Another note on knock-off wheels in racing. I had them on my TR-3 and after
breaking TWO hub extensions in six races determined that the life was three
races if used hard. That is just the front the rears seemed to last okay. I
wound up using a lot of these little devils in 1959-1960 and three races
gave me a feeling of comfort.
----- Original Message -----
From: grand_wazoo <grand_wazoo@flinet.com>
To: Friends of Triumph <fot@autox.team.net>
Sent: Monday, September 11, 2000 4:36 PM
Subject: knock off wire wheels, importaint!!!!]
> Not many of us still run knock offs but this is an interesting read
> about old parts and stress. The Glen is tough on stuff, my first trip
> there resulted in a broken front hub with a wheel taking it's own little
> tour. We two hammered the fender just as written in this note and got
> back on the track.
>
> Hope things went well for our friends from Beady Eye Racing.
>
> mike
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Fw: knock off wire wheels, importaint!!!!
> Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2000 13:02:42 -0500
> From: "Wm. Severin Thompson" <wsthompson@thicko.com>
> Reply-To: "Wm. Severin Thompson" <wsthompson@thicko.com>
> To: "Thickos" <team-thicko@autox.team.net>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Charles Christ <cfchrist@earthlink.net>
> To: <spridgets@autox.team.net>
> Sent: Monday, September 11, 2000 6:26 AM
> Subject: knock off wire wheels, importaint!!!!
>
>
> > the 1962 morgan 4-4 we run in vintage racing 3 days ago experienced a
> > component failure wich to date had not been seen and i believe should be
> > shared with other enthusiasts reguardless of their vehicle's aplication
> (be
> > it track or street).
> > the morgan is equiped with dunlop competition knock off wire wheels.
> friday
> > a left front wheel came off the car at speed at watkins glen in a rather
> > fast right hand corner. the car was about a car width or less from the
> > guard railing(armco) when this happened and the wheel shot off and hit
the
> > armco and bounced off back and badly smashed the rear fender of the car
> > before continuing on it's merry way coming to a rest well off down
track.
> > the car skidded safely to a stop without further incident thanks to the
> > owner/driver(peter dunn )being able to keep the car under controll on
the
> > remaining 3 wheels .
> > absolute fear of having sent out the car with a loose (untightened knock
> > off) wheel was beginning to set in as the car arrived behind the tow
> truck.
> > minutes later the course workers had found the missing knock off 2
winged
> > knock off and had returned it to us in our location in the pitts.
> > the knock off itself failed!
> >
> > the threaded center of the knock off had split down the side and approx.
> one
> > third around the threads and was displaying radiating cracks in the
brass
> > under cracked chrome plating in the center threaded portion. after
> removing
> > all remaining knock off's and examining them a second was found to be
> > failing (brass stretching but not showing any visible cracks) by finding
a
> > few hair line cracks in the chrome plating around the outer edge of the
> > threaded center portion.
> > the failure was in the threads not the tapered interference fit against
> the
> > outer portion of the center hub of the wire wheel itself.
> >
> > my point here is remove, clean and carefully inspect your knock offs for
> > signs of wear and fatigue. this failure could have happened just as
> easily
> > on a street car as on a competition car. yes a competition car is
> subjected
> > to higher side loads. but fatigue is a problem with our cars as they
grow
> > older and older. do not let this happen to you!
> >
> > we borrowed a spare knock off from a fellow competitor and i dressed off
> the
> > few(i was amazed how few) damaged splines on the hub and refitted a
spare
> > wheel and tire. and proceeded (with a broken finger....the middle one
on
> > left hand! spent entire weekend being socially challenged pointing at
> > someone and flipping them am unintentional bird! whole other story!!)
> to
> > use 2 hammers to straighten out the fender and spray a bit of color on
the
> > damaged fender to make it presentable for the remaining track time for
> > peter.
> >
> > this could have ended far worse than it did! peter was lucky the wheel
> had
> > not bounced in the side of the roll cage and hit him(had the wheel hit
the
> > car 4-6" farther forward and it might have broken his shoulder or arm!).
> no
> > one else was involved in this incident and the car was not too badly
> damaged
> > and we were able to repair the damage there in out pitts. on the
street
> > with a less skilled driver under less than perfect conditions this could
> > have resulted in a serious accident!
> >
> > chuck.
> > numerous thicko's were observed enjoying a rather nice event ...gary you
> > looked great passing senica lodge on the re-enactment of the race on the
> old
> > course. (i was there spectating assisting in beer controll....lol!...
> > ) ).
> >
> >
> >
>
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