----- Original Message -----
From: Wm. Severin Thompson <wsthompson@thicko.com>
> Allow me to instigate a little discussion on a safety issue.
>
> Recently, Jack Drews' beautiful TR4 did a 3 flip rollover in the carousel
at
> Road America. The culprit was a broken rear axle... with what seems to be
> the most common result. This was with a set of trick one or two year old
> new metalurgy axles... not some 40 year old original stuff. Tony AKA
"Rubber
> Biscuit" Drews was driving the time, and, luckily, suffered no serious
> injury.
>
> So, here's the questions... and who's got the answers???
>
> This is such a common failure, with almost predictable results. Doesn't a
> Ford 8" or a 240Z rear axle work in these cars? If so, would any of the
> vintage organizations allow it? It would seem that on one hand, they're
> sticklers for originality, but on the other, lots of "original" TR3s & 4s
> are being wadded up into little piles of junk steel and tractor parts.
Apparently, there is an alternative using (gasp) MGB hubs and axles, which
appantly are not as prone to the same failure. I am in Oregon now, and will
be at the Vintage Triumph Register National Convention next week in
Portland, with the intention of visiting with Ted Schumacher there and
getting the details of this conversion that he once mentioned to me. I
agree, something has to be done. SCCA does NOT allow substitute rear axles
from what I am told, but if vintage racing is about the cars, it can't be
about the cars getting destroyed, and we have to do something, perhaps
something drastic.
Irv Korey
TR4 VSDCA Group 2 #58 (Look for me near the back of the pack)
Proud to be a TRiumph driving Thicko
Highland Park, IL
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