KNSBrakes

My alternator went out from all the record breaking laps I was turning at Road Atlanta so I moseyed on over to the giant intimidating MTI monster 18 wheeler to see if they might have a spare.

This really mean guy named Reese told me to go play in traffic and waved 3 or 4 of them in my face and gave me directions to AutoZone.



Obviously I kid! Reese had a low mileage one from a C6 and he and Roman helped swap the pulley in a jiff and we missed nary a session.

Thanks Reese/Roman!

Great ending to the season last weekend at RA. I don't recall any bent metal and few offs/breakdowns.

Spring is just around the corner!

-Ken

varkwso

Our failed left front hub resulting into an off in the river gravel at T10 ended up being minor but I wake up in a cold sweat over the "what ifs" at Road Atlanta with that failure.

Nice meeting you there.

0MTI RACING

Great to see you Ken!
Glad everything worked out great and you had a great weekend.
See you at the next event!

waddisme

Was there any warning beforehand or is there a warning sign? Seems like there are more bad places for that to happen than good places at RA.

Z06cool

No such thing as a good place to break at RA. I've tested quite a few places there....

varkwso

We were getting a little high speed vibration that I attributed to the scrubs we were running. Josh was hitting about 140 in T9 when the vibration changed intensity so he lifted (his judgement comes from his mother) and "coasted" down the hill to 10a where he discovered braking was more spiritual then substantial. He made the left turn (right front still attached to car) and then the left tire truly became independent. He went straight off 10b into the gravel (about 30 yards). I was giving a check ride when I saw the black and told my student "hope it is not my car". It was. As soon as I saw the car and track I knew it was mechanical (locked tranny, blown engine, broke suspension, etc.). Josh did a great job handling something that could have been very expensive and painful.

The tow truck driver did not use our tow hooks "they pull out" and tried to get josh to drive into paddock. Josh had to unstrap and show him the wheel cocked out of wheel well. Second time I have had a Road Atlanta tow operator not want to flat bed the car when it was undriveable.

05C6GAC

Wasn't this the same wheel, car and driver that had this also happened @ Roebling??? Need to look intothe SKF hubs if your going through them this fast!!!

varkwso

Same wheel and car. Different son, as in last time I had driven it the session before. I have one SKF going on tomorrow.

This was the newest hub on the car (last one failed in Jun/Jul 2009) but the car spent most of that time parked for numerous reasons.

To be honest it is the weld wire that failed on these last two Timkens. The base metal did not break and the heat affected zone is negligible.

All that keeps the wheel on is the caliper bracket.

Z06cool

Like Mark says, "Can't hide money."

drivinhard

that's comforting in T9 pulling .9 G @ 151 mph

varkwso

That is why I use development drivers.

drivinhard

20 yr olds are rated for an 80G crash. 50 yrs olds about 5G max

05C6GAC

I guess I shouldn't admitt I have two installed now then!!!

05C6GAC

JeremyGSU

I was instructing when I saw the Vette in the gravel as well. Glad no one got hurt.

I should have said hello to the fellow Vette drivers as it was my first time on track with a Z. Loved it!

varkwso

Look us up. Just be careful where you leave your car when racing is going on!

5 gallons of river rock came home with us from the off.

05C6GAC

Not to mention they are always on the prowl for an unattended donor car.