Artistry and craftsmanship intersected in the Bugatti factory at Molsheim in Alsace. Each automotive component was hand-wrought to meet Ettore and Jean Bugatti’s engineering specifications. The hand-of-man rendered invisible thoughts into unique metallic forms.
Like the Brooklyn Bridge, spoked wheels are some of the strongest human artifacts crafted with each spoke’s placement evaluated for its strength, flexibility, and weight.
A wheel-spoke lacing pattern speaks to the priority of the automobile model riding upon it. Heavier touring cars have an abundance of spokes seated in a symmetrical and overlapping kaleidoscope to support the weight of a luxury car and provide smoother passenger rides.
Competition car wheel lacing strives to achieve balance and flexibility in tight corners with the least weight and often results in radial patterns with few overlapping spokes.
Examine the wheel on this 1935 Bugatti Type 59/50B Grand Prix race car, for example. There are multiple rings of spokes, with an irregular crossing pattern. Holes and teeth in the rim lighten the wheel’s weight and dissipate heat. The placement of each spoke is carefully considered.
This wheel’s attributes express the unspoken mantra uniting Ettore Bugatti, his factory craftsmen, and race car driver Robert Benoist whose skills united to build, campaign and race this recreated race car in the 1935 French Grand Prix at Montlhéry.
Without any financial sponsorship, the team pitted their Bugatti Type 59 straight-eight cylinder twin-overhead camshaft racer against the formidable German government-backed Mercedes-Benz W25Bs and Auto Unions. The epic head-to-head, wheel-to-wheel competition was a harbinger of repressed hostilities that erupted when WWII broke out.
Trilling like notes across a musical staff, the spindly spokes whistle while the large rim lightening holes sound bass tones as they whisk away heat. A perfectly balanced spoked wheel creates the aural equivalent of a shaken (not stirred) martini blend. There is a harmonious hum that comforts the driver.
Adjusting the tension on the spokes improves the roundness or trueness of the wheel to help the wheel run straight on the roadway. Lace the spokes true and the magic of physics will let you take flight.