16 inch wheels versus 13s
 

On the old board was in interesting thread about 16-inch wheels. Back when I used to run in FP we used 13 inch wheels, which also happens to be what most recommend for EMOD.

I was curious if anyone had done any testing of a 13-inch package versus a 16-inch package in autox to see which would be faster.

I would think the lower rotating interia and quicker heatup would be one advantage to the 13s. Another plus would be to run the car lower.

Thoughts?

Cary,
Are you running 13 x 10's now ?? If so any clearance issues on the front discs ?

Another thing I am thinking about is using 13's. They are lighter and I can get take offs from a CSR car . This would again allow me to spend money on the
suspension first before jumping into the big buck wheel and tire packages :)

Just doing some off season brain storming .

Mike

Hi Mike,

I'm running 13x10 wheels right now. The tires are basically FA take offs. The front disks clear but just barely. Steering and lower balljoint won't clear unless you do some work or run a lot of offset.

If I were to do this again I would go with 15s as this is the atlantic sizes and where you'll find the latest tire technologies. You won't have the clearance issues and can run larger brakes if you need to. Diameter is the same as the 13s and you'll only pick up a couple of pounds per corner. This is what I'd do if I were to start over.

Cary

Cary,
It looks like Yokohama is the spec tire for Formula Atlantic . It looks like take offs would be the way to go on these . I can imagine the price of new ones
are spendy .

Mike

Around here, 17 & 18 inch take offs from Porsche race cars are the easy ones to find.

Good 16 inch takeoffs are rare.

Be careful. Those are radials and a different animal. You want club level tires and not the pro stuff. Tom Berget seems to always have the latest goodyear and hoosiers in stock.

I use R25A and R35 hoosier C3000s. For some of our hotter events R45 might make sense but that's another set of wheels and I'm cheap. Since the Altantics tires are designed to deal with downforce you shouldn't be causing them any problems with a 2000 pound car. They seem to work well for me.

Cary

One local guy tried the large tires and gave up. They don't get up to temp quick enough and were all near 26 inch diameters. Those big wheels are expensive and weigh a lot more too.

At least for autox rotating and gyroscopic weght should be minimized whenever possible.

Cary

Cary,
Here is the only slick listed on the Hooiser site to fit the 10" wheel.


43361 22.5 X 9.5-15 C3000 FA 9.2" 22.9" 72.0" 10" 10" 10.7" R25A, R35

I will probably start off next season with some cants . Might be able to score me
a set of take offs . Then try the 15" wheel and tire set up .


Thanks,
Mike

Tom has me all pumped up for a visit to Topeka ;)

True for autox. I recently starting doing some high speed DE's/TT's though. I want some 17 inch rims so I can get my hands on more cheap takeoffs. In that case, I'm not so much worried about them being super sticky as much as keeping the cords from showing through the rubber for the whole weekend ;)