The Vitour P1 drama is getting spicy today...

If you're on the book of faces, I highly recommend joining a group called Vitour P1 Autox, Track, Racing & Time Attack

https://www.facebook.com/groups/415534870800857/?ref=share

Grab some popcorn. 

This is why we can't have nice things. 

ETA the more I read the more I'm convinced that one guy is a moron. No self respecting "CEO" would act in such a fashion, let alone in a small, dedicated FB group. That is absolute comedy. I kind of want to join just to call the guy an unfrosted pop-tart but that's just unnecessary. 

Ok, had to check it out.

Am I understanding this right? Is this Robert DeuPree character actually publicly blaming a GRMtire test for single-handedly getting the tire disqualified for being too good, while simultaneously claiming that the tires should be even better due to GRM's testing methods?... And then claiming to be 'CEO' of (VU Development) an exlusively Vitour tire distributor, as financially biased as it gets, while making wildly unsubstantiated (libelous?) accusations that GRM is financially biased?

This clown isn't fit to run a lemonade stand, let alone earn any respectable persons business. At this rate he'll be lucky if he doesn't lose his distribution rights for the black eye he's giving the Vitour brand... If I was GRM, I'd be sharing that unprovoked public attack by one of their representative affiliates with my contacts at the manufacturer.

In reply to Driven5 :

Yep, basically. He doesn't like the results and it's someone elses fault. 

Mndsm said:

This is why we can't have nice things. 

 

ETA the more I read the more I'm convinced that one guy is a moron. No self respecting "CEO" would act in such a fashion, let alone in a small, dedicated FB group. That is absolute comedy. I kind of want to join just to call the guy an unfrosted pop-tart but that's just unnecessary.

To be fair this is only his third day as CEO. He's still figuring out how to do the "job"

As I told Tom, there are literally countless ways to approach that conversation constructively, and he didn't even accidentally stumble into any of them. 

I want tire companies to succeed. I want marketplace competition. I literally feed my family off of that strong marketplace.

None of this is a path to that. Do better, dude.

Yeah, I have to admit that this is a first for our tire tests. And we've yet to hear any complaints from the company directly, only this stuff in public. Which is odd, since we've been chatting with them for months leading up to the test, and then they sent their appreciation and compliments after the test. I'm not sure exactly what is going on.

Fun story: I once had a meeting with a very big tire company (who will remain unnamed), and they didn't like the results of a tire test. Because their tire was slow. Our methodology was sound, and they knew it was slow, so instead they basically asked how big of a check they could write to kill the article. We politely explained that that's not how this works and published the article.

beat me too it.  I had to go get a snack to read through all 100 comments as of 3pm

Tom Suddard said:

Fun story: I once had a meeting with a very big tire company (who will remain unnamed), and they didn't like the results of a tire test. Because their tire was slow. Our methodology was sound, and they knew it was slow, so instead they basically asked how big of a check they could write to kill the article. We politely explained that that's not how this works and published the article.

Spicy!

In reply to Fueled by Caffeine :

need a link to the article

JG Pasterjak said:

As I told Tom, there are literally countless ways to approach that conversation constructively, and he didn't even accidentally stumble into any of them. 

I want tire companies to succeed. I want marketplace competition. I literally feed my family off of that strong marketplace.

None of this is a path to that. Do better, dude.

It's almost as if this is a clue as to why the SCCA as a group does not want him near their organization in any fashion.

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

JG Pasterjak said:

As I told Tom, there are literally countless ways to approach that conversation constructively, and he didn't even accidentally stumble into any of them. 

I want tire companies to succeed. I want marketplace competition. I literally feed my family off of that strong marketplace.

None of this is a path to that. Do better, dude.

It's almost as if this is a clue as to why the SCCA as a group does not want him near their organization in any fashion.

Honestly sammy's (the one that's banned from the club) original marketing method of "just drop the bomb, don't say anything about it" was far better than this new "CEO"'s methods.

In reply to Tom Suddard :

And I’ll share another fun tire story. 

We once found a tire from a major company to perform rather poorly.

Thanks, someone at the company told me, now I can go back and ask for the necessary development work. 

In reply to David S. Wallens :

I'd love to see read some of these articles lol.

You'll find them all linked right here:

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/track-tire-buyers-guide/

I like the part where the CEO wants to pull a Ferrari and have Vitour factory techs on-hand at the test to fine-tune the tire's performance. For a fair and independent test of course...

It seems like he wants the tire to appear both faster and longer-lasting in the test, not sure if he realizes that would only make the ban look more justified...

David S. Wallens said:

In reply to Tom Suddard :

And I’ll share another fun tire story. 

We once found a tire from a major company to perform rather poorly.

Thanks, someone at the company told me, now I can go back and ask for the necessary development work. 

I recall a possibly apocryphal story about Mercedes engineers wanting to build more sporty engines, but management kept declining.  So one day they invited the execs to drive an engineering concept that they'd been working on. The executives loved it until the engineers opened the hood to reveal a BMW engine.

They got the go-ahead to develop new engines...

...and now I want a BMW M20 powered 190E.  That seems like a good combo.

For the full drama llama background...

This guy Richard DuPree was shilling *hard* for the P1s for months while saying he had "no ties" to them and last week he posts this:

Then a few days after that he self-proclaims that he's been "hired as the CEO of VU Development" (which is the sole importer of Vitour P1 tires) and now he's on this absolutely cringe rant about GRM, Tire Rack, the SCCA, Nankang, Andy Hollis, and more. 

I read the whole thing. 

There's a LOT of parallels I could draw. 

But I won't. 

In reply to Javelin :

I just read the thread within a thread on the link you posted above.  I'm not that knowledgeable about autocross / racing tire selection but I've read enough of Andy Hollis' articles to know that he is.  There are some serious "OK, wow you just said that" statements from Mr. DeuPree in there.  I guess the available talent pool for start up tire company CEOs is pretty shallow.  Yikes.

If one were to look at the GRM project vehicles, you would see tires from about every major manufacturer.  They 100% are not in bed with any 1 tire manufacturer. 

If I were an SCCA rule maker, I vote to make it a clearly stated rule that more than one US distributor a requirement for any tire to be considered... And allowing unprofessional hacks like that to be the single point of failure would be the exact reason why.

In reply to 11GTCS :

One can appoint themselves CEO of any bullE36 M3 scamfront business they want. VERY common with "entrepreneurs". While chuckles here has pics of a lambo, something tells me he's about as legit as a 3 dollar bill. He's trying to put himself into legitimacy with false titles and granstanding. I've known a ton of guys like him, and they're all the same. They REALLY don't like when you piss in their cornflakes, especially when it harms their already tenuous, sometimes fragile/borderline fraudulent business practices. I'd bet a Big Mac extra value meal this guy ain't legit. 

I'll have to wait and see. I had thought of using the Vitour P1 on my Challenge car, rather than Hoosiers, just to save a little over $400/set. SCCA legality doesn't matter, and even at an SCCA event the car would be in E-Mod  so again, it doesn't matter. What does matter is this guy taking shots at my favourite magazine when he's trying to promote the tire. Geez, let's go after the one magazine in the country that does the most tire tests and is dedicated to amateur autosport enthusiasts. Doesn't seem like a great marketing ploy to me. Maybe I'll spend the extra $400 and get the Hohos.