Giti Tire USA certainly made a lasting impression with its very first product demonstration event in North America – blistering track speeds on a blistering hot day in Arizona.
The company unveiled its new Champiro HPY ultra-high performance line at Firebird International Raceway, where air temperatures hovered around 106F and track asphalt temps were measured at 160F-plus.
And based on the response of dealers and media attending the event and putting the new radial through its paces, the Champiro HPY lived up to its billing. Even after three lengthy road course driving sessions, the HPYs on a collection of BMW and Mercedes models showed no ill effects and none of edge feathering one would expect under such extreme conditions.
As Tom McNamara, vice president of sales, who welcomed dealers and media to the event, said, “If you want to get to the top, you need to hold events like this.”
In his opening remarks, McNamara noted that parent company Giti Tire has earned more than 100 OE fitments in China and south Asia, and recently gained OE slots with Tata Motors in India and with GM in South America.
Perhaps better known for its radial truck tires, Giti Tire is based in China and has seven tire plants there. The company was formed in 1993 as a joint venture, and now exports its passenger, light truck, medium truck, agricultural, industrial and aircraft tires under its GT Radial, Primewell and Runway brands.
The half-day driving event included lead-follow driving on one of the raceway’s road courses, accident avoidance maneuvers and a slalom. The event was one part testing of the new Champiro HPY ultra-high performance radial and one part driving instruction, challenging attendees to improve their personal driving while giving them a feel for the all-new UHP line.
The new Champiro HPY features an asymmetric tread designed for low road noise and wet/dry traction and handling. The inner shoulder has continuous lateral grooves to move water away from the tread face, while the outer shoulder was designed for optimum road holding. The tire also features a solid center rib for stability and responsiveness, four circumferential grooves for water dispersion, and silica in the tread compound to aid wet traction.
Silica, in combination with silane and a special styrene butadiene rubber, Giti said, “delivers low rolling resistance and excellent wet traction without sacrificing tread wear performance.”
The tire is now available in 17 sizes, nearly all extra-load, covering 17- through 19-inch wheel diameters. The Y-rated tire carries a 300 AAA UTQG rating. Eleven additional sizes will be introduced in the first quarter of 2011, including some 55 series sizes.
“We believe the GT Radial Champiro HPY is the right tire at the right time for drivers looking for value in this economy but not wanting to sacrifice the performance of their sports cars,” said McNamara.
Giti Tire USA also took the occasion to showcase the GT Radial Champiro 228 touring tire, which was used in some of the track events.
The Champiro 228, released last year, was designed for low noise and comfort, as well as low rolling resistance and grip in wet and dry conditions. It is also considered a “green” tire as it uses no aromatic oils.
Available in 15 sizes (50 to 65 series) for 16- and 17-inch wheels, the GT Radial Champiro 228 is available in H and V speed ratings. The all-season tire carries a five-year limited warranty and a road hazard warranty, and has a UTQG of 320AA to 380AA based on speed rating.
The Champiro 228 features Giti Tire’s Nano-Tek silica tread compound, which is produced using nano-grade silica “uniformly dispersed into a specially formulated polymer-carbon black matrix by employing a silane-based coupling agent and a proprietary mixing technique,” the company said. The result, Giti Tire claims, is a “highly homogeneous and low hysteresis tread compound provides enhanced wet grip and lower rolling resistance for superior product performance.”
