Formula DRIFT proving Giti's prowess, raising innovation bar

RICHBURG, S.C.—Go ahead and give those GT Radials everything you've got.

Because the technology behind them—the compounding, engineering, tread design, materials science and, yes, the manufacturing—is among the best in the industry, said Phang Wai Yeen, CEO of Giti Tire Manufacturing (USA) Ltd.

But don't take his word for it. Listen for yourself.

You can hear it for yourself—feel it for yourself—every time the Formula DRIFT racecars navigate a curve.

"I really love that bite that the tire gives off the throttle," Forumla DRIFT driver Travis Reeder said in a video on the GT Radial Champiro SX2 RS tires. "Especially when the car is sideways often, you want the confidence that when you lift, the car is going to do what you want it to do."

With racing, Giti is taking its capabilities further than it ever has.

Because racing doesn't just push the limits of the tires fitted to the vehicles. It pushes the limits of what Giti's technology can do.

How much further can the R&D team stretch its knowledge to provide greater performance? How quickly can those better-performing tires be manufactured and when can they be delivered?

You see, with racing, innovation moves as quickly as the cars themselves.

"This is good in the sense that it helps to change the mindset of our people," Phang said. "It helps to bring out the best in our people because it is driving the change, driving the way they are meeting new challenges, and this in itself helps us to build."

Build, he said, better tires. More quickly without sacrificing quality or safety. From inceptions on computer screens to newly made tires making their ways to dealer channels, Giti is doing just that. It is leaning into the some of the industry's latest technologies and bringing to market some of its own innovations.

The Richburg-based tire maker has been doing that since it began supplying the Formla DRIFT circuit in 2020, and it will continue to do so at least through 2025.

"No everyday driver would be able to subject the tire to these stresses—actually pushing it to the limits like that racecar," Phang said. "We still need to keep the car on the road. That is the proof of whether our technology is in place.

"…If you are in the automotive or tire business and you are not racing, you are not real. How do you express your level of technology to the consumer on the road? If that tire is good enough for this racer, and they can win on that tire, it is good enough for me. It is that simple."

And that, David Poling, Giti North America R&D's director of tire development and product marketing, added, is why racing—and specifically Formula DRIFT racing—matters to Giti.

"It validates the efforts we put in," Poling said. "It validates the efforts of the people out in the plant, it validates our technology. We keep doing those things and the brand awareness will continue to grow over time."

Validates, yes. But it does more than that, too.

When you build the SX2 RS, you build pride. The kind that comes from knowing your products are going right on to those Formula DRIFT racecars.

Because in the end, they're putting little bits of those race tires into every single tire that rolls out of the Richburg factory.

"(At) Giti, we have developed a lot of technology, and we have actually (put) a lot of technology back into our concepts technology development," Phang said. "It has gone into everyday tire materials development, concepts, approach to tire design, tire performance."