat.

Exciting that we have more tire choices and sizes to choose from.

As Joelster pointed out, for KOTM I was on the 305/30/19 Stones (Square).

For Optimate Ultimate Streetcar and SEMA I run the Nankang 19" 305/325's, we get more runs (typically) with Optima Ultimate StreetCar, and the Kang's love the heat.

For Dedicated Autox, the Yoks or Stones are equally competitive, and very much site/surface/weather dependent (In my experience)

I tested back and forth at Lincoln Solo Nats, this year, all three tires on the practice course, Stones, Kangs & Yoks... all were within .1 - .2 and had different pro's and cons.

As Apexit53 has correctly shared, I switched to Stones for my very last run on day 2 at Solo Nats, and went quicker, I also tested running Stones & Yoks at the Pro Solo Finale.

I wish there was an easy answer here... and at the same time, it's pretty cool that there isn't a 'single go to' choice.

Let me share some initial feedback on some of the uniqueness to Lincoln... you have high grip concrete, but can be 'somewhat bumpy' going over all the 'square sections'.

Also, the OPR (other peoples rubber) can be a real issue, with many people 'shaving/grinding' off the OPR in grid inbetween runs.

The Bridgestones seem to pick up OPR worse than others, I'll attach a pic of my Stones after the "Pro Solo Finale" and only running them on Sunday!


So, I went with Yokohama's on Day 1, for 2 reasons...
A: They work immediately (I didn't want to find myself in a hole after first runs if I could prevent it).
B: They are 'pretty great' at everything except 'feel'.

I've grown to get over the 'lack of feel' and just know THEY GRIP... and just lead the car.

My car, makes a lot of HP up high, and loves to rev... and the Day 1 (Corn Field side) course... was a bit more 'steady state', and I didn't really have a power down problem.

For Day 2, (Plane side) it was quite a bit faster of a course... with some good sections to 'throttle down'... and the 18" Yoks, almost give my car 'too much rear gear'... and with the bumpy surface... I noticed I wasn't able to 'get into' the throttle as much as I would have liked... and when I did get into the throttle... the tires would 'spin up'... in the higher RPM's.

So... for my very last run... I decided to bolt on the 19" 305 Stones. It was almost 80 degrees... and I had them sitting out in the sun the entire time, trying to get as much temp into them as possible.

Side bar... this is the limitation at times with Stones... if you are running early morning, or less than 70 degree temps... you definitely are giving some time up on your first run. But after that they are ready to go, and then you have to keep them in their 'sweet spot'... as they don't like to be 'too cold'... and they don't like to be 'too hot'.

So, knowing I would just run them for my 3rd and final run on Day 2... I also knew, OPR wouldn't be an issue. (which back to the Yoks)... I made 5 runs across the 2 days on them, and never needed to scrape them... which is nice... because I prefer to just think about driving then scraping tires.

Ok, back to the 3rd run... 19" Stones... 80 degrees... they were perfect... immediate turn in, and great throttle down. Some of these benefits can be attributed to the tire being almost 1" taller (reducing my rear gear ratio) and about 5lbs heavier each (wheel & Tire). By being able to actually use the 'acceleration' zones better, the car was faster and easier to drive.

So, I wish there was an 'obvious choice', but it's why I typically arrive with a set of Yoks & Stones for each event. If it's cold... and smooth surface... Yoks may be the better choice. If it's hot... and bumpy... this get's complicated... Yoks have a more compliant sidewall... so that helps with the bumps... but they despise heat. Stones are stiffer.. but taller... and so can help in power down applications, and handle the heat slightly better than a Yok. The Kangs... if you have two drivers, and warm temps, can be a formidable weapon.

All this to say... Looking forward to learning about others 'back to back' testing with the Vitour P1 and Hoosier TAP (where legal).

Cheers!

Dave

[DaveC113]

Originally Posted by SCCAForums

Exciting that we have more tire choices and sizes to choose from...

Cheers!

Dave

Thanks very much for sharing your thoughts Dave!

P1s have arrived! I'll be mounting them on my Apex EC7RS 18x12s and test fitting them but I won't actually drive on them until this Spring. I had REs that fell off hard over the winter, don't want to repeat that with brand new tires.

[SCCAForums]

Originally Posted by DaveC113

Thanks very much for sharing your thoughts Dave!

P1s have arrived! I'll be mounting them on my Apex EC7RS 18x12s and test fitting them but I won't actually drive on them until this Spring. I had REs that fell off hard over the winter, don't want to repeat that with brand new tires.

Looking forward to your feedback and experiences!

Best regards,
Dave

[apexit53]

Originally Posted by Msquared

Attachment 1158505

There are other authorized dealers that I assume are still selling Vitours: Phil's tire, Generations Automotive, and vitourp1.com are all authorized dealers. The latter is Dallas Reed, who has been the "USA Marketing Director" for Vitour for a while now...I guess to clean up the mess made by the first guy. I don't know if this letter means much for end users of the tire, but apparently the company that makes them is at least responding to the problems.

Well this is some news, and while i probably will stick with my stones, it does open p the door for me too look at this tire. Seems Vitour had similar issues as i did. That said, i dont really plan on running cam, unless at cam only events. My car is going to the newly formed BST so this tire isnt legal there.

[BoilerUP]

For those who don't know Dallas, he may be affiliated with Vitour but he has done a TON of time attack and autocross over the years and campaigned the P1 a lot during the 2024 season on a number of different cars.

After seeing time attack guys like Kyle McKiou and Allen Patten poorly review the Hoo TAP (they normally use CRSv2 and A052, respectively) I kinda view the P1 in a similar fashion as the TAP - still too new and underutilized to REALLY have a feel for what it'll do. I am very glad, however, for additional options on the market because that means more availability and hopefully somewhat more competitive pricing.

/new 71RS on my car

[DaveC113]

New GRM test, looks promising!

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/ar...wcZs1zn54Tfkhg

[Msquared]

Yeah, that was interesting reading. Andy implies that they've changed things on the tire to make it hold up to multiple track laps better. I would guess this means a change in the compound, but who knows? If the tire holds up and takes heat better than an A052 and is faster than both that and the RE71RS, it's going to be the obvious tire to use. I guess you CAM guys can be FS's guinea pigs. Let us know what you find out.