Sbarro Osmos
Like other Sbarro creations I’ve written about, the Osmos comes from a place of unbridled fantasy and excess. It’s as if Franco Sbarro is doomed to try and push the automobile forward, because even when you think he’s run out of ideas, he’ll place the exhaust pipes of an SUV over the entire cabin. Or add a second rear axle to a Cadillac. Or invent the hubless wheel.
Indeed: Franco invented the “Orbital wheel,” a hubless — or centre-less — wheel.
The way they work is simple in theory: a rotating ring that holds the tire and brake pad material and a fixed part with bearings, attachment points, steering, and brake caliper. To fit everything inside of this, you’d need a big ring and large-diameter tires, only (fairly recently) commercially viable.
Sbarro Osmos details, inside and out • Sbarro
The advantages of such a setup are quite clear, on paper: a reduction in rotating mass, the possibility for more solidly mounted suspension, numerous alternatives for how brakes are mounted, less vibration, and a lower centre of gravity.
(In reality, it kind of leads us to the emerging mobility segment of electric unicycles.)
Some sources online say that the Osmos was based on a formula car chassis, and its profile, height, and width make a good argument for that conclusion.
