All this talk of differences in Wheels has me thinking. So far the discussion has been about design and materials. Has anyone come across a wheel with a different offset from the hub? In automotive applications, it is common for the outside face of the wheel to have very little offset from the hub face. Usually just enough to clear the brake calipers. Why is it in Karting, the offset is shifted to the inside face of the wheel? On Front Wheels, this tends to be a smaller % of offset compared to the Rear Wheels. Would there be a circumstance where it would be advantageous to move the mounting surface of the wheel toward the outside face of the wheel?
Example: Widening the rear track width accomplishes two things. It reduces the loading on the outside rear tire by moving the contact patch further away from the center of gravity. It also lengthens the axle increasing its ability to flex under load. Of course there are multiple factors involved like height/weight of the driver, flexibility of the axle, grip of the tires and many other setup characteristics of the chassis. Now apply this to a Rain Set up. Typically you would narrow the rear and widen the front. This is done for two reasons. One, to increase the rate of Mechanical Jacking in the rear of the kart and move the Center of Gravity over the outside rear tire to maximize Grip. Two, with the front and rear tires now lined up with each other, the front tires will disperse water ahead of the rear tires improving the contact with the road surface and thereby improving rear Grip. Assuming you are using the same Axle, the increased Mechanical Jacking would decrease the contact patch of the outside rear tire at peak unload of the inside rear, because the outside rear is now tipped to the side slightly. A “softer” axle flexes more allowing the outside rear to stay more parallel with the road surface. Now if you had a wheel with a mounting offset toward the outside face, you could effectively run a narrower rear track width while still having a longer piece of the axle exposed to provide more flex and still maintain a similar parallel contact patch with the road using the regular axle.
Any thoughts or has this already been explored and I am just unaware of the outcome?