Current Issues

[John Bach]

Just a couple of items I found recently that may cause some concerns.

1. Taylor Engineering's REM Isotropic treatment for gearboxes has been declared illegal for Formula Mazda. No word yet about FC, FF or any of the other real classes. If you are considering having this done, you might want to ask around and make sure you don't end up with an illegal gearbox.

2. A possible grouping change in CENDIV would put FF and F500 together. Although this is reasonable for both of those classes, where does that put FM?

[Richard Pare]

No problem in FC or FF with that treatment - we can do just about whatever we want in that regard.

[Rex Gunning]

Hey John, forgive my ignorance but what does this process do exactly?

[kea]

Maybe thats what it takes to keep the Webster gearbox parts alive? Anyway, I thought you would want some kind of surface, like that of an orange, so that the oil molecules would stay between the two metal surfaces and thus keep down friction the normal way?
Keith

[Tom Johnson]

I have some experience with REM treatments, and they can be quite good at superpolishing surfaces.

A couple of advantages of this method are the very uniform (and small) amount of material removed, and the cost, which can be lower than handworking.

I am very curious why this treatment has been deemed illegal for FM. It is not a coating, nor does it affect material properties like cryogenic treatment, which I presume is legal.

[Daniel]

Rex,

Best I can figure from reading Craig Taylor's comments on the FM site and REM Chemical's description of their process, it basicaly polishes the hell out of the parts by combining vibratory media polishing with a temporary chemical reaction between the media and the parts. It supposedly reduces friction by creating a super smooth surface with no directional polishing marks and increases part life and reliability by removing "stress risers" from the surfaces. They claim there is no impregnation of the surface and no residue or coating left behind by the process. Makes me wonder why the FM tech guys are saying it is illegal coating of the parts. But then FM makes me wonder anyway.....why would anyone want to drive a winged squid?

[This message has been edited by Daniel (edited March 15, 2001).]

[John Bach]

Here is a link to the FM forum containing threads on the REM process.
http://pub8.ezboard.com/fformulamazd...sccarulesracin

You will find a discussion of the process, the SCCA ruling and description of the benefits by Craig Taylor. FM is more of a spec class than FC or FF and that may be some of the reasoning behind ruling REM illegal. It may never affect us, I just wanted everyone to know it could become a future issue.

[LarryWinkelman]

The theoretical logic behind REM being declared illegal in FM is that the cars don't come that way as standard. The explicit intent of the rules is to prohibit innovation or alteration. This ruling has yet to be tested in SCCA competition, and may not stand up to the Court of Appeals (if it goes that far). In any event, it doesn't impact FF or FC, so you guys should all have it done!