Usually, the trickle-down effect from race cars to daily drivers is in the tech or data related to quality, dependability, and reliability (QDR). Wheels, on the other hand, are not an automaker priority. So, leave it to a Formula 1 fan to make the racing series wheels available for public consumption—and with intimidatingly awesome results.
Sharing the final result on social media a while back (but we just came across his ride recently), Jon Olsson outfitted his matte black Audi RS6 with his custom matching rims, and the look is if Batman were turned into one of the Transformers. Something like that. I mean, I can hear the snarl from the images.
To be fair, Jon Olsson isn’t your average F1 fan. The Swede is a former Red Bull team freestyle skier who’s won Winter X Games gold and is in the Guinness World Records books for his slopestyle skiing medals count. Now an entrepreneur, Olsson decided he liked the current styling of F1’s racing wheels so much that he went out and produced them himself.
Although not an exact match to the wheel design of any particular team (copyright infringement, I’m sure), Olsson’s interpretation is strongly reminiscent of the Red Bull F1 car with its red outer ring and neon yellow inner circle. Okay, that’s not entirely surprising considering Olsson’s brand allegiance.
But nevermind that. The wheels might look like your basic black steelies but turned up to 11. Maybe even 12. You can see the wheel pairing on a dark-finished McLaren 720S on YouTube. The vehicle showcase starts at the 5:55 mark.
“I haven’t quite decided whether they look Mad Max crazy or just cool,” Olsson said. “What do you think?”
Commenters are split with many preferring the F1 wheels on the Audi versus the McLaren. “They look like spare wheels!” exclaimed one viewer regarding the latter.
“I always like doing things that are different,” Olsson confessed. “It’s hard to do different things with wheels because most of everything’s been done, but I’d say this is a look I haven’t seen on anything besides a Formula 1 car.”
Olsson had the renderings for a year and a half before testing the wheels and putting them into final production. Anyone interested in their own set of is free to contact him. Although these particular posts aren’t new, recent ones show the F1-style wheels with a slightly different design.
Olsson doesn’t share specs on the wheels, such as materials or production process. For example, motorsports use forged magnesium alloy and machined as one piece, like in F1. Likely built-to-order, Olsson’s F1 wheels price will probably be more than a BBS wheels set (not that those are cheap), but the look is definitely unlike anything you’d see on a street car.
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