It is a very cool look. As it was explained to me, the 3 piece wheels are
notched and the clear red urethane plastic is made with raised bumps to fit
into the notches. Sort of a Gilmer Belt with much wider spacing between the
teeth. See http://www.landracing.com/phpPhotoAlbum/show.php?id=439 for a
view of the spacing on the grooves on the front wheels.
The suspension is softer to allow for the lack of give in the tire area.
There has been some testing on the arrangement but nothing like it will get
when they run this later this year. The SoCal Speed Shop is lengthening the
wheelbase by ten inches to improve stability before they run it. There's
some serious GM involvement with the car. That said, I'd be very surprised
if there isn't lots of testing going on right now to determine if the
"wheel/tire" arrangement is going to allow the 300 MPH target speed. There
was lots of interest in the lakester at SEMA where it was in a corner of the
GM display. Pete Chapouris was in another room with their version on the
new truck so those answering the questions depended on the "Hero Cards" for
answers. Seems like it was on purpose to keep from having to be too exact
on answers
Wes
on 2/21/04 10:04 AM, Auburn Design Group at foxriverkid@earthlink.net wrote:
> There is a great article in the current issue of Street Rodder on this car.
> The tire is held on by a metal "girdle" or band (for lack of a better word)
> that goes
> around the tire, cinching it in to the rim and creating what appears to be two
> tires side-by-side on the rim. Looks pretty cool.
>
> Bob D.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ardunbill@webtv.net
> Sent: Feb 21, 2004 7:52 AM
> To: Malcolm Pittwood <MPittwood@compuserve.com>, land-speed@autox.team.net
> Subject: Re: So Cal Lakester - wheels & 'tyres'
>
> Malcolm, I read the article. Are we to understand that what they call
> "urethane" amounts to ordinary race tire rubber, or is this something
> else? Considering the centrifugal forces at very high speed, how are
> they going to attach the urethane so that it doesn't decide to become
> 'unclad'?
>
> I'm not clear if anybody has actually driven this vehicle at high speed
> as yet. If not, the impression remains that it is merely a very
> expensive, very well-crafted toy to project an image. Bill Hoddinott
>
>
> Auburn Design Group:
> The source for vehicle graphics
> OEM approved
> SEMA PRO
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