“Dear Martin, Interesting to see the feedback so far. I don’t know if you want to carry on with this but I spoke to Chris (Keeble) about the drilled centres. He said that he drilled the 3-eared spinners on his race MGC GT and didn’t suffer loosening or weakness. Ditto with them on the Sebring, on which he fitted 14inch 72 spoke wires. Chris also said there was also a theory regarding reducing unsprung weight – however marginal it might be! Now I am not completely sure about this but I did a bit of thinking and… I have just thought of something from my Mallock U2 hill climb sprint days (1978-1983). Didn’t the RAC Rule book of the time say something about the removal of shiny chrome hub caps this so the scrutineers had access to the grease caps to enable them to flick them off to see if the retaining nuts were secure. It follows if the centre of the wheel spinner (or hex nut) was solid they wouldn’t be able check (rear half shaft or front hub) to see if the retaining nuts were tight and correctly split pinned or even in place! This has been known in the heat of things! I do have doubts over my memory on this it may simply have been to see if the wheel nuts were on tight. Anyway signing off. Best wishes, David (Morys”
“Dear Martin, They bored the centres out of the knock off nuts on the MGC GTS Lightweights and then when they arrived at the Nurburgring for the Marathon de la Route in 1968 for the 84 hour marathon event they soon found out in practice that the nuts were coming loose! The remedy was to shrink on an ugly, weighty metal ring in EN strength steel to keep them tight and from distorting. The other problem was they needed an extended long handled box spanner to get them off after they had been tightened. I remember talking to Doug Smith of MG Motorsport years ago and he was asked by customers for this tweak. Not for any weight reduction though just cosmetic. I always wondered if the the relatively thin cap in the centre added much but it obviously does so my advice is don’t mess with nature if you are intent on the look perhaps you could get some slightly stronger spinners made with more meat around the centre. Turinno Wheels make bespoke spinners but as with all quality products the price reflects this. Best wishes. David (Morys)”
“Hi Martin, concerning the centerless knock offs I am using them for years now on my racing car. They work just as they are intended, the weight saving is minimal but they look really great. They were originally fitted by Rae Davis (now RDR) back in the last century and now sold by his brother Daryl at £189 a set:-) regards Christoph Klamert”
A QUESTION ABOUT HUB SPINNERS
Pete Schumann says “I have seen a few Sprites, Midgets etc. with what appears to be the center of the eared knock-off hubs removed as in the attached silver blue Speedhunter web site Sprite picture. Do you know how this was done, ever see one up close? Did they just use a hole saw to take the center out? I wonder if that weakens the knock off? I love the look and was considering it”. Feedback please
