Back in 2008 we wrote what would turn out to be one of the most popular blog posts on the site..it was about the Weds Sport full carbon fiber wheel. As awesome as that wheel is, it was in actuality just a concept, and from what we’ve heard, never made it into production….so it was just a pipe dream.
The next closest thing to it was Dymag wheels, who partnered with HRE to make wheels like this. While it wasn’t a full carbon fiber wheel, it was a full carbon outer rim…still awesome, but not quite as awesome as what we saw from Weds Sport.
While we were perusing Jalopnik, we happened to come across a new post they made about the 2010 Ultima Aero by Shelby SuperCars. The thing that really caught our eye was this part of the tag-line; “2010 Ultimate Aero Still Has $740,000 Price Tag, Throws In One-Piece Carbon Fiber Wheels For Free“. From Jalopnik’s pictures that were taken at the 2009 Dubai International Motor Show, we see a full carbon fiber wheel installed on the $740,000 car:
This led to this picture with a “Carbon Revolution” logo on the wheel:
From that we found an Australian company named Carbon Revolution which touts it’s CR-9 wheel as the first one-piece carbon fiber wheel in the world.
So we’ll post the information that we have, and we’ll continue to try and get in touch with these guys to get more info. We’ll definitely post any updates as we get them. (Update 2/26/10: We’ve gotten in touch with Carbon Revolution and will be following this article up in the near future with some additional information)
Carbon Revolution says that each wheel weighs 40-50% less than the best aluminum wheel of comparative size. As a benefit, it will significantly reduce un-sprung mass, improve suspension for better grip, improve acceleration and braking, and provide a crisper/sharper steering feel. There is some additional information from the press release:
The ‘2010 Ultimate Aero’ features the world’s first one-piece carbon fiber wheel, which has been pioneered by Carbon Revolution through a 2-year relationship with SSC. The technology behind the one-piece carbon fiber wheel has been through a five-year development period. Boasting of a nine-spoke classic design, the carbon fiber wheels are half the weight of conventional wheels, which results in improved suspension performance, better grip, improved acceleration, braking, and a sharper steering feel. Carbon Revolution is the only producer of one-piece carbon fiber wheels. Built to the highest technical and safety specification, the Carbon Revolution one-piece carbon fiber wheel not only lowers unsprung mass but is stiffer than lightweight forged aluminium wheels.
Here’s a few more pictures:
Video
Below you’ll find a video of the car being taken off a trailer and moved indoors before it left for the show in Dubai. There are many clear shots of the wheels: