Kind of a weird weekend. Peyote had a slipping clutch, but was going well
enough to stay in the upper third. I qualified 12th out of, I guess 30-35
cars. HMSA and General Racing put Peyote in the sports racer class, which
is great--there's always somebody to race with. I had a good dice going in
the main on Sunday, got up to about ninth place, had a sudden vibration in
the rear end and bang! The rear end went south. Just as I was starting to
figure out how to drive that track. It looks like the nut holding the pinion
shaft to the top hat (or whatever you call that piece that bolts to the
driveshaft) backed out and let the top hat pop off the splines. There are a
couple of chipped teeth on the pinion, but the casing and the diff (a
TransX) are OK. I'll have to go with a 4.1 until I can find another 3.9.
I thought the slipping might have actually been the diff, but it looks like
it's really two separate problems. Bob Yarwood dug out a blow up picture of
how the Salisbury works, and it's obvious that if it fails, it's just an
open diff--no way to have slipping unless you spin a wheel. Yarwood has a
Tilton two-plate clutch coming that should solve the problem. I think
switching back to a standard clutch might solve it just as easily (it's
never been a problem until we switched to the sintered paddle-type clutch
plate) but I'm not willing to experiment. The car's been apart enough this
season. In my heart of hearts I know why that nut got loose--I don't
remember torguing it, and I don't think I locktighted it. Late night
assembly.
Also a strange weekend for hooking up with FOT friends: Baxter Culver came
by. I didn't get to talk to him as long as I would have liked--went off to
the gents room and ran into an old friend from my motorsickle racin' days.
By the time we'd finished lying about how fast we used to be a good hour
went by. When I got back Baxter was gone. Ah, well. We'll probably have some
time at Monterey. I know Greg Solow was there--I watched his race, but I
never found his pits. For all I know Hardy was probably wandering around
too. I need to organize a bit better and get to hang out some.
Sonoma sure is a nice place for a race. If I lived there I'd weigh 300
pounds and have a pickled liver. Nice to visit though.
>From and handling and power standpoint, Peyote has never been better. Now I
just need to fix these little things and it will be back to business as
usual. I've gotten spoiled--I expect it to just run perfectly all weekend
long.
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