This picture will tell you much of what you need to know about Koenigsegg’s carbon fibre wheels. This is Christian von Koenigsegg holding up a 19-inch wheel (10 inches wide) – with one finger.
That’s a screenshot from the latest update in the Inside Koenigsegg series of videos. It’s yet another inside look at the magic kingdom of cars, where there are only two items on the daily agenda:
- Build Koenigsegg cars
- Push the boundaries on what can be done to make a vehicle the absolute best it can be.
Koenigsegg’s carbon fibre wheel has only one metal part – the air valve. The rest of wheel is hand-laid, pre-preg carbon fibre in different thicknesses that are purposefully designed to make the wheel as strong, as balanced and as light as it can be.
You’ll be surprised at how little it weighs and you might also be surprised at what the wheels greatest source of potential stress is. Here’s a hint: it’s NOT pot-holes in the road. Christian also gives a nice little primer on the importance of lowering the un-sprung weight of a car.
The video is 11 minutes long and it’s as educational as every other Inside Koenigsegg video has been so far. Enjoy.
Love the Inside Koenigsegg series. CvK’s passion and hands-on approach is awesome.
If I had money, I tell you what I’d do, I’d go downtown and buy a Koenigsegg or two.
i reckon i might pay to work there!!
CvK isn’t simply pushing the edge of the envelope. He’s defining and creating an entire new envelope.
He didn’t say how long it takes to build such a wheel, did he? 😉
When you’re CvK you build a time machine to overcome that challenge. So it seems.
There is a company in Vic doing carbon wheels now. Exporting to Porsche I think. Taking ex Ford workers. V cool.
So impressive. I didn’t think about the heat quite honestly, but he’s spot-on — any epoxy (plastic) will be susceptible to heat damage. I thought that the stress from accelerating/braking was going to be the greater stress, and I suppose that braking is indirectly true, but not as I imagined.
Again, the attention to detail is amazing.