Just Cars Blog: rims

Monday, June 2, 2014

Halibrand rims, the Indy 500, and other trivia about mags

Ted Halibrand was so immediately successful, that though he had invented and produced the rims in 1946, the Halibrand rims won the Indy 500 in '46, and every year after that through 1963.

They weren't pure magnesium, they were about 90% magnesium, and 10 % other metals to make an alloy with better fatigue strength, surface stability, and deflection characteristics.

Such a rim of choice, Shelby used them on the LeMans race cars.

Studebaker (heavy into land speed racing) used them on some 64-65 Lark Daytona and Avanti

Magnesium will corrode unless coated with something like Dow 7

Never use soapy water when mounting tires to magnesium rims, use straight water and wax.

Magnesium burns and can't be extinguished unless completely removed from oxygen, and water makes it burn as if you poured gas on a fire.

Ted named his rims "Sprint" and when Ansen made the first slotted aluminum wheel in 1963, they stole the name. No one ever went to court about that though... and Ansen found out that kharma was instantly rebounding when most rim companies jumped on the success of slotted rims, because Ansen didn't patent them. American Racing, Cragar, Mickey Thompson, US Indy, and Superior all had slotted rims on the market right away

American Racing Enterprises (the cool wheels company that invented Torq Thrust)

was the company made by Romeo Palmides.

"Romeo Palamides, an early drag racing innovator and grandfather of jet car racing, designed and crafted leading edge, high strength-to-weight magnesium drag racing wheels for a competition dragster designed in the early 1950s for competition. The vehicle debuted on the cover of the November 1956 issue of Hot Rod Magazine. The car gained attention but, in the early years of hot rodding, there was considerable street enthusiast interest in the lightweight, high-tech wheels he had custom-designed for the car. Romeo's vision, working from Jim Ellison's small machine shop in San Francisco, along with engineering innovator Tom Griffith, evolved into America's leading aftermarket wheel company. In 1956, they formed American Racing Equipment."