# MOMO Mod. 78 steering wheel

- Source: https://racingcarnetwork.com/wiki/momo-mod-78-steering-wheel/
- Publisher: Racing Car Network (racingcarnetwork.com), the race car marketplace
- Type: part · Brand: MOMO
- Discipline: parts
- Era: 1990s
- Last updated: 2026-07-06

The MOMO Mod. 78 is the racing wheel as archetype: the deep-dish suede circle (Mod. 80 its flatter sibling) that generations of rally and race cockpits made the default — Italian steering heritage sold by bolt pattern.

## Specifications

| Spec | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Competition steering wheels |
| Signature | Mod. 78 deep dish / Mod. 80 flat |
| Construction | Suede rim, three-spoke, 6x70 pattern |
| Application | Rally, historics, club race, kit cars |
| Fit | Dish depth + diameter per cockpit |
| Diligence | Authenticity forensics first |
| Years | 1995–present (heritage to 1964) |
| Class | Steering archetype |

## History

MOMO's founding legend is steering-wheel history itself — Gianpiero Moretti's better wheel for his own racing, adopted by Ferrari's Grand Prix cars within years — and the competition catalogue's Mod. 78 became the archetype: a deep-dish (the 78's defining offset bringing the rim toward the driver in upright rally and touring cockpits), suede-rimmed, three-spoke circle in the 6x70 bolt-pattern standard, its siblings (Mod. 80's flat profile, Mod. 07 and the family) mapping dish depth and diameter across cockpit geometries.

The ubiquity is total: rally builds by reflex, historic and club racing, kit cars and the road-tuning world's aspiration market — with FIA-era cockpits pairing the wheels with quick-release bosses as standard architecture, and the suede-versus-leather choice a discipline signifier (suede for gloves, leather for street pretenders).

The used market carries the fame tax: counterfeits are epidemic (the brand's aspirational reach made fakes profitable decades ago), making authenticity forensics — hub stampings, spoke construction, rivet and stitching quality — the first diligence, with rim condition (suede wear is honest but restorable) and straightness completing it.

## Palmarès

In the hands of rally and circuit champions across five decades — from the marque's Grand Prix adoption era to every national rally paddock since — the steering record of motorsport's default wheel.

## What to check before you buy

Fakes first, always: MOMO counterfeits saturate marketplaces — verify hub stampings and codes, spoke construction quality, rivet and stitching detail against known-genuine references before paying brand money; bargains are fakes by prior probability. Then condition: suede rim wear (restorable by specialists; price the job), spoke straightness after crash lives, hub-face condition. Dish depth and diameter must suit your cockpit and boss stack — the 78's deep dish is a fit choice, not a default. Pattern compatibility (6x70) is the standard blessing. Genuine, straight and honestly-worn beats boxed-suspicious every time.

## Did you know

- Moretti built the first MOMO because his own racing wheel disappointed him — and Ferrari's F1 team adopted the results, the founding story every wheel since trades on.
- Deep dish is ergonomics, not style: the 78's offset brings the rim to upright-seated rally drivers — cockpit geometry frozen into product form.
- The counterfeit epidemic is decades old — MOMO fakes predate internet marketplaces, making the brand motorsport's longest-running authenticity lesson.

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