Mike Jackson is certainly correct when he states that the type of wire
wheels and the weight of the car are very important. I have been racing my
1900 lb. Morgan since 1979 using Dunlop 72 spoke wire wheels. I have been
using Goodyear 500-15 "sports car special" vintage tires and various other
street radials. I have never had even a loose spoke! recently I have been
using Yokahama A 008 R tires. These are one inch wider and way stickier.
I am still experiencing no problems. I have hit curbs in the past, while
driving on the street, hard enough to bend over the outer rim of the wheel,
and the wheel itself still ran true. My experience leads me to believe that
on a car of up to about 2300 lbs. or so,with tires up to 7" wide, you will
not experience any wheel problems if the wheels are in excellent condition
when you start out. My experience is with Dunlop wheels. Dayton may not
give the same results, I have no experience with them.
60 spoke wheels are probably ok on a car of up to 1500 lbs. I know that
in the early 60's, Lew Spencer had problems breaking spokes on Dunlop 60
spoke wheels on his Morgan Super Sport using the Goodyear tires that were
the state of the art racing tires at the time. His car weighted about 1725
lbs.-----Original Message-----
48 spoke wire wheels should probably not be used for any racing .
The test on my own car is probably a pretty good one as I drive pretty
hard. My lap times at Laguna Seca on Goodyears are about 1:55 and at Sears
Point about 2:03. At Thunderhill last week on the 2.9 mile new track on
Yokohamas we got into the 2:19 range.
Best wishes,
Greg Solow aka Gregmogdoc
From: mike jackson <grand_wazoo@flinet.com>
To: clark <clark@dnf.com>
Cc: vintage-race@Autox.Team.Net <vintage-race@Autox.Team.Net>
Date: Wednesday, April 22, 1998 2:15 PM
Subject: Re: Dayton wire wheels
>I'd consider very carefully what I was trying to achieve with my vintage
>racer before running on wires. For a light car, with skinny tires that
>are not too sticky, I'd say maybe as long as you have high spoke count
>(72) and are going to be driving somewhat below the limit of the tires.
>It would make a lovely car, but dont put on Hoosier's best and start
>pushing really hard for the front of the pack.
>
>Tires have gotten soooo much stickier over the years that the cornering
>loads that can be developed on a vintage racer far exceed anything
>imagined when the wire wheels were developed.
>
>I dont even race on stock steel wheels on my TR3 anymore, I broke 3 of
>them! Fortunately we discovered each before total failure but it
>wasn't a little crack, it was going to come apart. Granted the TR is
>really quite heavy at 2000+ lbs but its your life we're dealing with
>here, and maybe mine if I'm on the track with you.
>
>mike jackson
>
>clark wrote:
>>
>> Hi All,
>>
>> Are any vintage racers running period Dayton wire wheels? Assuming a
>> lightweight car and correct, vintage tires, would these things be safe
and
>> reliable? Dayton can rebuild them with stainless steel wires and the
>> originals are "bead laced" as opposed to todays version.
>>
>> Please don't assume I know what I'm talking about... I'm probably
>> embarking on another maintenance nightmare, right?
>>
>> Clark
>>
>> "Hay Bales and Asphalt"
>> a video featuring vintage footage
>> of motor racing from 1957 to 1961.
>> Images and description at
>> http://www.dnf.com
>>
>> My 1953 Devin-Porsche Restoration project
>> http://www.dnf.com/devin-porsche.html
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