Ride onboard with Josh Vieira from Track Monkey Apparel as he races around Virginia International Raceway (VIR) in his 1987 Porsche 944 during our 2017 Tire Rack Ultimate Track Car Challenge.
The 944's shifter base is mounted to the top of the torque tube, the linkage runs to the transaxle in the rear and the torque tube connects the engine to the transaxle.
The shifter is known to wear out due to the vibrations and the transaxle mounts aren't terribly strong and motor mounts can fail and not be easily noticed.
I suspect a refreshed linkage and shifter with a poly-filled transaxle mount and new engine mounts would go a long way to reducing that effect.
There was a hole at a track in Colorado I used to go to (Pueblo) where there was no curb. Apex point was dirt. That dirt wore away into a hole.
If you did it right, you could hook the inside of your tires on the edge of the track surface and gain a few mph corner speed. Really unnerving though, and if you were depending on it and missed you would be off.
We do the same at our ice races,its a flooded track(every week) and the non studded guys will scrub the inside bank until they uncover the raised edge of the ice under the bank.
And yes if you do it just right it works great,do it wrong and lots of bad things can happen....or you break balljoints/tie rod ends and bad things happen even if you hook it just right so ya takes yer chances.
I actually started laughing because in the first part of the video I was trying to figure out why he was being so dainty with the curbing. I pound the curbs mercilessly but I've got built suspension and a touring car driver brain.
I like my ball joints and suspension components to remain. It would b interesting to see if keeping it off the curbs and smooth is faster. Unless there is money to be had at the end I tend to think more of car preservation. I think this comes from my endurance racing background.
By Ed Higginbotham
8/7/17 5:22 p.m.
Is that shifter just sitting in a bowl of jello under the car?
I avoid all curbs with my torsen diff'd track miata,they don't like curbs much.
8/7/17 5:49 p.m.
In reply to kevlarcorolla:
The 944's shifter base is mounted to the top of the torque tube, the linkage runs to the transaxle in the rear and the torque tube connects the engine to the transaxle.
The shifter is known to wear out due to the vibrations and the transaxle mounts aren't terribly strong and motor mounts can fail and not be easily noticed.
I suspect a refreshed linkage and shifter with a poly-filled transaxle mount and new engine mounts would go a long way to reducing that effect.
8/7/17 6:43 p.m.
Can you describe what happens? I can vaguely imagine that it would cause a noticable symptom but i can't really figure what it is..
8/7/17 6:47 p.m.
In reply to Vigo:
Diff go boom....
8/7/17 8:33 p.m.
Looks like he hit many crub but no fents, burshes or bricks
With 650lb/in springs and sketchy Taiwanese shock valving, I generally keep off the curbs...
8/8/17 7:30 a.m.
There was a hole at a track in Colorado I used to go to (Pueblo) where there was no curb. Apex point was dirt. That dirt wore away into a hole.
If you did it right, you could hook the inside of your tires on the edge of the track surface and gain a few mph corner speed. Really unnerving though, and if you were depending on it and missed you would be off.
And I gotta believe it was hard on the car.
8/8/17 6:37 p.m.
In reply to Robbie:
We do the same at our ice races,its a flooded track(every week) and the non studded guys will scrub the inside bank until they uncover the raised edge of the ice under the bank.
And yes if you do it just right it works great,do it wrong and lots of bad things can happen....or you break balljoints/tie rod ends and bad things happen even if you hook it just right so ya takes yer chances.
8/8/17 10:59 p.m.
In reply to kevlarcorolla:
Im trying not to make any correlations between your last post and the one previous about a blown up part.
Thanks for the reply btw. I'm still turning it over in my head..
8/8/17 11:28 p.m.
I actually started laughing because in the first part of the video I was trying to figure out why he was being so dainty with the curbing. I pound the curbs mercilessly but I've got built suspension and a touring car driver brain.
Tom
8/9/17 1:01 p.m.
I like my ball joints and suspension components to remain. It would b interesting to see if keeping it off the curbs and smooth is faster. Unless there is money to be had at the end I tend to think more of car preservation. I think this comes from my endurance racing background.
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