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This happened this past weekend in a miata driven by a friend of mine in HPDE3. I think they are 949 racing wheels, pretty cheap and apparently dangerous...
I know tons of people who use the 949's on their s2k's and miatas....never heard of an issue. Ugly incident and ended up in a bad place as well. Nice save, though.
I dont think anyone knows what part failed first. The tire was cut as well, but I think that happened after the wheel failed. He had just re-torque all the wheels before that session so maybe he put them on too tight.
Haven't heard anything bad about 949's wheels up till now. Pretty massive failure considering no contact with anything. Wonder if the wheel had been through a previous hit.
I dont know much about them so maybe my cheap comment wasnt fair to them. There are cheap crappy wheels out there so...but this is clearly a wheel failure, the freaking spokes are missing, all of them! If it was a lug/hub issue, he should of felt some kind of vibration.
Last edited by ThreeFiveZero Z; 03-14-2011 at 01:11 PM.
No clue, but now that I think about it..this guy spins this car at least once an event, running R6s, usually staying on the surface. Maybe that had something to do with it...
That sucks, but you know how tough some people are on their their wheels to get time. Dropping a wheel in a ditch just off the inside of the track is common place (thus the ditch). And if they are not careful in inspecting their equipment those type of poundings lap after lap will eventually take a toll. And if he frequently oversteps the boundaries you never know. I wonder what the other 3 wheels look like?
As with any part used on a race track, regular inspection is important. In the old Datsun world the Panasport Lightweights are known to crack from the lug hole to the wheel center and every racer inspects them carefully when mounting them on the car.