Ran the Speed3 at the track today...learned what NOT to do!

[fourthmeal]

shut-er-down.

<snip>

 

[mountjonas]

CLACK CLACK CLACK CLACK. i don't know what that was, but it did not sound good. i must say. i've never been a fan of the 3 in wagon form, but yours looks really good.

 

[Nutari]

wtf was that noise? Mine doesn't do that... (dunno)

 

[C'ville]

Lets hope that sound was the traction control.
I like to leave the drag strip to the mustangs and such, Especially with a brand new car.

Hope nothing was damaged.

 

[justa4banger]

Damn that was loud. I know i can't stand the 1-2 shift THUNK you get from driving hard. I'm hoping a AWR mount fixes that.

I know my VW would make some god aweful noises when it wheel hopped.
Nice vids , and nice car same as mine.

 

[WTF MATE]

HAHA sounds like your diff was cold in the first one, I thought they used a clutch type, probablly just the plates chattering, no big deal. Was that a wrx in the second go, if so that sucks that you lost to it.

 

[fourthmeal]

Couldn't been the diff, the wheels weren't spinning. They were hopping. The whole car shook like I just went down a washboard road at 100mph. Then the shifter was useless for a few seconds. When it all settled down (about 150 ft into the race), I just decided to coast most the way to the finish.

Second race, traction control was on. Thats why I lost to the Subie. That, and the fact he had some crazy mods. But, mostly because of traction control bog. I saw the light on my dashboard and noticed the car just died out, and that was when I lost my head of steam against the Subie. Watch it again, and you'll notice that once I switch that off, I stay on his tail the whole way.

 

[dread]

oh man I would have crapped my paints if my car made that noise, and I definately would not have finished the race. your car looks sweet though.

 

[TheMAN]

umm... learn how to control the clutch? sounds like a horrible case of clutch chatter then overheating

 

[fourthmeal]

yeah, wearing work boots wasn't the smartest idea to feel the friction zone of the clutch. Who was talking about overheating??

Anyway, I'm going to pull every soft piece of (likely now broken) rubber out of the engine bay, and replace it with something stronger, then try again. Also, I think I'll put steel washers in place of the rubber ones in the shifter. That way the rubbery feel shouldn't occur again.

Once moving, the car hauls. Its the launch that is killing me. MF'ing front wheel drive.

 

[TheMAN]

you overheated the clutch, plain and simple

reading comprehension?

 

[justa4banger]

Yea i ran a 07 Gt (closed course) 3 times. first was 40 punch and it was no problem, second from the dig and MY god man it sucked badly i didn't bother trying to chase him. third time was a 20 punch, i got him again.

the cars are quick but finding the sweet spot for launching and not bogging /wheelhopping, is going to cost a bunch of clutch. something i'm not willing to pay.

I'll leave the 5k clutch drops to my SVO.

 

[fourthmeal]

MY ONLY comprehension is how rude you can be about the subject. I was in the damn thing. I know what I did, and what I did wrong.

Thanks to those who've been nice about it. The whole reason I posted this is not to be chided, it was so people don't make the same errors.

 

[tru-boost]

i think it was the diff.... the diff. locks when driving hard in a straight line, but if the wheels hop all over and cause the tires to spin at different speeds it will try to unlock the diff., just like it would if you were cornering.

 

[WagonMan]

you overheated the clutch, plain and simple

reading comprehension?

You are a clown, overheated clutch on a new car on the first race of the night. Do you own a Speed3, have you driven one. It is clearly wheel hop, which is known problem on the Speed3, I know mine does it all the time.

I think my next mod will be the stiffer tranny mount.

 

[TheMAN]

that's nice

explain why he couldn't shift/had a hard time shifting?

clutches **** up when beat on, duh!

 

[WagonMan]

that's nice

explain why he couldn't shift/had a hard time shifting?

clutches **** up when beat on, duh!

I agree, that is why I don't think it is a clutch issue in this case.

First run of the night, very new car. Which means the clutch is likely to be in good condition, would have been relatively cool when the car was run, and would be very unlikely to be glazed due to abuse. As well no one has yet indicated any clutch issues on the MS3, which is most likely due to the fact they are all new cars and new clutches.

However, many people have noted the wheel hop problem the MS3 has, as is common with high horsepower cars with sticky tires. As well many have noted the relatively sloppy MS3 shifter, which can be hard to get into gear due to soft engine mounts.

So Sherlock Holmes, what is more likely, the clutch or wheel hop?

BTW, I didn't call you a clown because of your clutch theory, but because you're second post was so unnecessarily insulting.

 

[fourthmeal]

car isn't that new. It has 3800 miles on it. I don't baby it, but I don't drag race stoplight to stoplight either. I'm not afraid to punch it though. The clutch doesn't seem like a problem on this car. The wheel hop caused by a botched high rpm launch, super sticky track, low psi tires, and extremely weak factory mounts all culminated, I believe, in what I experienced. The clatter sound you heard on the outside wasn't audible from the inside. It sounded much more like hitting a washboard road at too fast a speed.

I believe as all this motion was happening, that the linkages to the shifter were out of alignment with the gear selector. Basically it was all bouncing around. Interestingly, you can grab the linkage (complete with counterweights) at the transmission side and SHIFT gears on the car. You can push it forward and back, and it will arc across a path. Also, you can lift up or push down on the weight and turn, and that selects other gears. With that part being counter-weighted, and with all the linkages being connected with soft bushings all over the place, AND with the motor mounts allowing all these parts to move back and forth a TON, I think therein is the recipe for shift control loss. It only makes sense once you witness the design at the transmission side. Just pull your airbox to see what I'm talking about. EEEK!

So, anyway, it all comes down to this:
Hopefully you fellow MS3 owners take something away from what I found out the hard way. Don't hard RPM launch the car like Mazda suggested to the magazine journalists. Don't race with traction control on (duh), and if you don't **** up the launch, nor loose the feeling of where the gears are within the shifter, the car will move nicely down the track.

And to the person(s) who've taken this post as a way to criticize what I've already admitted to being mistakes, ...you've missed the point of this post completely. You receive zero points for your effort. We are now all dumber for having to listen to your post. Good day.

<now where is the two middle fingers in the air smiley?>

To those who get what I'm saying here...sweet. Its all about learning experiences and what we can bring to the forum community. If someone doesn't have to go through the painful learning curve that I did, better for them, eh?

 

[mattleegee]

driving skills are the most important at the track

 

[spedwards]

Unlucky, you'll get it next time! Love the silver by the way, we don't get that option down under...