Brian Clancy
Premium
A little while ago, I was introduced to a guy in the states called Charlie Visscher. Charlie had been creating quite a bit of a fuss with his wheels in the iRacing Forums, with a lot of people crediting him with great work and just as importantly great customer service. That introduction led to this review.
Partly assembled / finished Review wheel
For this hardware review we are going to be looking at a rather special, hand finished wheel for Logitechs G25/7. The format for this particular item will differ a little from the usual one as each wheel is custom made to the client’s specs, so I am going to try and focus as much on this part of the process as the wheel itself. I think first off, I should point out that Charlie makes a large range of wheels, from F1 styled (as the Redbull F1 wheel I am reviewing today) to GT and touring style wheels in various states of completion. Charlie can supply the bare wheel ready for you to build up right through to a custom built plug n play unit. The customer can specify numbers of buttons and type along with rotary encoders and switches etc and placement, in short a bespoke building service!
The process starts with selecting a basic wheel type, be it GT, F1 and so on, although Charlie can help you design a one-off too. The next step is to decide if you want to use a shift light board such as Leo Bodnars SLI-Pro or SLI-M integrated in to the design along with types and numbers of buttons and rotarys etc. Charlie keeps you up to date on the process and allows for your input to get the design just how you want it, E-Mailing you CAD drawings with the proposed layout and keeping you involved in the design process.
Once you have settled on the design, the build takes place. The wheel is cut from 1 inch thick Plexiglass on a CNC router to its basic shape, then the hard part begins! Charlie hand shapes and polishes the wheel to a very high quality finish. At this point you decide if you want the wheel in its natural clear or to be painted or trimmed with a Carbon look film. For the review wheel Charlie and I decided on the ‘Polished clear’ finish as its most striking and shows the best detail in the pictures! There are many options as far as finish goes, enough that I can’t sensibly list then here.
For a lot of hardware fans, charlie’s work would be done now, sending the wheel on to its new owner for them to fit the electronics. But if you’re not keen on doing that yourself, he can build the wheel up to a fully plug n play state at quite reasonable prices.
THE WHEEL ITSELF!
Okay, we have covered how the Process of how creating a custom wheel is done, now for the good part, testing! Upon receipt of the wheel I was amazed at the quality and finish, the polishing is near flawless and the clear finish is truly striking. More surprising is how nice and also warm the Plexiglass feels in the hand, it’s an oddly comfortable medium for a wheel (much to my surprise). The ergonomics of the wheel are excellent, grip dimensions, button placement and paddle shifter reach are spot on. The SLI-Pro mounting is a perfect fit as were the cut outs for the buttons I specified and the rotarys. Another nice touch on the wheel is that the 6 mounting holes are slotted so the wheel can fit a G25 or a G27 wheel (very handy if your running a G25 currently but may wish to upgrade to a G27 later). Unfortunately I have not been able to wire up the wheel currently as I’m waiting on some connectors to be delivered. However, I can still drive with the wheel and must say its been a pleasure to use. On a clear wheel like this, wiring will be quite visible, but with some care and thought I think it will be quite easy to make a feature of it, however, you can of course specify a painted or covered wheel.
One of Simracn's finished F1 Wheels (Williams inspired)
and a GT Styled Wheel
PRICES:
Prices vary enormously depending on the wheel type and its spec, but a RedBull inspired F1 wheel like the review wheel, bare and ready to build without electronics is around $250 dollars U.S. Considering the labour time involved and the bespoke nature of the product, that’s pretty reasonable.
CONCLUSIONS:
A beautiful, bespoke product mixing the best of modern CNC skills with hand crafted care to create a unique and rather special product. If your looking for something different that can add to the immersion of your rig and make you smile every time you use it, go see Charlie and tell him Brian sent you
You can find Charlie’s site HERE.
Partly assembled / finished Review wheel
For this hardware review we are going to be looking at a rather special, hand finished wheel for Logitechs G25/7. The format for this particular item will differ a little from the usual one as each wheel is custom made to the client’s specs, so I am going to try and focus as much on this part of the process as the wheel itself. I think first off, I should point out that Charlie makes a large range of wheels, from F1 styled (as the Redbull F1 wheel I am reviewing today) to GT and touring style wheels in various states of completion. Charlie can supply the bare wheel ready for you to build up right through to a custom built plug n play unit. The customer can specify numbers of buttons and type along with rotary encoders and switches etc and placement, in short a bespoke building service!
The process starts with selecting a basic wheel type, be it GT, F1 and so on, although Charlie can help you design a one-off too. The next step is to decide if you want to use a shift light board such as Leo Bodnars SLI-Pro or SLI-M integrated in to the design along with types and numbers of buttons and rotarys etc. Charlie keeps you up to date on the process and allows for your input to get the design just how you want it, E-Mailing you CAD drawings with the proposed layout and keeping you involved in the design process.
Once you have settled on the design, the build takes place. The wheel is cut from 1 inch thick Plexiglass on a CNC router to its basic shape, then the hard part begins! Charlie hand shapes and polishes the wheel to a very high quality finish. At this point you decide if you want the wheel in its natural clear or to be painted or trimmed with a Carbon look film. For the review wheel Charlie and I decided on the ‘Polished clear’ finish as its most striking and shows the best detail in the pictures! There are many options as far as finish goes, enough that I can’t sensibly list then here.
For a lot of hardware fans, charlie’s work would be done now, sending the wheel on to its new owner for them to fit the electronics. But if you’re not keen on doing that yourself, he can build the wheel up to a fully plug n play state at quite reasonable prices.
THE WHEEL ITSELF!
Okay, we have covered how the Process of how creating a custom wheel is done, now for the good part, testing! Upon receipt of the wheel I was amazed at the quality and finish, the polishing is near flawless and the clear finish is truly striking. More surprising is how nice and also warm the Plexiglass feels in the hand, it’s an oddly comfortable medium for a wheel (much to my surprise). The ergonomics of the wheel are excellent, grip dimensions, button placement and paddle shifter reach are spot on. The SLI-Pro mounting is a perfect fit as were the cut outs for the buttons I specified and the rotarys. Another nice touch on the wheel is that the 6 mounting holes are slotted so the wheel can fit a G25 or a G27 wheel (very handy if your running a G25 currently but may wish to upgrade to a G27 later). Unfortunately I have not been able to wire up the wheel currently as I’m waiting on some connectors to be delivered. However, I can still drive with the wheel and must say its been a pleasure to use. On a clear wheel like this, wiring will be quite visible, but with some care and thought I think it will be quite easy to make a feature of it, however, you can of course specify a painted or covered wheel.
One of Simracn's finished F1 Wheels (Williams inspired)
and a GT Styled Wheel
PRICES:
Prices vary enormously depending on the wheel type and its spec, but a RedBull inspired F1 wheel like the review wheel, bare and ready to build without electronics is around $250 dollars U.S. Considering the labour time involved and the bespoke nature of the product, that’s pretty reasonable.
CONCLUSIONS:
A beautiful, bespoke product mixing the best of modern CNC skills with hand crafted care to create a unique and rather special product. If your looking for something different that can add to the immersion of your rig and make you smile every time you use it, go see Charlie and tell him Brian sent you
You can find Charlie’s site HERE.
