S4 WHEEL ARCHES

[paros]

I hate to think of doing this BUT having got through 5 slicks in one practice and race I need to see if a wider wheel could be fitted.
I use Minilite 5.5 wide wheels and the slicks just clear the inside of the wheel arches.
I don't want to spoil the looks of the car by fitting 26R rear arches and wondered if anyone knew of a supplier of wider arches for the S4 - about one inch wider would do the trick with something to spare! Rear is biggest problem but really I need to do the front as well if it is possible.

Richard

[rgh0]

Richard
What you do really depends on how deperate you are and how much modification is allowed by your racing regulations. I dont know of any standard s4 flare kits available if you go down this route its probably up to you to make or copy someone else.

A guy here in Australia widened his whole Elan by about 4 inches by putting a couple of extra inches down each side just inside the line defined by the inside of the doors. Fitted plus 2 suspension components and had a great handling car, not legal for our istics here however as we must run a standard body which means 5.5 inches is the widest wheel you can fit in practice without fouling.

It surprises me your wearing out slicks so fast. If I ran slicks so soft that they would wear out in just a 20 minute practice and 20 minute race then I would have enough grip to put the car up on 2 hweels though the corners and could not use the grip the soft slicks were giving me.

regards
Rohan



regards
Rohan

[paros]

Rohan

Thanks for the comments - I am trying to find if in Greek FIA I can use some body widening around the arches. They have odd interpretations of FIA rules here.
The 5.5 wide wheel is the most I can accomodate and the cl;earance to the inner rear arch is about 1mm! Tyre is 21.4 diameter and 6" tread and 185 mm section, to be exact Avon Formula Ford Zetec tyre in A46 compound. About 2 seconds a lap faster than AO32R tyres.
Trouble is the surfaces here are rubbish and I do tend to go for 4 wheel drifts around long sweeping corners which obviously abrades the tyres.
Yes I have pictures of the car just on 2 wheels!
I may have to for harder compound rubber such as A30 in the future.
Next event is a hill climb and in 40 plus years of motor sport I have never done a hill climb! Quite enjoying the challenge - softer front roll bar, long [ 70 mm ] trumpets to the carbs, thin brake pads, removal of air box to accomodate trumpets with Pipercross socks etc etc.Hill climb is in Evia and just over 3kms lonmg and 52 corners!!
Having to use old Avon ACB10 tyres in A24 which is hard for a hill climb where Greeks will use A40 compound.

I used to race various mod sports cars in the UK with wide arches and got complacent about it until now with 5.5 rims - but it does make it good fun and I think with the narrow rims it is more Elan character in terms of handling!

Regards
Richard

[rgh0]

Richard

The fastest lap times I ever did on most of the tracks I compete on was using formula ford front slicks many years ago when I was running in a non historic sports car class. I had a lot less hp and a lot worse handling car but the slicks compensated for a lot of other problems. Limited to a specified set of road legal tyres in historics these days A032R's are the best but slower than a modern formula ford slick I am sure !

I used second hand half worn FF slicks when I used them. They were harder after use and lasted longer and you could get them cheap as the FF's wore out their rears quicker so 1/2 worn fronts were always available at a cheap price so a relatively limited life was not a problem with cost!

Despite the fun of sliding it through the corners its probably slower than keeping the car more stable and less over the limit and wearing the tyres less. But since we race to have fun who am I to question it !!!

enjoy
Rohan