Ratickle
Founding Member / Super Moderator
Was at Skater yesterday and chatted with Ross, who drove down Friday after they had the issue with the transmissions. It was worse than I had heard from down there.
When the trans didn't shift on the Friday test, they did redline the engines at 9000 and then it slowed down way to fast and it made the hard turn to port as I had said. So, they hit the throttles to straighten it back out, which worked. Then they towed it back and checked stuff out. When they put it in gear, both transmissions made loud noises. WHen they looked into that issue farther, both transmission were toast. The good news, they had two spares with them.
So, they were up until 2:30 AM changing out both transmissions, back at 6:00 AM to get in line.
The transmissions still would not shift, so they put it in second gear for the run, right at the start line the one engine died when they loaded it up, so that's why they were at a dead stop. They restarted and did get it going, but only had second gear.
We've been told everything from 170 to 177 through the traps. They were told 172, and they ran it up past the traps to 202 on their GPS. It was at 8100 RPM in second gear at 202 on their GPS. As earlier, redline is at 9000.
For those who wonder about those things, first gear is 1.63:1, second is 1.26:1, and third is 1:1. So, calculate that out. :sifone:
Anyway, they need to figure out why it is not shifting properly, it appears the actuator is engaging, but not moving far enough to fully engage the gear where the detent holds it in place. Overall, they are happy with the performance, even though they detuned it quite a bit after the Friday acceleration run where it was stuck in first, to take it easier on the backup transmissions. One of the ones they had to replace was split, almost in half, after that issue the first day. They believe it happened when they hit the throttles to straighten it back out, going from no/negative load to a major load.
When the trans didn't shift on the Friday test, they did redline the engines at 9000 and then it slowed down way to fast and it made the hard turn to port as I had said. So, they hit the throttles to straighten it back out, which worked. Then they towed it back and checked stuff out. When they put it in gear, both transmissions made loud noises. WHen they looked into that issue farther, both transmission were toast. The good news, they had two spares with them.
So, they were up until 2:30 AM changing out both transmissions, back at 6:00 AM to get in line.
The transmissions still would not shift, so they put it in second gear for the run, right at the start line the one engine died when they loaded it up, so that's why they were at a dead stop. They restarted and did get it going, but only had second gear.
We've been told everything from 170 to 177 through the traps. They were told 172, and they ran it up past the traps to 202 on their GPS. It was at 8100 RPM in second gear at 202 on their GPS. As earlier, redline is at 9000.
For those who wonder about those things, first gear is 1.63:1, second is 1.26:1, and third is 1:1. So, calculate that out. :sifone:
Anyway, they need to figure out why it is not shifting properly, it appears the actuator is engaging, but not moving far enough to fully engage the gear where the detent holds it in place. Overall, they are happy with the performance, even though they detuned it quite a bit after the Friday acceleration run where it was stuck in first, to take it easier on the backup transmissions. One of the ones they had to replace was split, almost in half, after that issue the first day. They believe it happened when they hit the throttles to straighten it back out, going from no/negative load to a major load.
Last edited:
