Motorsport can be a cruel mistress as some of the entrants at the 2023 Yokohama World Time Attack Challenge found out the hard way.
Plazmaman Pro Am class-leader Feras Qartoumy was fighting to get his Chevrolet Corvette out for the morning session on Day 2 after the transaxle shattered second-gear. The six-speed sequential transaxle was opened up on Friday night and it was clear straight away the race was on for a replacement.
“The car is in good shape but we could still hearing a whining noise, and either the diff or the transaxle is the culprit.” On top of this the team are reporting brake issues, so they’ve fitted vacuum sensors to try to figure out the issue.
Incredibly a new transmission was found nearby and, apart from a small change to the driveshaft, by 6am Saturday morning the car was running again. This wasn’t the first mechanical malady for the team, as Feras explained his fastest lap of 1:27.567 was run with an inner splitter frame broken!
Thanks to the lads at Plazmaman lending them a TIG welder the team were able to weld the car back together.
Another American team to strike trouble was the Stanceworks Ferrari of Mike Burroughs, running in GCG Open class. The 1000hp Honda K-series four-cylinder put too much strain on the gearbox and that required the engine and transmission to be pulled on Friday night so a fix could be administered. They were still thrashing to put the car back together on Saturday morning but had it out on track by mid-morning.