I have seen many many Challenge wheels by speedline on the 355 but never those by the OP. The one and only challenge wheel for the 355 is the 2017 model. I dont think those are speedlines.
I sent detailed pics to a contact at Speedline. Here is the email received from Speedline rep in the UK. If they find anything interesting from the factory in Italy, I will pass it along. Hi Rick, It would seem you have Genuine Speedline produced wheels for sure. Year of production 2001. As you may know speedline produce many wheels for Ferrari for Road cars and Race cars and when the Challenge was introduced speedline were requested to produced a Magnesium Race wheel for the 355 challenge series and Ferrari selected the Type 2017 wheel. Sizes 8x18 and 10x18. As with All Race wheels that are Bolt On, 4 or 5 hole fitting they are produced with a 60 degree taper seat and a steel Insert is fixed into the bolt hole to prevent excessive wear in the hole as the wheel is constantly On and Off the car for tyre fitting / pit stops etc. For Raod cars the wheel is drilled direct to the aluminum or Magnesium wheel and they do not need a steel insert in the wheel as they only come off the car when new tyres are fitted when old ones are wore out. I can only think that maybe you have seen some road production wheels that have been fitted to a race car or something similar, but I am only guessing here. We will look into it for you with the speedline factory in Italy to see if they know when and why there is a difference with the Bolt / Nut seating in the wheel. Kind regards Ivor
DriveAfterDark posted this pic...wheel bolt holes look just like mine... http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showpost.php?p=140385761&postcount=19 Image Unavailable, Please Login
Since I guess you guys don't want to listen I guess a few photos are needed. The 1st photo is a 355CH in Florida in 2000 IIRC. The 2nd photo is from Ferrari World mag. in 1998 The 3rd is from Ferrari World mag in 1995 The 4th photo is my car in 2002. If this isn't enough I have several more if you need. Not trying to give you a hard time Rick. That is not my intention. There is so much misinformation on this sight and so many shepple willing to listen. I do not know anything about your wheel but it is probably what Speedline sells over the counter. Ferrari has always been proprietary on the parts they get from their suppliers. The wheel shown here is what Speedline supplied to Ferrari for the Challenge series your's probably is Speedlines aftermarket wheel. My car, which is a factory '97 355CH, came with 3 sets of wheels and they were all the same style as shown above. I also bought 2 new rear wheels from Ferrari, not Speedline, in 2004 and they were also the same style. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
WTF is a 'shepple'? Here's what I know: 1. The original owner of the wheels was Fatso (FatBillyBob) himself. Does anybody really think he bought fakes from the authorized Speedline importer to race his 348C? 2. Speedline themselves confirm they are their wheels. They are chasing the factory in Italy for some explanation as to why the variation exists. 3. It is interesting to note that the weights of my wheels (stamped in the rims) are precisely the same as what Speedline quotes for the 2017 Le Mans wheel. Look, if the manufacturer cannot offer an immediate explanation for the variation - then what makes anyone on this board believe they are qualified to say one way or the other?? I have been very transparent throughout this thread and reporting back my findings (and will continue to do so). I hope that we *all* might learn something interesting here.
They are Speedlines - FBB originally purchased them directly from the Speedline importer. See below. It appears Speedline made three slightly different models/versions of the wheel, although they all look identical from a distance as the differences are subtle. Pics below are of 1) 1910 2) 2017 and 3) 2017 Le Mans. Note that the main difference between the three is the "depth" of material and taper of the wheel profile at the hub area. It wasn't my intention to open up a can of worms or cast any doubt on the authenticity of Rick's wheels with my question. Rick and fatso are both straight-up guys, and hopefully the pics shed some light on the mystery: Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I am confused about this pizzing contest, my understanding for many years has been that the more shallow lug design was the 348 Challenge wheel, and the deeper design was the revised 355 Challenge wheel, which has a tad more offset! When I saw the pics, I said "what a sweet set of 355 Challenge wheels, I want em!". Most of you guys debating about this, I credit you with knowing much more about these cars than I do! These are 100% genuine Speedline 355 Challenge wheels, end of story!! PS. someone please buy them soon... the longer they are available, the more depressed I get cuz I can't afford to buy em!
I did not say they weren't Speedlines wheels. I said I thought they might be Speedline's after market challenge style wheels and not the same wheel supplied to Ferrari for the challenge cars. My thoughts are if you ordered from the supplier you got what you have and if bought a challenge car or bought wheels directly from Ferrari you got what you see in the picture. reread my previous post. Geez what more proof do you guys need the pictures don't lie.
If those wheels are made by speedline, then they were not made for the track and more than likely as someone else said, an over the counter street wheel. The whole reason the challenge wheel is flat where the lugs are is for ease of change during a race.
Sorry to hijack this thread, but seems there is much knowledge on this type of wheels in here. Attaching pictures of wheels on a 348. Can anyone confirm if they are original Challenge Wheels? If real, what are they worth? Edit: I have much higher resolution pictures, if anyone wants them on e-mail to have a better/closer look. Sandy Eggo: I can attach more pictures of that F355 Challenge if you want to see it. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Here's what i can offer to the thread (from my shelf, photographed this morning): Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Just checked and those match mine exactly. Those are the real deal, for track use only stickers and all. I wouldnt mind seeing the same close ups of the stampings on Ricks wheels.
Sandy Eggo's wheels are also real. Just a different variant of the same wheel we all seem to love. "The Real Deal": [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4ateyIFito[/ame]
Howdy - Attached are my piccies. The wheels are still a little grubby (that's tape residue in 1st pic) from the last Auto-X. As you can all see....they're the same dang wheels. If you ask me, I think the tapered holes look better. I know, you need the flat centers to improve your pitstop times... Speaking of which... I was out thrashing my F355 (on street wheels / rubber) on this new track called Chuckwalla Valley Raceway about 3.5 hours away. The car was a blast - not only on the track but also on the backroads there and back. I will post up some track video on YouTube later tonight... At the track, I was also very fortunate to hang out with Plugzit and get to inspect the "358" up close. What a marvelous machine...congratulations to Bruce and Vince!! Finally, there was a gentleman there (David) driving a black 458 that was simply king of the track. He reeled in everything out there and made it look easy. At one point he humbled a Corvette that spun out (nearly into the armco along pit lane) tangling with him. Good times. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Well those are speedlines. More than likely a different version that they made for whatever reason. Could be a street version which would accout for the thicker middle making it a little heavier and more durable. Maybe they didnt make many because there was not much of a call for them then.
