Meet Patrick Warren of Litespeed Racing

Today we’d like to introduce you to Patrick Warren.

Hi Patrick, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
When I was a kid, I loved drawing cars and shoes. I would fill notebooks with my drawings. By the time I was in 7th grade, I felt that my shoe designs were just as good as the shoes in the stores, so I decided that I would become a professional shoe designer when I grew up. In 8th grade, I typed up a letter asking how I could become a shoe designer, and I mailed it to all the shoe companies I could find an address for. This was before the internet, so I had to get a special “blue pages” phone book, which was the business directory phone book. Actually, looking back at it, I was very determined and resourceful as an 8th grader! The one company that wrote me back was LA Gear, which was one of the hottest sneaker brands in the early ’90s. They told me to study industrial design. So, in 8th grade, I already knew that I would get a degree in industrial design and become a professional shoe designer. But I still loved cars as well, and I continued to draw both shoes and cars every day.

After graduating with my degree in industrial design, I got a design job at a company called Alpinestars. They make shoes for F1 race car drivers, boots for motorcycle racers and other motorsports apparel and footwear. It was the perfect job for me because it was footwear design that incorporated my love for cars. After a few years, I left Alpinestars and went to Skechers. Actually, the reason I went to Skechers is because they owned a motorsports-inspired shoe brand at that time! I told one of my coworkers my story about writing a letter to LA Gear, and he told me that I had to tell Robert Greenberg, the CEO of Skechers, my story because the CEO of Skechers was also previously the founder and CEO of LA Gear. I told Robert my story, and his face lit up as he said, “Wait, that was you? I’m the one who wrote you back!” He remembered my letter because I was the only kid to type him a letter asking how to become a shoe designer. I ended up having a great relationship with Robert Greenberg. He is a brilliant businessman with an unmatched eye for fashion trends and business opportunities. I would secretly study his every move, how he always kept his designers motivated with positive energy, how he talked to the buyers from major shoe retailers and how he jumped on any new trend with passion and speed. Working with Robert sparked my passion for the business side of things while also keeping me excited about the creative design side of things.

I never lost my love for cars, and I always stayed on top of new car models and new technologies within the automotive space. In 2012, I saw a new type of carbon fiber that Lamborghini developed called forged carbon fiber, and I thought that it would be the perfect material to make a lightweight wheel out of. So, as a passion project, I started to design and develop a carbon fiber wheel using this special new material. I really enjoyed designing this first wheel concept and decided to create a line of wheels, including normal aluminum wheels with the carbon fiber wheel as my pinnacle product. I knew that lightweight wheels were great for improving the performance of any car because they reduce the load on the engine, brakes and suspension. So, I designed my new line of wheels to all be lightweight for maximum performance. This was the beginning of Litespeed Racing wheels. At that time, I was still working full-time as a shoe designer, and I was burning the midnight oil getting Litespeed Racing off the ground. I attended a number of car shows to promote my new wheel concepts. The SEMA show in Las Vegas is the biggest aftermarket car show in the USA, and maybe in the world, so I packed up my carbon fiber wheel prototype and my other wheel designs and set up a display at SEMA. One of the executives at Toyota saw my wheel designs and fell in love. He contacted me and asked if I could make wheels for a very special project they were working on. Toyota was releasing the long-awaited Supra sports car, and to promote their new sports car, they were going to build a special customized version of the Supra to take around to major events and show the world how cool it could look with new wheels, paint, aerodynamics and other custom parts. I agreed to design a custom set of wheels for this one-of-a-kind Toyota Supra. I realized that Toyota could have gotten any brand in the world to make these wheels, but they picked Litespeed Racing. That gave me the confidence to jump in feet first and pursue Litespeed Racing full-time. So, in 2014, I stopped designing shoes and started focusing all of my energy on building the Litespeed Racing brand.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I faced a lot of ups and downs over the past 10+ years. The forged carbon fiber wheel idea that started me down the road of making wheels did not work out. I started with a grand idea of making the best and lightest wheel that I possibly could. But I did not fully realize just how expensive it was going to be. The special carbon fiber material that I used was very expensive, but so was the development cost. Also, it was a new material, and most carbon fiber factories did not know how to properly work with it. So I had to find an aerospace supplier to build the prototypes for me. In the end, the cost to actually produce was so high that I could not make a good business case for bringing it to market.

But I did not give up on the idea of making the best and lightest wheel possible. I researched all types of materials, from titanium to carbon fiber-reinforced nylon and special grades of aerospace aluminum. I found that F1 race cars use forged magnesium wheels, and so I looked into the possibility of making custom-designed forged magnesium wheels. I found a factory that was willing and able to make forged magnesium wheels for me, but there were a ton of problems. I had to perfect the process through trial and error and a lot of testing. I had to figure out the best way to paint them and offer the beautiful custom colors that people wanted. I had to figure out how to engineer them, specifically, how the computer load simulations translated to real-world performance. I also tried multiple different magnesium alloys and different processes of crafting the magnesium into wheels.

Custom forged magnesium wheels were a totally new idea, and there was no existing information on how to make this idea work. Years ago, car manufacturers tried making cast magnesium wheels, but they ended up abandoning the idea because they could not solve some of the issues that are inherent with magnesium. I ended up figuring it all out, and now other wheel brands are starting to offer custom forged magnesium wheels as well. So now that I finally figured everything out, I have other, bigger wheel brands who have come in, learned from me and are competing against me.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Today, Litespeed Racing is the global leader in custom-made lightweight wheels. We are known for making some of the world’s lightest wheels and well known for being the industry innovator of custom forged magnesium wheels. Even though I now have bigger wheel companies competing against me in the custom magnesium market, customers still know that Litespeed Racing has the most experience with magnesium and offers the most style options, the best colors and the best finishing.

Litespeed Racing has won a number of awards, including the SEMA award for Best New Wheel, which is the highest award that a wheel company can receive. There are also a number of race cars that have set records while using Litespeed Racing wheels, which has helped customers to see the potential performance benefits of having lightweight wheels.

So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
Litespeed Racing was started as a passion project to make the best and lightest wheel on the market, and today I still have that same passion. I am always looking for ways to improve the wheels through new materials and manufacturing techniques. It was never my intention to build the world’s biggest or most profitable wheel brand. It was my intention to build the best and lightest wheels. So quality, function and customer satisfaction are what are most important to me. My biggest reward is when a customer receives their wheels and calls me or emails me to tell me how much they love them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.litespeedracing.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-warren-565ab13