I am not necessarily the expert on these things, but im pretty sure that for all the classes at NPWDRL (other than the classes that use razor type wheels, unlimited and eliminator) as well as my own troops rules, there is a lower limit to the overall weight for the wheel.
Even if you were to remove material from the wheel to make it lighter, if the rules state the wheel cannot weigh less than 2.0 grams then you'd have to add back weight in the form of "balsa wood" for example to get back to the weight anyway. So overall weight would be the same in either case.
There was a discussion on the forums a bit back about this but not from just a overall weight standpoint but say removing weight from the base wheel from certain areas, and adding enough lighter material back in different areas to meet weight criteria but do it in a way that makes the wheel itself potentially more aerodynamic or less "frictionable" or faster etc....Since most rules also have a rule about how wide or what the minimal diameter and tread width a wheel must be, I cant really think specifically other reasons to do so...the original post discussed it briefly however and may have more specifics.
As such I believe there is a rule for the NPWDRL classes that apply, about removing weight from the wheel and building it back up with a different material to weight specs. Others with more experience with this and have been racing longer will likely know specifically what the rule states.
Now if there were no rules in regards to weight and size of the wheel then you are spot on about the lighter the better and the faster....which is why those razor acrylic wheels on those unlimited and eliminator cars are so fast because they all weight in at less than 1 gm (0.5 even?) and have a thin "razor" tread, both of which significantly reduces friction and energy required to get the wheel turning!.....could you make a razor wheel using multiple medias to reduce the weight even farthe but maintain strength? possible perhaps!
WK
