adfsouth

For months I've been looking forward to this past weekend at Sebring with Chin Motorsports. Work has been stressfull and sleep has been limited as my 3 month old daughter eats every 4 hours. Anyway, the thought of 2 full days of DE track sessions with my buddies was a good carrot to look forward to.

We got up there Friday afternoon for early for reg & tech, obtained real estate in the paddock and went out for dinner (where a tiny bit of trash talking commenced). I had trouble getting to sleep cause I was so darn excited for the event. The car is properly setup for the track w/ GT3 parts, coilovers, R-comps, pagids and just had a fresh track alignment & corner weighting.

I used the first session for warm-up and started pushing it a bit during the second. The car felt great and I was having a blast while putting down some quality laps. Anyway, upon pitting and checking pressures, we noticed a puddle of oil under the car and a steady drip coming from, the RMS/IMS area. I was totally bummed. There were a couple of techs there providing track support for a friend who came over to took a closer look....both thought the IMS nut must have snapped-off, however they couldn't be sure without putting her up on a lift. Regardless, my weekend was over and I had the car flatbedded to my dealer Of note, there was no noticable drop in performance or wierd sounds coming from the car.

Anyway, I got a call from the dealer today and it turns-out the problem is not the IMS. What we saw leaking out of the car was gear oil and the culprit appears to be related to the axle flange seal that links to the tranny. They were able to manually move the flange in and out about a half inch, whereas there should be no play. Service advisor says there must be something defective in the transmission.......technically the clutch should blow-up before any damage to the tranny and for the record, there were no $ shifts or other driver errors (besides maybe 1 or 2 missed apexes) The solution? New tranny. The potential issue, out of factory warranty by 3 months. The saving grace, good aftermarket warranty bought at the dealer. Hopefully she'll be back on the road soon.

Any of you guys ever hear of this? I was under the impression that the 997 tranny was relatively bullet-proof. Any insight would be appreciated!

Coochas

Never heard that one before.
Sorry your weekend got cut short.

agdamis

Sorry to her that buddy. It is good to get reports back from people that track their cars for the rest of us that do as well.

viperbob

Bummer Andrew.. Next timeyou have a problem (or just in general), look me up when you are there. Just ask around and you'll find me pretty quick. Good luck and hope to see you out there soon...

mdrums

Andrew, bummer your weekend got cut short...but...at least you have insurance. Good thinking on that part. Hope to see you again soon, Mike

adfsouth

Thanks guys....it was definitely a tough pill to swallow.

Bob, I will likely take you up on your offer. I'll be back up at Sebring on May 16th w/ PCA.....Let me know if you'll be there and I'll come by and introduce myself.

Mike, your new car looked awesome out there......love the black C10s.

mkk62

andrew
nice seeing you..glad your engine is ok...see you soon...

mike(the asian guy)

adfsouth

Great meeting yout too man. On Saturday afternoon I was watching the red group near the flag guy at turn 17......you were really hauling azz! I might need to take a ride with you next time we're up there.....I still feel like I can take 17 better/faster and you seem to have it all figured-out. See u soon.

mdrums

Mike, tell us about your turn 17 line.
thanks!