2016 Winners!
This weekend we had the ’57 out for the annual BC Super Shifters race at Pacific which was a double-header event.
On Saturday the car was running very well and we cut a perfect light in round 1 to take the win running a 10.523 @ 126.62 MPH. In round 2, I was early and went -.003 red to end our first day of racing.
On Sunday we headed into the lanes with high expectations and on the first qualifying hit broke the left 35-spline axle. After getting home Chris pulled the axles out of the car and it almost looks like a spiral fracture. We had the axles out last season when we changed the rear gears and they looked fine, but they have HUNDREDS of hits on them, likely just metal fatigue. I ordered new Mark Williams axles to replace the Strange axles.
My thanks to Chris, Paul & Pam for all their love, hard work and support. It was still a great weekend and we had the chance to visit with many friends. The weather held and the crew at Pacific Raceways did an outstanding job of getting both races done. And my thanks to all that helped to push the old buggy off the track on Sunday, much appreciated!
Video of the broken axle hit and runs of the BC Super Shifters below which tell the story and I have posted the final round results for the weekend. Our profound thanks to all the guys that came down from Canada to make it happen and it’s fun racing with such a group of class act people!
At the bottom of this page, I’ve added the video Pam took of Joe Loch sorting out his new Top Sportsman Camaro. His new chassis is showing great potential and the horsepower is there! – Roger
Update June 19th 2017:
My buddy Misty kept me company this morning while I ran the valves and inspected the upper end on the ’57 after we hit the high-side chip, 8800, when we broke the axle. All looks good, no adjustments required. – Roger
BC Super Shifters Final Round Results
Saturday Finals:
4167 Rich Graves (W) Puyallup WA ’67 El Camino 0.000 12.04 12.035 112.21
6520 Jamie Roth (R/Up) Langley BC ’64 Comet -0.056 10.05 10.063 133.24
Sunday Finals:
205 Paul Morgan (W) Victoria BC ’65 Valiant 0.022 10.47 10.465 129.14
735 John Depoucq (R/Up) Langley BC ’77 Camaro -0.001 10.25 10.238 130.12
Jim Doyle picture on Saturday
Robert Fedyk close-up on Saturday!
Gary Wells photo, June 10th 2017
Thanks to Tony Hutchison – 2nd Round at BC Super Shifters race on June 10th
Update July 12th, 2017:
The new Mark Williams 35-spline, 5/8″ stud axles have arrived and all the dimensions are perfect! We’ll get the ’57 back together this weekend and hope to have it back out in August at Pacific Raceways with a new Ram clutch. My thanks to Chris & Pam for purchasing the new axles for the old buggy! – Roger
Left axle is 23″ Right is 27″ Splines machined for our Strange spools.
Update – July 15, 2017:
Thanks to Chris & Paul, we got the new axles in the car today. Clean it up and it’s ready to go again!
New MW axles in the ’57. Axle hubs fit brake drums perfectly!
Update July 19, 2017:
After speaking at length to Cale Aronson at Black Magic Clutches I have decided to update our clutch to the new Ram single disc sintered iron clutch system. This clutch features the thick, segmented ring on the pressure plate, single sintered iron disc on a steel insert 18# aluminum wheel and is fully adjustable, both static and centrifugal. We won’t install this new clutch until August of 2017 for operational use in 2018. For more details and a video on the clutch, please see our post here. – Roger
New Ram Sintered-iron fully adjustable clutch for 2018 with aluminum wheel
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Looking back at our records, the left axle had about 320 hits on it before breaking and the right axle near 400 hits. We need to not only inspect the axles but replace them on a more timely manner!
Because of the way the axle splintered, we will need to pull the center section out to check for any gear damage and clean any debris out of the housing before installing the new axles. I’m hoping the gears we replaced last year are in good shape!
We also need to inspect the valve train closely because we hit the rev limiter when the axle broke.
Good news, Chris pulled the center section out and the gears are in GREAT shape!! There are some axle fragments we need to clean out of the housing but we dodged a bullet with only 10 hits on the gears!
I’m in contact with Cale at Black Magic Clutches looking for some suggestions on our current clutch setup with the idea of taking some shock away from the drivetrain on the initial hit on the starting line.
New Mark Williams axles are due to arrive today and I’m still waiting to hear back from Cale at Black Magic Clutches for his recommendation!
After talking at length with Cale Aronson at Black Magic Clutches, we will be trying a new clutch setup in the ’57 for 2018. I’ve elected to go with the Ram single sintered-iron fully adjustable clutch with an aluminum flywheel with a steel insert. It has many of the features Cale recommended with the thick steel segmented facing on the pressure plate which helps prevent warpage and with a less aggressive clutch disc. The plan is to launch at a lower RPM and drive into the clutch which should reduce the shock on the drivetrain and when setup properly, should allow the engine to pull down less at the launch keeping it in the power curve more. Hopefully this translates into less breakage and better performance.