Scott McIntyre
DSM Wiseman
- 309
- 44
- Mar 15, 2002
-
Halifax,
NS, Canada
Coming off three days of autox on PEI, I mustered up enough energy to attend the lapping day at Atlantic Motorsport Park, NS making it four days of racing in a row. Yippee!
Got to the track early and there was already a good size crowd there. Found a spot in the paddock and proceeded to swap out my brake pads. This year I've been running Carbotech AX6 on the street & autox, and XP16/XP12 on the track. So far I've been thoroughly impressed with these pads. I've yet to experience brake fade with either compound and they all have good bite. I especially like that fact that you do not have to bed-in the pads every time you switch compounds (so long as you are switching between Carbotechs, which I am). So this saves me from bedding-in pads twice per weekend. Big plus!
For tires I elected to just use my street set, which is OEM EVO 8 wheels with Hankook Ventus HRII (all-season) tires. They're pretty crappy for track work (4 sec / lap slower), but I wanted to save my R-compounds for timed events (i.e. competition). Today would be about having fun and practicing my lines around the track.
Session 01
Session 02
Event Wrap-up
After I got the car home I drained the transmission fluid, found bits of metal on the magnetic drain plug, then curled up in the fetal position and cried.
A couple days and a few antidepressants later, I began the task of pulling the tranny. In the past I've supported the engine with a jack & padding under the oil pan, but this time I decided to get a proper engine support bar (it was on sale too!).
Once I got the tranny out and opened it up, here's what I found:
Third gear stripped.
In addition to that, the front diff ring gear had some damage on a couple teeth as did the front output shaft. And the reverse synchronizer was a little chewed up.
Essentially, my fancy $hep $tage 4 tran$mi$$ion was tra$hed. Ouch!
While I had the tranny off, I also pulled the clutch to inspect the disk and flywheel. Here's what I found there:
Great news all around. Just when I thought I might get through a whole race season without a major mechanical failure.
Oh well, I'm in the works of repairing the car and should be back in action soon. Stay tuned for my next race report!
Got to the track early and there was already a good size crowd there. Found a spot in the paddock and proceeded to swap out my brake pads. This year I've been running Carbotech AX6 on the street & autox, and XP16/XP12 on the track. So far I've been thoroughly impressed with these pads. I've yet to experience brake fade with either compound and they all have good bite. I especially like that fact that you do not have to bed-in the pads every time you switch compounds (so long as you are switching between Carbotechs, which I am). So this saves me from bedding-in pads twice per weekend. Big plus!
For tires I elected to just use my street set, which is OEM EVO 8 wheels with Hankook Ventus HRII (all-season) tires. They're pretty crappy for track work (4 sec / lap slower), but I wanted to save my R-compounds for timed events (i.e. competition). Today would be about having fun and practicing my lines around the track.
Session 01
Based on past experience, I made sure I started this session right up front of the queue so I'd be the first out on the track. That way I wouldn't have anyone holding me up. Given my tires, I didn't expect to be the quickest car out there, but I knew I wouldn't be the slowest neither.
Sessions are 20 minutes long, and I ran the car hard non-stop. Since switching from 50/50 engine coolant to 100% water w/ water wetter, my engine temps stayed below 210ºF. My oil temps did creep up to 240ºF, but that is still within safety margins. The only issue I had during this first session was that my brake pedal started to get long towards the end of the session, indicating that my brake fluid was overheating. So I finished with a cool-down lap and brought the car back in one lap before the session ended.
Here's an onboard video of my fastest lap of the session (1:22.285):
Sessions are 20 minutes long, and I ran the car hard non-stop. Since switching from 50/50 engine coolant to 100% water w/ water wetter, my engine temps stayed below 210ºF. My oil temps did creep up to 240ºF, but that is still within safety margins. The only issue I had during this first session was that my brake pedal started to get long towards the end of the session, indicating that my brake fluid was overheating. So I finished with a cool-down lap and brought the car back in one lap before the session ended.
Here's an onboard video of my fastest lap of the session (1:22.285):
Session 02
In the hour or so between sessions, my brake pedal firmed back up so I was ready to hit the track again. The plan was to go out and do a few warmup laps, then come in and get one of the instructors to ride along and give me some pointers. This, however, wasn't meant to be...
On my very first lap, while accelerating out of a turn, the engine suddenly free revved. WTF? No clunks, no bangs, no sound at all other than the engine spinning freely. I didn't know what was going on. So I put it in 4th gear and attempted to limp the car back to the pits. However, halfway there the drivetrain made a big *bang* *crunch* and the transmission was suddenly stuck in 4th. Uh-oh... This is not good.
Here's an onboard video of that terminal lap:
After parking the car in the paddock, I took a look underneath but could see no external signs of damage. Still unsure what the problem was, I called the flatbed and packed up for the day.
On my very first lap, while accelerating out of a turn, the engine suddenly free revved. WTF? No clunks, no bangs, no sound at all other than the engine spinning freely. I didn't know what was going on. So I put it in 4th gear and attempted to limp the car back to the pits. However, halfway there the drivetrain made a big *bang* *crunch* and the transmission was suddenly stuck in 4th. Uh-oh... This is not good.
Here's an onboard video of that terminal lap:
After parking the car in the paddock, I took a look underneath but could see no external signs of damage. Still unsure what the problem was, I called the flatbed and packed up for the day.
Event Wrap-up
After I got the car home I drained the transmission fluid, found bits of metal on the magnetic drain plug, then curled up in the fetal position and cried.
A couple days and a few antidepressants later, I began the task of pulling the tranny. In the past I've supported the engine with a jack & padding under the oil pan, but this time I decided to get a proper engine support bar (it was on sale too!).
Once I got the tranny out and opened it up, here's what I found:
Third gear stripped.
In addition to that, the front diff ring gear had some damage on a couple teeth as did the front output shaft. And the reverse synchronizer was a little chewed up.
Essentially, my fancy $hep $tage 4 tran$mi$$ion was tra$hed. Ouch!
While I had the tranny off, I also pulled the clutch to inspect the disk and flywheel. Here's what I found there:
Great news all around. Just when I thought I might get through a whole race season without a major mechanical failure.
Oh well, I'm in the works of repairing the car and should be back in action soon. Stay tuned for my next race report!
. 
. And I just installed a new one in the Flying Banana
