Lets make Friday 'Joke Day'!

I had a couple of race cars (Formula Mazda) that had a Webster MK-5 gearbox with reverse to the top left against a resistance spring plunger and first straight down from R. It made it quite cumbersome to downshift from 2nd to first and could easily result in a missed shift. However, we rarely had circuits that required first gear after the start. One circuit, Motorsports Ranch in Cresson, Tx, had a tight right hander leading into a chicane that required 1st and the longest straight only needed 4th (if you had the rev limiter set to the top end of legality). For that track we would put the unused 5th gear cluster in the stack in place of first...the shift pattern would then be R-5-1-2-3-4. It was always fun watching unsuspecting mechanics try to move the cars under power with that had that swap. They couldn't figure out why they would keep stalling the cars.
 
robin ardoin said:
For that track we would put the unused 5th gear cluster in the stack in place of first...the shift pattern would then be R-5-1-2-3-4. It was always fun watching unsuspecting mechanics try to move the cars under power with that had that swap. They couldn't figure out why they would keep stalling the cars.
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I don’t remember exactly how my brother had his Camaro set up to shift, but I had to slip the clutch until I could get out of town to figure it out.

About 20 miles later, I figured out that his speedometer also read about 30% low.
 
robin ardoin said:
I had a couple of race cars (Formula Mazda) that had a Webster MK-5 gearbox with reverse to the top left against a resistance spring plunger and first straight down from R. It made it quite cumbersome to downshift from 2nd to first and could easily result in a missed shift. However, we rarely had circuits that required first gear after the start. One circuit, Motorsports Ranch in Cresson, Tx, had a tight right hander leading into a chicane that required 1st and the longest straight only needed 4th (if you had the rev limiter set to the top end of legality). For that track we would put the unused 5th gear cluster in the stack in place of first...the shift pattern would then be R-5-1-2-3-4. It was always fun watching unsuspecting mechanics try to move the cars under power with that had that swap. They couldn't figure out why they would keep stalling the cars.
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Wouldn't it have been easier just to raise the gear ratio in the rear end to get 2nd gear usable for the Cresson course? That way you stay out of 1st altogether during the race and might bring 5th into play on the longest straight.
 
robin ardoin said:
I had a couple of race cars (Formula Mazda) that had a Webster MK-5 gearbox with reverse to the top left against a resistance spring plunger and first straight down from R.
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I think my 1971 AMC Hornet (my first car) had that pattern... only Hornet I ever saw with a manual (3 speed on the column).

That car had the vacuum driven wipers, too, they'd slow down going up hills and go really fast going downhill with my foot off the gas... when they worked at all. Good times.
 
Dana said:
That car had the vacuum driven wipers, too, they'd slow down going up hills and go really fast going downhill with my foot off the gas... when they worked at all. Good times.
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My '47 Chevy PU had wipers like that. :lol:

Also had to be careful on left turns as the right door would sometimes come open in the middle of the turn.

I miss vehicles with personalities.
 
SoonerAviator said:
Wouldn't it have been easier just to raise the gear ratio in the rear end to get 2nd gear usable for the Cresson course? That way you stay out of 1st altogether during the race and might bring 5th into play on the longest straight.
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Negative Ghost Rider....Spec series...we had to run the specified gear stack but could arrange it in any order. I would only hit the rev limiter if I had a tailwind on the main strait and just for a second before braking. Your suggestion would be ideal but would open up costs quite a bit as the Hewland gears that were preferred were about $300-350 per cluster at the time and we regularly were changing out the 2nd and 3rd gear clusters due to pitting. The tranny was marginal for the power of the car. When we moved up to the carbon tub car with a 6 speed Hewland sequential box, life got much better. Even though that car was also a spec series the costs, short of acquisition, would make the budget for an M600 look cheap. Everytime my current wife raises an eye on the costs of my current hobby (long range target shooting) and flying I tell her how much a race weekend cost without crash damage. :biggrin: That makes her grateful I no longer an in motorsports..... and I try to ignore her purse and shoe collection.....
 
Reminds me of a little Johnny joke...

Little Johnny goes to school with a pirate hat and eye patch.
The teacher asks "What are you dressed up as, Johnny?"
Johnny replies "I'm a pirate!"
The teacher asks "Where are your buccaneers?"
Johnny replies "Under my buccan hat!"

So maybe the guy on the motorcycle is embarrassed about his ears.
 
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