At 12:23 PM 3/25/03 -0500, Bolton, Rich wrote:
>Last year at Mid-Ohio I made a "rookie" mistake and missed a shift which
>caused the fly wheel to shear the bolts in my TR3a. This little mishap did
>allow me to have a nice view of the rest of the all Triumph Race from the
>"key hole" from lap 7 on........I wish I had a camera!
You can see it all on Kent Howard's very excellent videotape of the Mid
Ohio event. One of his cameramen was at that corner and you're on the tape
in living color. The guys who did the voice-over (I'm one of them)
mistakenly thought that you had broken a drive shaft. Quite an interesting
noise!!
>
>
>This got me thinking that if the fly wheel had a catastrophic failure and
>broke apart, it could give a new meaning to the words "fly wheel" and fly
>right through the bell housing and the very thin dog house enclosure and end
>up doing some real damage (to me!). I have since added additional fasteners
>to the fly wheel and use ARP bolts to minimize the risk of this type of
>mechanical failure. Of course......I've been practicing my shifting
>technique as well.
>
>
>
>My questions is.......What is (if any) the normal practice that everyone is
>using to protect the cockpit area from this type of failure? Do I need to
>consider similar protection from the drive shaft (since it is about 6 inches
>from me)?
I installed a driveshaft containment loop -- bent a piece of steel strap
the shape of the inside of the tunnel and welded it to the box section of
the x-member junction of the frame.
>
>
>I have heard of things called "blast blankets", and "tunnel skirts" that are
>suppose to give the driver additional protection. Do these devices work, and
>if so, where do I find the source for these types of products or are they
>just gimmicks?
There was a short run of Diest blankets made a couple of years ago. I
bought one but could not make it work on my car. Subsequently I worked with
Southwick Machine and we made up an aluminum one and he has them for sale.
No guarantee, expressed or implied, that it provides any protection
whatsoever (in other words, don't sue me, it ain't my fault, I don't have
any money anyway, etc). You can see it on Tony Drews' website,
www.tonydrews.com
click the link to "uncle jack's parts". Purchase directly from Southwick,
whose contact info is at
www.southwickmachine.com
I think in the text on the site we said that it would not fit TR3's, but
that was a mistake. There are several TR3's that have them.
>
>
>I guess I'm getting older because a few years ago I would have said "What
>risk? Who cares, let's Race!". Now I'm more concerned about racing another
>day!
>
>
>
>Thanks in advance for your input.
>
>
>
>Rich Bolton
uncle jack
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