New Transaxle For Supercar From 2019

[GTRMagic]

Story Here

So... Albins out, Xtrac in...

Or so the story goes.

Wonder what the changeover costs will be, and whether the stories of savings in maintenance and parts costs offsets the original capital outlay?

Teams were unhappy at implementing a control wheel rim way back when, when they had existing inventory of existing kit rendered obsolete overnight...

A $35k+ transaxle is a little more expensive than a $400 wheel... even if you own less of them...

[Umai Naa]

My understanding is that the teams are demanding better service life, whilst the manufacturer insists that in order to improve reliability, the catagory must move to idiot-proof paddle shift technology.

It'd be cheaper to convert the cars to paddle-shift, than it would be to move to another type of transmission.

[Razor]

What ever happened to Hollinger? Could they come back into the series with an improved transaxle?

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by Umai Naa

My understanding is that the teams are demanding better service life, whilst the manufacturer insists that in order to improve reliability, the catagory must move to idiot-proof paddle shift technology.

It'd be cheaper to convert the cars to paddle-shift, than it would be to move to another type of transmission.

There seem to be lots of reports of changing transaxles during race meetings, and various cracking stories around the outer casing.

I do look at how some drivers treat the shifting though, Mr Caruso is probably the roughest we see on racecam, smashing the shifter hard on downshifts, which may be absorbed thru the linkage mechanisms, but some of that blunt force has to hit the transaxle somewhere...

The cost impost of the change will not be small, and without a secondary market capable of taking on the extensive existing stock, it will be a $100k+ decision per car (3 boxes) even assuming service life is better...

[Tourer]

The decision to go down the transaxle route was IMHO not a good one but that particular horse has bolted. Part of the problem has been a rather poor choice of transmission supplier from all accounts.

If changing to a new supplier can result in reduced hours on maintenance, some reduction in cost and some improvement in team working hours, that is a good thing and should happen.

The caveat though is that most racing transaxles are relatively high-maintenance so improvements may end up being marginal rather than dramatic.

[EfiOz]

I'm pretty sure it will end being the Hollinger MFT transaxle. The reference to "overseas suppliers' would be to keep them on their toes during negotiations.

XTrac will make Albins seem like an informed ad economical choice! Hewland is probably the only other with the right performance/price mix.

[V8 Fireworks]

Originally Posted by EfiOz

XTrac will make Albins seem like an informed ad economical choice!

The XTrac model looks very elegant and well designed to me... It's almost Toyota-like in it's simplicity and lack of unnecessary parts -- the bare essentials of a sequential racing gearbox ("perfection is achieved when there is nothing left to take away" -- pay attention Germans!), manufactured at a level of high-quality -- that's all you need.

https://www.supercars.com/videos/cha...d/?cat=default

[Mixer]

Originally Posted by V8 Fireworks

The XTrac model looks very elegant and well designed to me... It's almost Toyota-like in it's simplicity and lack of unnecessary parts -- the bare essentials of a sequential racing gearbox ("perfection is achieved when there is nothing left to take away" -- pay attention Germans!), manufactured at a level of high-quality -- that's all you need.

SVG might have something to say about that...

[E.B]

Originally Posted by Mixer

SVG might have something to say about that...

I thought T888 had initially thought SVG's DNF was a trans-axle failure later updated to being an engine failure.

An engine problem was the cause of Shane van Gisbergen’s failure to finish the opening race of the Beaurepaires Melbourne 400.

Van Gisbergen slowed while running fourth on lap 22 of the 25, pulling off the road and parking on the right-hand side at Turn 2.

The 29-year-old had trouble downshifting when the issue occurred, leading to the team initially suspecting a problem with the new-for-2019 Xtrac gearbox.

However, the Red Bull Holden Racing Team has since confirmed that an engine problem, thought to be a cambelt failure, was the root cause.

https://www.supercars.com/news/champ...sbergens-race/

[Umai Naa]

Cam belt?

[chavez]

Originally Posted by Umai Naa

Cam belt?

No, that was Cam Crash.

[Forda]

So a high-quality control component was the first thing 888 blamed for their DNF?

Sounds like they're cracking under pressure.