Here's some new stuff. The Speed Demon story on the blower is this.
Yesterday the first time the wheel broke and exited through the exhaust the early thinking was that the weld broke 'cause the wheel oversped. Well, sorta -- because it turns out the air box lid lifted and allowed the wheel to overspeed. But -- it wasn't just that -- it was thought to maybe be a blocked oil line that was a cause.
Turns out that the oil line was the prime mover in the failure. It happened again on the second failure yesterday. The air box lifting allowed the overspeed - but the shortage of lubricant is what made things go bad.
Then, this morning, they were running the car with the N/A motor, as you know. When re-gearing -- well, take a look at these photos and you'll know a good part of the story. I don't have the reason things broke - but break they did.
PS I got that 550 hp number from Ron Main earlier this morning. Maybe he's got a selective memory these days.
This is what used to be on the quick change gears:
Here are two shots of the gears after being hurt:
Here's where all of those bits and pieces used to live. Note the shrapnel still in the case:
Sorry these aren't perfect shots -- hard to get good clarity in the darkness and hand-held. The yoke broke -- don't know which went first, the gears or the yoke. And if you look carefully you can see a piece of the frame tube is damaged, too.
So - the team is going to fix things and run again as soon as they can. Don't expect it 'til morning, though. In other news, the Nish car is running sporadically over in their pit, and Spectre just buttoned up and towed to the far end for an afternoon run. Scott Horner's open bikes are still in the pit, the Ack Attack is in the pit. Mike's jet bike is testing the motor - no idea if and when they'll run today.
