I've been meaning to post a few reviews on El Luchador as I've been getting some seat time recently, but just haven't had the time. I just posted a response on RL with my thoughts on the Formula 43 wheels, so what better time to share my thoughts with you guys. Here is a sneak peek!



The Wheels: Formula 43 RENN10 (ano black outer, ano matte black center)

In the spirit of full disclosure, my car will be featured in some of Formula 43's upcoming marketing material.

I came across these wheels by way of my local shop, Cantrell Motorsports, who has been using these wheels on customer cars for a while now with great results. I had been scouring the market looking for the "right" wheel for my application. Basically, I wanted a lightweight track wheel that would stand up to abuse and be a good track application. I looked at everything out there and feel there are good options across a large price range. On one end you have BBS 3 piece wheels for outlandish money and on the other hand you have the OZ wheels on tirerack for much less.

After hearing the horror stories with the Tech-1 wheel that Forged Alloys was selling , I decided to drill a bit deeper into the options I had. I've had track wheels in the past and certainly understand the use scenario and what I was looking for developed a bit.

My evolving criteria:
1. A lightweight 18" wheel with CL application (narrowed to about 5-6 choices)
2. A cost effective solution for the track (narrowed to about 3-4 choices)
3. A quality design team that stands behing their product and offered great customer service (narrowed to 2-3 choices)
4. A build time in less than 6 weeks (narrowed to 2)
5. I ultimately decided a 3 piece wheel would be a better application for me for vatrious reasons (ease of repair & color options) which narrowed the field down to just one manufacturer - Formula 43.

In the end, I got exactly the wheel I wanted in a reasonable time from a great company - so I'm a very happy camper!

A few things to point out on these wheels. They are light (I'll weigh them next tire change)! I really like 3 piece wheels, but don't like exposed hardware, so it's nice that these wheels have hardware on the inside of the wheels. Formula 43 offers a bead blast option on the interior of the rim to prevent slipping of the tire...it seemed to work, after 2 days of tough usage, they were in the same spots, so the weighting was still on the money.

I really think you can't go wrong with the wheels these guys are producing, even being a young company, they will stand behind their products and will certainly be seen around more as others discover them. I'm proud to have my car gracing their brochure



The Tires: Goodyear Eagle RS

When it came to tires, I was choosing between a few different models (mainly R888, R6 and the Eagle RS). Noone had tried out the Goodyears yet on the forums and there was some speculation on the tires. I happen to know the GY rep in the area pretty well and he got me a set to try out, so I opted to give them a shot.

Sizing:
The spec of the tires looks to be similar to the R6, but they're a little different. The first thing we noticed is that the compound was harder than the R6 (70 as opposed to 50). This suggested a bit more life as speculated by some of us. The next thing I noticed is that the 335 rear is HUGE! You can see on the picture above that the tire is bulging a bit...we actually had to raise the car up 10mm to get the sucker in there and prevent serious scraping. In my opinion its just not the right size for the RS. The front 245 actually fits pretty well as you can see below.

Performance:
I had to get the temp/pressure dialed in during my first few sessions, but once I figured it out, I had good grip. It wasn't Hoosier grip, but it is a seriously sticky tire. However, I don't think the sizes are great for the RS, as I felt the car was facing understeer issues mainly due to the inbalance of F/R width. The fronts are too narrow and the rear too wide which caused an odd feeling at the limit.

Wear:
Well, I'm nearly corded on the rears after only 8 heat cycles . No initial heat cycle and cool down period. I think that's doesn't say much for the GY tire. I would have expected at least 12-15 hc's.

Verdict:
A stack of Hoosiers are waiting to get mounted.

 

Good info all. Thanks for the heads up on the GY tires too. I'll stick with the Hoosiers.

-Troy

 

Could we get some more photos of this car please? Brilliant!

 

Love the wheels, thank you for the review! +1 for more pictures.

 

Brim,

Thanks again for choosing Formula 43 wheels and the positive feedback!

We take pride in our quick development for new wheel fitments such as the GT3RS and also Cup centerlocks.

Formula 43, 3-piece modular wheels are a great choice. We offer a
variety of offsets, widths, styles and color options in the RAD and RENN series of wheels.

 

She's back in the shop for some more goodies and tunning. I'll send off some pro shots once we get her all cleaned up.

 

Please do Gorgeous machine!