36 replies to this topic

[TecnoRacing]

Suddenly feeling the need to make known to all my vicious disgust for modern suede steering wheels fitted to historic racingcars !?!? , I was disheartened that I could not find the proper thread to lay out my grievance (and receive the appropriate commiserations and counsel.) Was there not a TNF mega-thread expressly designed for venting disproportionate rage over esoteric motoring-related subject matter?

[Allan Lupton]

There was a bloodpressure thread which would have suited, but it got a bit out of hand and isn't there now.

 

How about all those historic sports cars where someone's looked at the original wheels and tyres through modern eyes and has fitted tyres twice the width of the original with half the radial depth?

[Bloggsworth]

Yeah - It's really that important in the scheme of things - From Disgusted of Tonbridge Wells & Mrs Trellis...

[Allan Lupton]

From Disgusted of Tonbridge Wells & Mrs Trellis...

Ah, but it's Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge is somewhere else!

Which Tyler, passim

[Glengavel]

Yeah - It's really that important in the scheme of things - From Disgusted of Tonbridge Wells & Mrs Trellis...

Mrs Trellis isn't the complaining type. She is a confused old woman who thinks that the Goodwood Revival is some sort of evangelical gathering*.

*not a million miles away from the truth ;)

[stuartbrs]

Ahhh the (in)famous blood pressure thread. I had forgot about that. 

[Jack-the-Lad]

Ahhh the (in)famous blood pressure thread. I had forgot about that.

It should be reinstated immediately! I'm sure the content digits are lying around in a server somewhere. Gather them up and post them, sez I.

[BRG]

What are these modern suede steering wheels of which you speak?  I haven't noticed them, but then, I haven't been looking.  Are suede steering wheels modern? 

 

I believe that the traditional wooden wheels are considered somewhat of a danger in the event of a shunt - being pierced by wooden splinters presumably being the issue.

[Tim Murray]

In the 1930s Auto Union used steering wheels covered by what appears to be suede:

[BRG]

In the 1930s Auto Union used steering wheels covered by what appears to be suede:

They had no class in those days.  Where is that man's tie?  And he isn't wearing cuff links.  Obviously some sort of foreigner.

[Ray Bell]

Probably a bikie trying to better himself...

Will he ever learn?

[moffspeed]

..which reminds me of an old Brockbank cartoon in Autocar magazine.

2 young lads admire a Bugatti T35, but they have a reservation - “fancy spoiling a great old car like that with a grotty set of modern alloy wheels".

Well, it seemed funny at the time.

[moffspeed]

If I was entering B.O.F. mode I guess I'd be moaning about the incongruous sight of modern ITG foam air filters sitting atop a DFV / Chevy V8 or as side - salad on a big Healey. However we all like to protect our expensively rebuilt race engines.

 

I'm just about to go to the garage to remove the old "tin can and a cone" air filter from my Fulvia HF and further ruin its originality. My ITG filter box arrived this morning...

[2Bob]

modern suede steering wheels fitted to historic racingcars !?!? ,

 

BUT, mine matches my brothel creepers from the same vintage!  (Brothel creepers, for those of another age, are suede desert boots with ripple soles, usually worn with stove pipe trousers).

[Stephen W]

In the 1930s Auto Union used steering wheels covered by what appears to be suede:

 

Wasn't it some sort of surgical tape? A bit like old plasters.

[TecnoRacing]

What are these modern suede steering wheels of which you speak?  I haven't noticed them, but then, I haven't been looking.  Are suede steering wheels modern? 

 

I believe that the traditional wooden wheels are considered somewhat of a danger in the event of a shunt - being pierced by wooden splinters presumably being the issue.

 

I am talking about things like this...

 

LeMans Classic 2018 - Lola T70 coupe (with horrible suede D-shaped wheel....with buttons!!!)

 

Recent Autosport Test drive - Lola T332...

 

 

Goodwood Revival last weekend - Mini with suede wheel all centering stripe!

 

 

Goodwood Revival last weekend,  Karun Chandhok sets fast lap in Lola T70...fitted with D-shape suede Momo.

 

 

I know this ties into larger issue re: the idea of historic racing cars... and 'improvement' in the name of performance and or safety...

But this to me stands apart for being completely needless, and so visually offensive.

 

I mean something like the the Lola T322....if for whatever reason you absolutely need to fit a modern formula car steering wheel (w/ quick connect) why at not plonk in a Sparco 270LN, which is at least inconspicuous, and looks passably correct.

[Arjan de Roos]

I catch you drift, yet weren't the tyres in the past from wood, nowadays they are like, well like suede...

 

What annoys me is restoration liveries fully incorrect. If models cars can be 100% accurate, why not 1:1?

[Leif Snellman]

And he isn't wearing cuff links.  

 

I guess he might have learnt from Count Eliot Zborowski's fatal crash, La Turbie 1903.   

 

 (According to the legend Zborowski's cuff links got stuck in the hand gas control)

[2F-001]

I catch you drift, yet weren't the tyres in the past from wood, nowadays they are like, well like suede...

Excellent!

[Eric Dunsdon]

If it had been Achille Varzi in the Auto Union he'd have had a fag on as well!.

[Tim Murray]

Indeed:

[Michael Ferner]

Who will win the photo competition, find a picture of Achille Varzi without a cigarette!

By the way, aren't that Auto Union's two-wheeled stars H.P. Müller and Walfried Winkler on the right?

[Bloggsworth]

Ah, but it's Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge is somewhere else!

Which Tyler, passim

Oops!

[Bloggsworth]

What are these modern suede steering wheels of which you speak?  I haven't noticed them, but then, I haven't been looking.  Are suede steering wheels modern? 

 

I believe that the traditional wooden wheels are considered somewhat of a danger in the event of a shunt - being pierced by wooden splinters presumably being the issue.

 

Or, on a Lotus Cortina, having the spokes carve their way up your arm when the rim broke...

[Vitesse2]

Who will win the photo competition, find a picture of Achille Varzi without a cigarette!

 

[Michael Ferner]

I bet he has one in his right hand...

[Tim Murray]

He does seem to have refrained during his wedding:

[David Birchall]

I see and somewhat agree with the original poster's concern-but having watched that excellent video of the T70 I woud comment that drivers are bigger now and the 'D' shaped wheel would be more comfortable.  The buttons would appear to be to actuate timing apparatus-not unusual.  To establish my own credibility I should add that in 1977 I cut a perfectly good roll hoop out of my sports racer because it did not look period-and anyway,  I had no intention of turning it over...

[10kDA]

Far side of the Bugatti:

[Ray Bell]

Fake news!

Varzi didn't use cork tips until the Auto Union days...

[10kDA]

Testing prototypes by the carton

[Sterzo]

Suede flat bottomed steering wheels are a valid basis for unlimited rage. What about fat tyres? Why, why, why spend zillions on a historic racing car and modernise it by fitting fat tyres? Why is this allowed in racing? It would be so easy for there to be a scrutineering list of maximum tyre widths. OK, I accept the world is filled with recreations, continuations, restorations and abominations, but let's regulate the basic and simple things, at least.

[elansprint72]

Wasn't it some sort of surgical tape? A bit like old plasters.

Old plasters- there's another thing; when I was a kid in the 50s if your Mother put a sticking plaster on some scratch, it stuck- for weeks. In fact it had to be positively yanked orf… and then the glue had to be removed using methylated spirits. Today, you're lucky if you can get one to stick on for more than two minutes.

[Lee Nicolle]

I am talking about things like this...

 

LeMans Classic 2018 - Lola T70 coupe (with horrible suede D-shaped wheel....with buttons!!!)

 

Recent Autosport Test drive - Lola T332...

 

 

Goodwood Revival last weekend - Mini with suede wheel all centering stripe!

 

 

Goodwood Revival last weekend,  Karun Chandhok sets fast lap in Lola T70...fitted with D-shape suede Momo.

 

 

I know this ties into larger issue re: the idea of historic racing cars... and 'improvement' in the name of performance and or safety...

But this to me stands apart for being completely needless, and so visually offensive.

 

I mean something like the the Lola T322....if for whatever reason you absolutely need to fit a modern formula car steering wheel (w/ quick connect) why at not plonk in a Sparco 270LN, which is at least inconspicuous, and looks passably correct.

Period correct? That Mini and Cortina have rollcages!! The drivers are wearing modern flame resistant suits,modern helmets, the dread HANS device the cars are fitted with battery isolators. As for quick release,,, being a mature person who does not bend like a younger person it makes things a LOT easier to get in and out. As for soft grip steering wheels, I have used the same one for forty years, and it was not new then. Three spoke generic foam rim, used on race cars, boats etc etc. Now with a quick release hub/ My now 50 y/o Classic Speedway Super Modified still has the original 66 Holden wheel,, with a quick release though I only use that on heavy hooky rutty tracks. Use the foam grip 14" one the rest of the time.

What does annoy me though is racing cars with the engines exposed using modern valve covers,,, and intakes. Look at most 5000s and you see sheetmetal covers. Modern and uglyand IF the engine was period correct would not need them anyway. Same for most categories.

And ofcourse,, 5000s again. Holden V8s using 88 and on version cylinder heads, on a 60s or early 70s car.

[TecnoRacing]

Period correct? That Mini and Cortina have rollcages!! The drivers are wearing modern flame resistant suits,modern helmets, the dread HANS device the cars are fitted with battery isolators.

 

 

None of that stuff is nearly as bothersome (especially the driver's personal safety gear as that is not part of the car.)  The steering wheel however - it is the primary input device, and absolutely central to the character of the car. It has to look right...

[Doug Nye]

Ahem - sorry to spoil all the suedie fun, but the Auto Union steering wheel was actually bound with cord...

 

DCN

[elansprint72]

Ahem - sorry to spoil all the suedie fun, but the Auto Union steering wheel was actually bound with cord...

 

DCN

….and in the above photo clearly taped over with...?