Magnesium Minilites on a CS

[waynesie]

I recently purchased a car with magnesium Minilite wheels.
I they are 14".

Anyone have any racing pictures of early CS on these wheels, rally or otherwise?

The car was originally sold in England and had Butler maps lights added to the dash on the a-piler, I guess it might have been used for rally or dressed up to look like it.

 

[gwittman]

I am not too sure those will look good on a Coupe. They seem to be better suited for small two seater British cars like Austin Healey, MG, Triumph, etc.

 

[deQuincey]

to get an idea i may need a wider picture ...

 

[HB Chris]

Not loving 'em, look too heavy

 

[DerSchwede]

According to my information even Alpina used Minilite rims before the own 3-piece rim and the CSL rim were ready. (1967-1970). I've got the Sports aluminium Mag on my 2800. This is a photo test fitting the rim before the ongoing rebuild.

 

[waynesie]

Thanks, DerSchwede, any more information you have on those early Aplina years would be great.

Magnesium is 1/3 lighter than aluminum but is similar in strength. Thus a 15 pound wheel in aluminum would be 10 lbs in magnesium. It is still the material used for formula 1 wheels today.

These wheels where very popular in trans-am and other racing groups in the 60s and early 70s. I have found pictures of this specific style wheels used on Porsches, mustangs and Javelins. My '67 race mini had a set of magnesium Minilites, but were not this exact style.

I am looking for history / pictures / information on use of these wheels on BMWs, specifically the early 2800cs race cars.

I will keep looking.

 

[shanon]

I like 'em, they're something different yet a still period option.

I have trolled the Net for years collecting early Alpina 2800cs racer pics and have not seen one running the Mini Lites.

All the early 2800cs racing pics i have found run the OEM/stock wheel or early Alpina 13/14" 3pc wheels like the ones on Yanick's CS.

I bet your mini lites are 6.5" wide.

HTH
-shanon

 

[DerSchwede]

The Minilite Sports aluminium rim is 14x7 ET6 so they fill out the wheel arches very well, letting the track grow 32mm rear and front.

Cheers
A

 

[JFENG]

mag wheels

Back in the day, there were not a lot of choices for super light wheels. I think it makes perfect sense that someone wanting the ultimate reduction in weight would use these over a BBS.

Campy made a mag wheel that fit some BMW's back then too (only 2002's AFAIK). Not a lot better looking, but our sense of style is very different than it was 40 years ago.

One of my 2002's came with minilite mag wheels. The difference to the steelies was astounding. The lugnuts felt so light it gave the impression they were made of foam. I sold them on because they were too narrow.

 

[DerSchwede]

Found this in a german issue of Rallye Racing from December 1972. It displays the GS tuned 3.0S belonging to the former BMW engineer Dieter Basche, then Co-Manager of GS. The rims are the 14x7 Mags from the earlier post.