Carbon Revolution, a high-tech wheel making company located in Geelong, Australia, is recognised as the first company in the world to mass-produce carbon fibre wheels for the automotive industry. They are well known to the Corvette community as the supplier of the optional carbon fibre lightweight wheels for the 2023 Corvette C8 Z06. The cost of this very cool option in the US is US$11,995 for the unpainted “visible” version, featuring 20” front and 22” rear wheels. The wheels are only available with the Z07 Performance Package upgrade version of the Z06.
With the Z06 being a heavily constrained version of the Corvette (only 10% of accepted orders), and with even further restrictions placed on the Z07 package, the carbon fibre wheels will be a very rare, highly desirable option to get on your Z06 Corvette. Carbon Revolution claims its wheels save up to 50% of the weight of the equivalent aluminium wheels. They also state that the wheels offer opportunities for greater wheel robustness and durability, reduced noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) as well as offering greater choice of colour and design. Because of the great weight savings, carbon fibre wheels also provide the opportunity of utilising larger wheel sizes while complying with the design criteria for weight targets.
Reducing the weight of a vehicle’s wheels increases its handling performance by reducing the vehicle’s “unsprung mass” which comprises of all the components which are outboard of the car’s suspension. This includes the wheels and tyres, as well as the brake assemblies, the wheel hubs and the attached suspension components. When the vehicle hits a bump, all these components move upwards and the heavier they are, the harder it is for them to change direction and come back down. It is important that the suspension keeps the tyre in contact with the road by rebounding as quickly as possible. The lower the unsprung mass the faster the suspension can recover from the upward thrust from the bump. The reduction of unsprung mass by just one kilogram is multiplied many times over as the speed of the car increases. Hence, the carbon fibre wheels provide a significant positive impact on the vehicle’s handling and traction by more efficiently keeping the tyres in contact with the road’s surface.
So, the demand for carbon fibre wheels by the manufacturers of supercars is vast. With Carbon Revolution being the sole mass-production supplier of carbon fibre wheels, buyers such as Ferrari with its 488 Pista, Renault’s Megane hot hatch, JLR’s Range Rover Sport SV and Chevy’s Corvette are all lining up. Carbon Revolution’s wheels have also been announced for Ford’s upcoming Mustang Dark Horse and an EV program has recently been awarded to the company.
Due to this growing demand, Carbon Revolution announced an intention to go Public by listing on the NASDAQ stock exchange in the US through a merger with Twin Ridge Acquisition Corp, which they expect will provide the financial backing it requires to expand its operations to meet demand. “Our wheels are a classic trickle-down technology: they started at a very premium performance level and they’re now making their way into less premium applications” said Mr Jake Dingle, the CEO of Carbon Revolution, in an interview with financial publisher, IPO Edge, in April. “We’ve continued to automate and industrialise our manufacturing processes, driving efficiency and ensuring we bring our costs down as we grow and demand increases” Dingle added.
We can all be very proud of this Australian global technology company which has already put over 70,000 wheels on the road. It is even more so a source of pride to those Australians who will be fortunate enough to run these Geelong manufactured wheels on their Z06 Corvettes.