Supercars phasing in upgraded Gen3 wheels
Supercars has begun phasing in an upgraded wheel designed to avoid the ugly interlocking incidents that have plagued the Gen3 era to date.
A revised design for the wheels, which are produced by UK firm Team Dynamics and imported by Racer Industries, was first trialled at The Bend last year.
The upgraded rims look almost identical to the previous units, except for a subtle change to the spoke profile in an attempt to ensure they do not interlock during contact.
Supercars subsequently gave the redesign a green light and a maiden shipment of the new stock arrived at the beginning of the year, with a second already on its way.
The category has permitted teams to continue to run the older specification wheel for now to avoid significant redundancy cost.
It’s estimated that each car in the category currently has a bank of around 40 wheels, priced at $1000 each, amounting to a near $1 million replacement cost across the category.
Interlocking wheels during battle has been a repeated gripe amongst drivers since the Gen3 cars debuted at the beginning of 2023.
Brodie Kostecki has been the most outspoken, labelling them a “safety concern” following a robust battle with Chaz Mostert in Taupo last year, before later likening them to Beyblades.
The issue was again in the spotlight in the wake of the recent Melbourne SuperSprint, where Kai Allen and Ryan Wood made contact moments after the start of the final race.
That catapulted Allen into the air and damaged both cars, triggering a melee at Turn 1 in which Allen tagged Broc Feeney into a spin.
Feeney’s mentor Paul Morris took to social media late last week calling for a change to the wheels, only to post an update a short time later confirming that Supercars has already acted.
The wheels used since Gen3 debuted are not those originally designed for the car, but believed to have been a ‘captain’s call’ from then CEO Sean Seamer based on aesthetics.
