Woodrim wheels
Discussion
I have a 1960s Moto-Lita woody on a Caterham, it's a 13" diameter, I find the rim not too ergonomic as it's so skinny....but I love the retro look, which suits the Caterham fine...after all, it was designed in 1957. I mounted the wheel with a Momo quick release hub which was on the car, a 2002 SV wide chassis when I bought it.
The project is a 1959 Berkeley T60 with race mini 1275 engine, and a fully adjustable, big braked motorsport chassis which a friend had put in at vast expense.
I have a buddy who used to have a T60 back in the 60s, and he also started the original Astrali steering-wheel company.
He used a different construction method for the wheels compared to Moto-Lita. The Moto-Lita method is to cut the shape of the wheel in flat alloy sheet of 5mm or so, then cut two circles of ply, shape them to suit, with finger grips on the back surface, then glue and rivet them to the rim of the wheel, leaving the aluminium of the rim visible on both inner and outer sides of the rim sandwich.
This type of wheel can indeed be quite nasty in an accident, as if the wheel is bent, the ply will split and can form vicious shards.
Astrali's method was different. They started with a long strip of veneer, and rolled it, with the glue, inside a cylindrical two piece mould. Once it was thick enough to make a wheel, it would be left to cure, then taken from the mould, and sliced into circles. Each circle would itself be sliced into two semi circular sections, then these would be recessed on the flat interior face, using a spindle router, so that the wooden rim could, when fitted to the alu, completely enclose the aluminium rim.
Cutouts were made for the spokes.
This gives a nicely rounded shape, fatter than a Moto-Lita, and most importantly, it doesn't shard if bent in an accident.
Astrali, which started in 1964, supplied to Rolls-Royce, Aston-Martin, Lotus and many others as bespoke OE fitments.
They at some point bought the Les Leston concern, who had produced wheels using the same circular lamination method.
Later, my buddy sold the rights to his brother, another engineer, but they haven't been actively producing wheels for some time.
The wheels sold using the Astrali name currently do not appear to have permission to use the name, at least as far as my friend is concerned, and the wheels they are producing, while very nice in appearance and probably very well produced, are nothing to do with the original Astrali company, and are using the cheaper Moto-Lita plywood build method
Berkeley in preparation for 'Historic Rallying'
.
I fitted a Dellorto 40 to lower the bonnet line as I prefer it to twin SUs anyway.
]
Astrali 14" wheel
1960s Moto-Lita on my Caterham SV
[footnote]Edited by unclefester on Sunday 8th September 10:09[/footnote
The project is a 1959 Berkeley T60 with race mini 1275 engine, and a fully adjustable, big braked motorsport chassis which a friend had put in at vast expense.
I have a buddy who used to have a T60 back in the 60s, and he also started the original Astrali steering-wheel company.
He used a different construction method for the wheels compared to Moto-Lita. The Moto-Lita method is to cut the shape of the wheel in flat alloy sheet of 5mm or so, then cut two circles of ply, shape them to suit, with finger grips on the back surface, then glue and rivet them to the rim of the wheel, leaving the aluminium of the rim visible on both inner and outer sides of the rim sandwich.
This type of wheel can indeed be quite nasty in an accident, as if the wheel is bent, the ply will split and can form vicious shards.
Astrali's method was different. They started with a long strip of veneer, and rolled it, with the glue, inside a cylindrical two piece mould. Once it was thick enough to make a wheel, it would be left to cure, then taken from the mould, and sliced into circles. Each circle would itself be sliced into two semi circular sections, then these would be recessed on the flat interior face, using a spindle router, so that the wooden rim could, when fitted to the alu, completely enclose the aluminium rim.
Cutouts were made for the spokes.
This gives a nicely rounded shape, fatter than a Moto-Lita, and most importantly, it doesn't shard if bent in an accident.
Astrali, which started in 1964, supplied to Rolls-Royce, Aston-Martin, Lotus and many others as bespoke OE fitments.
They at some point bought the Les Leston concern, who had produced wheels using the same circular lamination method.
Later, my buddy sold the rights to his brother, another engineer, but they haven't been actively producing wheels for some time.
The wheels sold using the Astrali name currently do not appear to have permission to use the name, at least as far as my friend is concerned, and the wheels they are producing, while very nice in appearance and probably very well produced, are nothing to do with the original Astrali company, and are using the cheaper Moto-Lita plywood build method
Berkeley in preparation for 'Historic Rallying'
.I fitted a Dellorto 40 to lower the bonnet line as I prefer it to twin SUs anyway.
]
Astrali 14" wheel
1960s Moto-Lita on my Caterham SV
[footnote]Edited by unclefester on Sunday 8th September 10:09[/footnote
Edited by unclefester on Sunday 8th September 10:14
Interesting thread .
I have an early 15 inch dia.Moto Lita wheel that I was given by a dear departed friend .
He purchased it circa 1967 for a Volvo P1800 he owned and after much use it was later condemned to the rear of he garage and near obscurity .
I rescued it , restored it and mounted it on an engraved piece of polished cherrywood . It hung on my friends study for years after.
I have used it on several cars and it currently is mounted on my early BMW E24 .
It is also of thin rimmed construction but very tactile and pleasant to use .
Two years ago I found the top section of wood delaminating from th alloy frame and very carefully removed it and then after suitable preparation re glued it to the alloy rim. The wood rim is rebated on the outside edge thus concealing the alloy rim which is only visable in the ID of the rim.
I can threfore confirm that the timber used on mine is not of ply construction but a solid timber ,mahogany I believe .
I have often wondered about the actual year of manufacture of the wheel but have not as yet researched it .
Anyway , my first replacement wheel was a 13 inch Astrali leather item which I fitted to a Mk1 Cortina GT so my thanks to your buddy for the enjoyment it brought ...
![](https://thumbsnap.com/sc/CK90vtyM.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="https://thumbsnap.com/iE5WLP25" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[url][img]https://thumbsnap.com/sc/iE5WLP25.jpg)
I have an early 15 inch dia.Moto Lita wheel that I was given by a dear departed friend .
He purchased it circa 1967 for a Volvo P1800 he owned and after much use it was later condemned to the rear of he garage and near obscurity .
I rescued it , restored it and mounted it on an engraved piece of polished cherrywood . It hung on my friends study for years after.
I have used it on several cars and it currently is mounted on my early BMW E24 .
It is also of thin rimmed construction but very tactile and pleasant to use .
Two years ago I found the top section of wood delaminating from th alloy frame and very carefully removed it and then after suitable preparation re glued it to the alloy rim. The wood rim is rebated on the outside edge thus concealing the alloy rim which is only visable in the ID of the rim.
I can threfore confirm that the timber used on mine is not of ply construction but a solid timber ,mahogany I believe .
I have often wondered about the actual year of manufacture of the wheel but have not as yet researched it .
Anyway , my first replacement wheel was a 13 inch Astrali leather item which I fitted to a Mk1 Cortina GT so my thanks to your buddy for the enjoyment it brought ...
I think Moto-Lita must have had 'high end' wheels such as Steely Dan's mahogany rimmed one shown, I have seen various designs, some riveted, others, such as the mahogany rim, apparently simply glued.
In my experience the laminated ones are less pleasant to use, as they can't be given a truly round section, as if that is attempted the outer layer of ply becomes so thin it would lead to production problems. Hence the strange flat fronted sectional shape.
It's funny how fashions change...I remember thinking a tiny 10 or 11" leather rim on my Mini-Cooper was just so right for the car back in the 60s, 'as used by Paddy Hopkirk'.
I still have one on a Davrian racer, and I think it's better for competition, arguably,, being less hard on the hands.
I will be doing a build on another Davrian racer, and I think I may try a woody on that one.
I may even race the second Davrian, so it'll be interesting to compare a wood rim in competition, where obviously I'd be required to wear (fire retardant) gloves anyway....
In my experience the laminated ones are less pleasant to use, as they can't be given a truly round section, as if that is attempted the outer layer of ply becomes so thin it would lead to production problems. Hence the strange flat fronted sectional shape.
It's funny how fashions change...I remember thinking a tiny 10 or 11" leather rim on my Mini-Cooper was just so right for the car back in the 60s, 'as used by Paddy Hopkirk'.
I still have one on a Davrian racer, and I think it's better for competition, arguably,, being less hard on the hands.
I will be doing a build on another Davrian racer, and I think I may try a woody on that one.
I may even race the second Davrian, so it'll be interesting to compare a wood rim in competition, where obviously I'd be required to wear (fire retardant) gloves anyway....
That Nardi on the Mini looks very classy. Do you know if the rim is made from one piece of solid wood, or wound from veneer? I have a suspicion some Nardis were made with spiral lamination, it's usually fairly easy to tell by looking closely.
The different manufacturers seem to have experimented with the various methods, possibly feeling solid wood should be used for bespoke or 'high-end' wheels.
I wonder if anyone ever tested the safety aspect of solid wood against circular laminated types? I'm sure solid is way safer than the ply variants, in fact it's probably up with circular laminated in the safety stakes as far as not producing razor-like shards on bending.
The different manufacturers seem to have experimented with the various methods, possibly feeling solid wood should be used for bespoke or 'high-end' wheels.
I wonder if anyone ever tested the safety aspect of solid wood against circular laminated types? I'm sure solid is way safer than the ply variants, in fact it's probably up with circular laminated in the safety stakes as far as not producing razor-like shards on bending.
unclefester said:
The Moto-Lita method is to cut the shape of the wheel in flat alloy sheet of 5mm or so, then cut two circles of ply, shape them to suit, with finger grips on the back surface, then glue and rivet them to the rim of the wheel, leaving the aluminium of the rim visible on both inner and outer sides of the rim sandwich.
One of the Moto-Lita methods perhaps.My woodrim Moto-Lita is not constructed this way, it has no visible rivets or rim showing on inner and outer surfaces, nor is it made from plywood.
unclefester said:
That Nardi on the Mini looks very classy. Do you know if the rim is made from one piece of solid wood, or wound from veneer? I have a suspicion some Nardis were made with spiral lamination, it's usually fairly easy to tell by looking closely.
The different manufacturers seem to have experimented with the various methods, possibly feeling solid wood should be used for bespoke or 'high-end' wheels.
I wonder if anyone ever tested the safety aspect of solid wood against circular laminated types? I'm sure solid is way safer than the ply variants, in fact it's probably up with circular laminated in the safety stakes as far as not producing razor-like shards on bending.
Thanks - it came to me via another Mini I sold earlier this year, it had been re-imported from Japan so I suspect the Nardi was fitted over there. Not sure of the construction, will have a look.The different manufacturers seem to have experimented with the various methods, possibly feeling solid wood should be used for bespoke or 'high-end' wheels.
I wonder if anyone ever tested the safety aspect of solid wood against circular laminated types? I'm sure solid is way safer than the ply variants, in fact it's probably up with circular laminated in the safety stakes as far as not producing razor-like shards on bending.
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