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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