Dunlop

"In Clermont, it’s panic. No tire manufactured, no bike, no racer. The two brothers go to see the favorite of the event, the Bordeaux native Jiel-Laval. Impossible to sign a contract with him, he is already racing on Clément velocipedes and Dunlop glued tires. Disappointed, they then contact a certain Charles Terront, a racer who had his moment of glory. Terront agrees to come out of retirement and participate in this unprecedented race. But Duncan, his British “manager,” opposes it."

"François Michelin also knows that he still has much to do to consolidate the foundations of his own house. Everywhere in nearly all the markets that Bibendum has conquered through sheer effort, Bridgestone, the new Japanese tire giant, threatens to establish itself. The Japanese brand supplies half of the Japanese automobile production, which became the world’s largest in 1980 and 1981. In the United States, it quickly delivered to Michelin’s customers at a time when Michelin was out of stock. It plans to purchase the Firestone plant in Nashville, Tennessee, and increase its production capacity to 3,000 truck tires per day in 1983. In Europe, it is laying the groundwork, making contacts, and beginning to supply Scandinavia, Great Britain, and West Germany. It, too, is eyeing Formula 1. The result: a wild growth, as fast or faster than the French group over the past five years, with revenues of three billion dollars in 1980 (nearly seventy percent of which was from tires) achieved with only thirty-one thousand employees, gross self-financing margins of twenty-five percent, and a net profit nearly twice that of Michelin in 1980. Bridgestone, in recent years, has also surpassed General Tire, Uniroyal, BF Goodrich, Continental, Dunlop, and Pirelli to occupy the fourth place worldwide. A formidable challenger."

"Because the two brothers learned that the two favorites were secretly going to race on Dunlop tires and with pacemakers, the day before the competitors passed, workers from the company scattered nails on the road in several places. The Auvergnats don’t catch flies with vinegar. Result: two hundred and forty-four punctures “quickly repaired, Michelin boasts, for those who respected the rules.” Q.E.D."