True F1 Wheel Rim Size

[OO7]

The regulations don't actually mandate a specific rim diameter for the wheels, however it is often mentioned that F1 uses 13 inch diameter rims. Having looked at some images of wheels and tyres and taking measurements, I'm lead to believe the rim size is actually around 14 inches.

I've been working on a scale drawing of an F1 car and noticed a problem with the scale of the wheel rim diameter to tyre diameter. I had been using the front wheel from the following image as a placeholder. When I compared the tyre diameter to wheel rim diameter, it transpired that the wheel had a relative scale of around 16.5 inches, which is far to big for F1:



I compared a few more images of wheels and tyres such as the following on the Mercedes W06. These both gave a wheel rim diameter of almost 14.2 inches:




The following image of the Williams FW16 gave a wheel rim diameter of 14.8 inches:

[Just_a_fan]

I've got an ex-Minardi wheel in the garage somewhere. If I can find it I'll measure it...

[Tim.Wright]

What features are you using to make this measurement? The wheel size refers to the bead surface which you cant actually see from the outside.

[OO7]

What features are you using to make this measurement? The wheel size refers to the bead surface which you cant actually see from the outside.

http://www.mgexp.com/article/mgb/tire-s ... l_dims.gif

I thought that may be the case Tim. I was measuring flange to flange. The front wheel on the FW16 has a thicker flange than on the Mercedes, which may account for the slightly larger diameter.

[OO7]

I've got an ex-Minardi wheel in the garage somewhere. If I can find it I'll measure it...

That would be very helpful Just_a_fan. Cheers.

[bhall II]

358mm - 18mm = 340mm or ~13.4 inches (+/- listed tolerances)

[OO7]

Thanks bhall. The 1994 tech regs only state a maximum (complete wheel and tyre) width of 15 inches and diameter of 26 inches. This may explain why the FW16 wheel seems to be slightly larger, as there is no lip/flange limit.

Also the 358mm (14.09 inches) outer lip diameter is very close to the 14.2 inches I measured in the Mercedes W06 images, so it all makes sense now.