Sprints recap and gearbox failure video

[JRMarchand]

The June Sprints turned out to be a good event, really good competition showed up, almost every division had some representation, the Cartech Formula Mazda Challenge had its third event of the season. The weather didn't look all that great on the forecast, but we had awesome conditions after all. I have more horror stories on the webster gearbox, it doesn't matter, we all have issues, i break a gearbox or something in the gearbox at every event this year, seriously. I also had an awful time figuring out the Hero cam, it didn't work for the race because I forgot to erase the files on the card, my mistake, i started dead last and finished first, i would like to see some video if anybody has some, i barely remember the race.

check this video out, gearbox blows up before Turn 7, i'm very lucky the car stayed under control.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DpAwcemi7c

[rickjohnson356]

your comment seems to say that gearbox failure is not uncommon in standard FM. Is that true? I haven't heard much about things related to the reliability of FM, other than the engines last for a long time without a rebuild.

Also, (sorry for the hijack), does the aero attachment on your helmet work well? Does it reduce wind buffeting at speed on the straights?

TIA

[JRMarchand]

Rick for the most part , my gearbox used to be trouble free until i started going faster and faster and things wear out and break... this season I've had 4 failures due to bad luck, not everything has been bad, I have to say that 90% of FM's go through a weekend without gearbox problems.
in the vid, my helmet looks pretty stable, i say it works for sure. jrm

[SCOTTY81]

What type of failures are you having...


scotty
Taylor Race.

[JRMarchand]

hi Scott

the common failure has been the 4/5 shift rail, I have to say that the rails were older, I would think that either the parts are old or I'm being to hard on the upshifts, almost have to keep my foot on the gas during upshifts in order to be fastest. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong, nobody told me how to drive these cars so it could all be my fault, except for old worn parts, anyways, thanks to Taylor Engineering for rebuilding the webster late saturday afternoon, its all good now , no more problems in the gearbox dept, now i have to figure out how to make it last like the rest of the teams. JRM

[SCOTTY81]

JR.

If you started in the back.......worked your way to the front.....then won .
I do not think there really is anybody that is going to tell you how to drive one of these cars..you have already figured it out bud....
If you want...call me. We can go over some things to keep on eye on. Plus some things you will want to check before the Run-Offs.

And thank you for the buisness, and letting us work on your bearing carrier.

scotty
Taylor Race Engineering
taylor-race.com

[JRMarchand]

Scott

we'll do, thanks for the help, i would like to have the bearing carrier looked at the runoffs, I have four races between now and then, we'll see what wears the most. I have a question, why is there no steel forks available for 3/4 and 4/5, i thought it would be a good idea to have them in some exotic metal or even carbon fibre thanks

JRM
juanmarchand.com

[Raceworks]

hi Scott

the common failure has been the 4/5 shift rail, I have to say that the rails were older, I would think that either the parts are old or I'm being to hard on the upshifts, almost have to keep my foot on the gas during upshifts in order to be fastest. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong, nobody told me how to drive these cars so it could all be my fault, except for old worn parts, anyways, thanks to Taylor Engineering for rebuilding the webster late saturday afternoon, its all good now , no more problems in the gearbox dept, now i have to figure out how to make it last like the rest of the teams. JRM

No-lift upshifts without an ignition interrupt (like on a newer sequential transmission) put a ton of strain on the transmission. I'm surpirsed you're not tearing up dog-rings as well. I used to use that technique until I got tired of spending big piles of extra money for what is (according to my data) a negligble performance gain.

[JRMarchand]

Sam

totally, I'm trying to be nicer to the newer box, it is still going to see a lot of abuse , futrelle has gearbox issues too, our cars run the faster laps but seem to have more breakdowns, oh well. jrm

[The Car Tech FM Challenge]

Sam

totally, I'm trying to be nicer to the newer box, it is still going to see a lot of abuse , futrelle has gearbox issues too, our cars run the faster laps but seem to have more breakdowns, oh well. jrm

No not really, we work on his car so i'm sure we would be aware if he did.