I Broke Another... racing story

[dswalterwi at gmail.com (Don Walter)]

Ben,
I ran across this while looking for this company again.  The Drive Shaft
Shop makes Axles and Hubs for Stage 3 Racing performance.
http://www.driveshaftshop.com/item9521.ctlg


On 9/3/06, Ben <vwtype53@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> <long...well, for me at least!>
>
>
> Well, this weekend was not so nice to my mk1...
>
> As most of you know, I road race my '80 Scirocco.  Amazingly enough, I am
> still using many stock
> components, like A1 hubs, wheel bearings, ball joints, axles, 020 trans,
> etc.  There is no
> question that I am pushing my luck with some of these components.  I am
> pushing quite a few more
> horses through the drivetrain than the little 1.6 did back in 1980.  I am
> also generating a lot
> more grip with my 205-width race tires... oh, and I'm braking, and
> generating a LOT more heat,
> than the VW engineers ever imagined that mk1 chassis could.  Needless to
> say, things are being
> stressed and have a tendancy to break now and then.  Now and then was
> today.
>
> For the second time in 3 years I have succeeded in breaking a hub!  Yep,
> the hub sheared at the
> point where the neck enters the wheel bearing.  So basically my wheel was
> being held in place only
> by the axle and axle nut!  I consider myself lucky that my wheel stayed in
> place (for the most
> part) as I came to a stop.  I was exiting a turn and applied throttle only
> to have the engine rev
> freely to redline.  I thought at first my clutch had just exploded or
> possibly the trans pinion
> shaft sheared all it's teeth... I ended up coasting down the straight and
> pulled into the grass to
> wait for the session to end...they hooked me up and towed me back to the
> pit area where I pulled
> things apart... I hate getting towed back into a sea of Porsche's... not
> that they don't break too
> (more than one Porsche was towed this weekend), but it doesn't help for
> them to see the vw being
> towed back.  It's happened more than once to me over the years.
> Then again, I try to make up for it when I keep up with most of them on
> the track...   :)
>
> I think that the hub failure was due to a combination of the heat cycles
> from braking and the load
> cycles from each and every turn I make on the track.  The heat generated
> from my brakes while
> slowing from 120mph down to around 70mph (in about 2 seconds or less) is
> intense.  Then add in all
> the smaller turns throughout the track and you have some serious heat
> building... not only in the
> rotor and pad, but surrounding knuckle and hub assembly.  And doing this
> for 25 minutes straight,
> 3 times a day for a 2-day weekend, and several times a year... yeah, it's
> a lot of heat cycling.
>
> Obviously, the biggest factor here is that I am racing on sticky tires and
> generating a lot of
> grip... which puts a lot more load on the hub/bearing assembly.  One trick
> that the A1 race guys
> use that I've read is to over-torque the axle nut.  The axle nut
> sandwiches the hub against the CV
> and will help reduce some of this stress.  I read of guys using massive
> breaker bars to get the
> torque on that nut to over 300 ft-lbs!  Anyone heard about this?
>
> Well, just wanted to share my experience.  A friend helped me get my car
> home, so no worries
> there... I'll be repacing the hub and bearing soon.
>
> At this point, I think my only option for upgrading would be using the A2
> knuckle and bearing.
> But then I would need to use the A2 strut/shock housing and ball joints I
> suspect.  Not sure if
> the A1 tie rod end would work on the A2 knuckle... has anyone upgraded a
> rocco to A2/A3 front
> suspension components?
>
> Tighten that axle nut!!  ;)
>
>
>
> Ben Harder
> 1980 Scirocco
> 1997 Jetta GLX
>
> http://www.geocities.com/vwtype53/
>
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-- 
Don Walter - Waukesha, WI
1986 8V Black Scirocco (Daily Driver)
1984 8V Audi 4000s (RIP 2/14/2006)
1986 2.0L 16V TEC 2 Black Scirocco (see progress at
http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/708939)
1986 2L 16V Toronado Red Scirocco (Ben's Car)
1988 1.8 16V Toronado Red Scirocco (sold on 3/29/04)
1984 1.8 8V Pewter Scirocco (sold years ago)
1971 Karman Ghia (sold)
1969 Karman Ghia (sold)
1969 Beetle (sold)