DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

The clutch failed in the heat of the moment at Shelsley Walsh costing me the whole event, no points gained!

Today was time to replace the duff clutch and fit a new 3 piece Sashs Heavy Duty unit.
It takes ages of removing bits on this race car to get to the clutch, thank goodness I'm doing it and not paying.

Got it all out and found the failure.
There are 3 straps that transmit the torque in the cover plate and one had not only failed (torn off) but had gone missing too!
The strap had come out of the bell housing (915 box) and long gone, there are deep marks where it had exited via the side holes in the bell housing, see pics.

Nice new unit in and house to re-fit everything else, whole job has taken 7 hours. (I work alone on cars).

Tomorrow will be test day, the real test will be at Loton Park hillclimb 26/27 August.

You can see why many drag cars have scattershields to keep the inside bits from becoming outside bits...

I had one of those straps snap on my car many years ago on the way to Lemans when I hit neutral when doing a full on high speed pull changing from 3rd to 4th . I caught it in time so not to overrev the motor but the quick on off on off on the clutch snapped the strap . result was terrible vibrations as the clutch was all off centre ( washing machine with heavy load in it style ) .

When I eased the box off the engine the thrust bearing was at 10 deg tilt which I thought was the problem the thrust had come free of the diaphragm spring, but it jumped back straight once i freed the cover plate off the flywheel....
Never had a strap go on the 911 when hilclimbing on sticky tyres, but had one new friction plate de-laminate the friction disc off the sprung centre.

The engine ran super smooth even when the clutch had obviously broken, but the car vibrates a lot anyway!

I optimistically thought I could change the clutch on Sat night and return to race Sunday if the spare I though I had was under the bench, which it wasn't, so glass of red was taken instead.
Much better idea. I am leading my class by 30 points with 2 races to go, so the next events are crucial.
I have just one competitor in the class in the Championship, 3 events to go and he is missing the next one.

Going to be close.

Possibly of interest, Shelsley eariler in the year:

https://youtu.be/Gog7ir8fvTY?t=4705

Tyres fitted...

I'd put a ddk sticker on it

Got the new wheels and tyres fitted...

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They look great !

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KS wrote: ↑Sun Aug 20, 2023 4:22 pm Got the new wheels and tyres fitted...

Looks fabulous even for a bloke south of the Tamar.

Look faster to me!
Scrub them and take no prisoners.

BILLY BEAN wrote: ↑Sun Aug 20, 2023 4:47 pm Looks fabulous even for a bloke south of the Tamar.

I parked mine on a village green in Suffolk next to three other 356s and an ice cream van (oh and over 200 other Porsches of every type and colour). Great ‘Porsche East’ event organised by the good people of PCGB Region 12 (oh, and we never did get that ‘B’)
34985072-B2D5-4621-AC01-BD474FA3A3D7 by Vee Racer, on Flickr

Wow, yes!
And I was right next to you on the other side with my 912!
Sorry I didn't get to speak to you.
Great day!

VeeRacer wrote: ↑Sun Aug 20, 2023 9:57 pm I parked mine on a village green in Suffolk next to three other 356s and an ice cream van (oh and over 200 other Porsches of every type and colour). Great ‘Porsche East’ event organised by the good people of PCGB Region 12 (oh, and we never did get that ‘B’)
34985072-B2D5-4621-AC01-BD474FA3A3D7 by Vee Racer, on Flickr

Collapsed the torsion tube on one of my engine rebuild test runs and waited 6hrs for rescue. I thats me off the road until next summer....