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The North American Eagle™ (NAE™) Land Speed Car utilizes two very different tire and wheel combinations depending on the type of testing that needs to be done. It can be divided up into two different categories: Low speed and high speed.

Designer and chief engineer on the critical wheels is Steve Green shown at right. Steve is holding one of the massive hubs he built in his Abbottsford Machine Shop.

Low Speed Runs: Rubber Tires - In all the pictures you see here on our web site, the car is shown with tires and wheels off of a F104 Starfighter jet aircraft. We utilize these tires for all of our low speed runs under 300 mph (91 m/s). They have 26 plies, and are designed for considerably more weight than that of the NAE™. In addition, the rubber tires make it easy for the team to show the car at trade shows and other public functions. In this configuration the car utilizes three tires; one in the front and two in the rear.

   
Three angles of the solid billet aluminum wheels.

High Speed Runs: Solid Billet Aluminum Wheel - The second set of wheels are quite different. We utilize solid billet aluminum, with no tires. They are design for high speed use on surfaces other than concrete or asphalt. They were machined and built by Steve Green at Eagle Machine Inc. in Abbottsford, British Columbia. The solid billet wheels will be used for the Land Speed Record Run, and are more than adequate for the 800 mph (244 m/s) the NAE™ will see. In this configuration the car utilizes four wheels, two side by side on a common spindle and two in the rear. Over $20,000. dollars in machining went into the design and development. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) was used to verify critical stress and life cycle.

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