Clois Harlan Clois I talked to Dick Smith in depth about why he didn't run a 17" or 18" wheel on his cobra. He said that because he was sliding the car in the turns alot the 15" where better for this. He tryed 17" wheels and found that there was no warning about 17" wheels loosing contact on the track and spinning out. If you can learn how to slide you car and control it, on some turns you are faster than the ones who are hooked up. No brakes are needed doing this also. Loosing brakes or boiling the fluid was a problem in the early years of racing. By drifting or sliding this saved the brakes till the end of the race when needed the most. The other thing with the 15" wheels was for the historic races the car had to be orginial looking. The motor was only allowed to be a 433 for a cobra. At times Dick said there where more Smithy rules than for any other class. Go figure. I think this was the only way they could slow him down.
Rick L. Ps Clois I like the 17" wheel on the car but agree with Smith about there is no warning about coming loose. I went 3 seconds faster at R&G with just a wheel change on the road course. Unless you want to get crazy about this, or change your car to a Morris special, You might be happier to stay old school unless you are adding power steering to the car. IMO