Wheel BS

#1

I did not see it anywhere in the rules about BS of the wheels, although the track cannot not deviate +/- 5mm.

can anyone clarify this? most of the rims I find are around et30

#2

MMMmmmmmm

Bottle caps…cheap, legal, strong, did I say cheap?

#3

Speaking of bottle caps, Carter told me my stock 325is basket weaves are illegal. I obviously believe him, but I didn’t immediately see in the rules how they’d be disqualified unless they’re underweight. Can anybody satisfy my curiosity?

Sasha :huh:

#4

Your 14x6.5 basket weaves are not legal because of the width.

9.3.9.3. Wheels shall be 14 by 6 inches or 15 by 7 inches, shall weigh a minimum of thirteen (13) pounds, any brand, unless specified in these regulations.

#5

Trust me, you want to get rid of those heavy, hard to clean basketweaves… and swap them for some of the 13lb E30 offset Team Dynamics wheels that Bimmerworld sells.

The reduction in unsprung weight is amazing. (And your arms will thank you if you have to change wheels.)

#6

sharkd wrote:

[quote]Trust me, you want to get rid of those heavy, hard to clean basketweaves… and swap them for some of the 13lb E30 offset Team Dynamics wheels that Bimmerworld sells.

The reduction in unsprung weight is amazing. (And your arms will thank you if you have to change wheels.)[/quote]

Have to second the Team Dynamics recommendation from BW… Great wheels and a good price…

#7

sharkd wrote:

[quote]Trust me, you want to get rid of those heavy, hard to clean basketweaves… and swap them for some of the 13lb E30 offset Team Dynamics wheels that Bimmerworld sells.

The reduction in unsprung weight is amazing. (And your arms will thank you if you have to change wheels.)[/quote]

Actually the 14X6.5 basketweaves are ever so slightly lighter than the 14x6 Bottlecaps. Both wheels weigh in at about 14 lbs. I find it odd that SE30 chose 15x7 and 14x6 over the more popular 14x6.5 size that was available by the factory.

#8

I weighed my caps once and they were about 18-19 pounds if i remember right.(14 by 6)

My Baskets are about 14.5 pounds.(14 by 6.5)

My TD Pro Race 1’s are about 13.7 pounds.(15 By 7)

#9

I agree that it’s odd that a stock item is illegal, especially when so many of the cars run are the 325is which came with the basket weaves. I’m not sure if two sets of rims are in the cards for me right now–maybe just one set with shaved Toyos, and if it rains I don’t race! :frowning:

Sasha

#10

In my very limited racing-in-adverse-SoCal-weather-conditions experience, shaved Toyos are not bad in the wet, unless of course there’s a fair amount of standing water.

#11

Ex36 wrote:

[quote]I agree that it’s odd that a stock item is illegal, especially when so many of the cars run are the 325is which came with the basket weaves. I’m not sure if two sets of rims are in the cards for me right now–maybe just one set with shaved Toyos, and if it rains I don’t race! :frowning:

Sasha[/quote]

Sasha and all:

Actually, very few of the cars built have been "is" cars. And we don’t allow the basketweaves because we want the cars to be simple, cheap, and consistent. The basketweaves are harder to find than the bottlecaps and being a little wider, they are a very-slight performance advantage, so everyone would go looking for them. Plus, in the early days, we were strongly considering requiring bottlecaps, again, to make it cheap and simple. However, after doing some research we found that a significant portion of the bottlecaps have been bounced off curbs, run through ditches, etc. thus the allowance of aftermarket wheels.

Buy five new wheels for drys and you’re good for a long time. They don’t wear out.

If you have a set of basketweaves, sell them on Ebay and put that money into a set of bottlecaps and rains. I’ve had mounted rains for two years and they are ready to go.

Again, once you build your car and come racing, you won’t worry about this one bit. On average, a weekend costs about $800.00. Spending $600.00 for bottlecaps and rains, that last for five years, is not bad. If you do six race weekends per season, that’s $20.00 per weekend for good rains. If you have a set of basketweaves and sell them, your rains cost even less.

Carter

#12

Thanks for the explanation, Carter. I’ll stop whining now.

I do have a tire question, however. You mentioned to me that your shaved Toyo tires are good for about 18 heat cycles before they become too hard (but not too warn) to use. Do you know if a trip on the highway would get the tires hot enough to count as a "cycle," or do you need to really work the tires hard on the track to get them hot enough?

Thanks,
Sasha

#13

Driving on the street will not heat them up enough to count as a true track "heat cycle" IMO.

No one has told me theis but I’m thinking that the solvent cooks out of the tread when the tire is really heated during track use and that the tread gets harder as the heat cycles add-up. Interestingly, the tires seem to be pretty good up to the 15th or 16th cycle and then take a dive, performance-wise.

I don’t feel any difference from the third heat cycle, for example, to the 8th heat cycle.

Carter