Like so many 356C’s, Blu Mule has been loved and driven, modest wear and tear openly on display, but good rust free bones and general condition. The perfect foundation for our task and a car that many will enjoy driving in the process of marketing the WEVO 356-5 Speed transmission.

The car was stored over the winter in upstate NY and I elected to drive rather than transport Blu Mule to CA, liberate serious seat time aid contemplation of a few of the technical challenges on the 356 5 Speed project and life in general. No radio means plenty of time alone with those thoughts. Including the 4075 miles logged on this trip, I now have over 20,000 miles in 356′s since September 2010. I reckon I am now well tuned to the character of the late model 356′s and how wonderful they can be for modern adventure, vintage motoring. It was also the best opportunity to explore and validate some of the concepts and ideas we have for stretching the enjoyment of the 356′s into the future.

I did the stretch from NYC to Santa Fe in early May (2282 miles), one 781 mile marathon in 11hrs 57 minutes (63.5 mph door to door average) proving that the 356 can hold it’s own on the back roads of America’s heartlands.  Avoiding the Interstate system, I enjoyed that fantastic drive from Kansas City to Santa Fe, a little Interstate at each city that book-ended a day of farm roads and a zig-zag route across Kansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico.

I left the car in Santa Fe, while I headed back to CA for work, July 4th offering the best opportunity to finish the transfer trip. This time, accompanied by Tracey, who was about to enjoy her first long road trip in a 356.

We picked a scenic route, with 3 1/2 travel days at our disposal, then looked for landmarks to tackle on the way – with the least amount of Interstate practical. We logged another 1793 miles and took in some fine back roads in the deserts of NM, AZ, UT, NV and CA. In addition we tackled National Parks, North rim Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce Canyon and Yosemite. We also visited landmark sites, Los Alamos, Valley of the Gods, Monument Valley, Mono Lake, Bodie (CA – ghost town) and the Tioga Pass 9945 ft on the way home.

The performance of the 356 was faultless and reiterated that wonderful motoring adventures can still be had in a 47 year old Porsche, mid summer with no AC – all at 31+ mpg (US gallons ~ 7.5 l/100km) average for the trip.

The specifics of the 356-5 Speed project will be revealed in the near future. Additionally, some of our other 356 products we target to encourage 356′s to get back out there and tackle some long road trips that they can be ideally configured for. (Blu Mule was already testing some new WEVO 356 parts…… logging over 4000 test miles already……)

In those 7 weeks I have enjoyed an intense period of final car assembly and preparation at Alastair’s house in Maidenhead, followed by an equally intense15,000km of Classic Car Rallying through 13 nations.

 

Thanks to John Glynn and his capacity spin a yarn and harvest images from other sources while also interpreting my spartan SMS text contributions, I can look back over his blogjacking and see that for the most part, the story of the 35 car has been adequately recorded.

For me it is too soon to be able to divide the individual days and separate incidents into a cohesive string of adventure. I expect that will come later when I have more time to reflect after getting through some of my waiting work load now that I have returned to my desk at WEVO.

 It was a great education and privilege to ride alongside Alastair and see him deploy his experience from over 20 marathon Classic car rallies. His capacity to instantly process the road condition and evaluate how much punishment the 912 would cope with is quite amazing – especially when you consider this is his first event in a Porsche. Metering out the potential and the durability of the car in such a way that even on the World Cup sections on the morning of the 29^th and last day, we were able to push Owen and Matt in the P5 MG in a way that means they could not slacken in protection of their 10 minute advantage.  

As John has recorded, the 912 took a real battering and required repairs on an almost daily basis. However, what is more critical is that the 912 “never failed to proceed”, unlike our competitors who accumulated time penalties when they failed to make control times due to mechanical delays.

For 29 days you make decisions about how time is managed almost purely by the Rally clock, prioritizing and deferring maintenance depending on resources, the conditions the following day, weather predictions, pursuing competition, fatigue, nutrition, etc, etc. That is part of the appeal, the need to simultaneously resolve all the variables as a team of two and your car, yet still have the reserves to deal with the unexpected – and do all this while traveling in foreign lands, with unfamiliar cultures, distracting landscapes and other travel hazards.  

For some this reads like a motorist’s nightmare, but for me this is the very essence of why the marathon events need to exist and why being a participant holds so much fascination.

There is a back-story too, a pretty easy one to guess. The unprecedented environment to test the technical prowess of WEVO and the product design philosophy that extends through every product carrying the WEVO brand. Few companies arrange to test their products so severely or thoroughly. Even fewer are willing to do so in real-time in front of a critical and intelligent audience. Most of you reading the blog, Alastair Caldwell, car owner and super critical technician, the Rally participants at large, all scrutinizing and judging whether your gadget actually did well today or not. Finally me – perhaps my most harsh critic and least concessional.   

Technically, how did the WEVO 912 fare? There were many, many systems and components that performed exactly as predicted, some were stock Porsche systems, some were WEVO development systems, some were up rated factory parts, some were pure WEVO parts etc.

On the flip side, there are a percentage of systems and parts that did not meet the rigors of the event. Some were the result of poor design and design decisions. Some were due to error in execution and manufacture. Some were due to lack of testing and some due to unavoidable ignorance to the severity of the conditions that the event would present. Others were the result of the “willful damage” that is described above. What is important – above anything, is that the 912 was always able to continue, often with deferred maintenance and do so with sufficient competitiveness that our class win was secure.  

Those same vendors are part of our custom car building process and it’s their capacity to make short runs of parts and R&D style experiements that has always been the foundation of our product development.

Lola, the Peking to Paris 356 is a combination of carefully prepared original equipment and carefully designed an manufactured WEVO systems to complete the Marathon Rally specification of the car.

These companies are all commercial partners of Windrush – so we pay for their services, but I should add that we always enjoy special treatment and value when we are involved in projects cars like the Peking to Paris 356. This is in part due to the fact that these companies are run by gear heads just like me, but also they enjoy the challenge and opportunity to be involved in something special and be a part of the process and the success.

In no particular order, a big thankyou to;

Performance Fabrication, San Carlos CA. For the manufacture of the 26 liter long range fuel tank that is nested under the original spare wheel (where the battery was originally located). Fabricated in Aluminum with a motorcycle style filler cap, this long range tank allowed us to achieve over 720km range on the highway.

Rustworks, San Carlos CA. For the water-jet cutting on various parts, tow hooks, fuel pump brackets, etc, etc. Plus hands-on assistance from Jeromy Brians as my wing man at midnight one night when I was procrastinating about blasting a hole through the right rear fender to execute the incomplete tailpipe….

ARE, Brisbane, Australia. For the custom engine oil cooler unit nested into the engine decklid. We have worked with Richard and Val at ARE for the past 6 years on a variety of production, custom and experimental coolers. On each and every occasion their work has been superb quality, accurate to drawing and on-time. The absence of the doghouse cooler on this 356 motor put total reliance on the remote cooler. The remote filter and thermostat also played a part in keeping the engine oil clean and a fast warm-up on the sub zero mornings in Mongolia. On the steepest climb, mid 20′s (°C) ambient and over 2200m altitude, the oil temp barely made it to the middle of the gauge. This decklid cooler installation has all the hallmarks of a forthcoming WEVO 356 product – with over 16,000km testing already completed! You had better make a fixture Richard….

Edwards Machining and Manufacturing, Longmont CO. Doug Edwards is one of our long suffering and most prolific suppliers. For Lola, Doug churned out the prototype fuel pre-filter housings, fuel delivery block, front upper damper mounts, damper tops for the custom Ohlins dampers, etc, etc. All short runs and all perfect to drawing, then perfect in functionality on the rally.

Quiet Horsepower, Newark CA. Pete Weber came to our rescue after a very nicely manufactured system delivered from the East Coast failed to meet our requirements and had to be discarded. We ran my Bursch 912 exhaust on Lola while we coordinated for Pete to have the car for a short period and for him to fabricate a custom system with the muffler mounted in the right rear fender. Pressed for time, Pete had to give back the car without completing the tailpipe. Hence - thanks to Jeromy Brians (above) for helping me to finish that necessity. Ultimately in complete contrast to my doubts about the configuration and durability of Pete’s system, it gave zero issues and allowed Lola to ford the deepest water we encountered without concern. Never have I been so happy to be wrong about a component and once we made it through the very rough first 7 days of the event, it barely crossed my mind again. Thanks to Pete for knocking out a functional system in short order and working a Sunday too. The “through the fender” tailpipe drew lot’s of compliments and with my passenger window down, the crackle of the tailpipe against canyon walls and freeway armco is a sound that will forever remind me of the Peking to Paris 356.

Maxsport Competition tyres, Rhayader, Wales UK. Purely a phone and fax relationship with Maxsport Competition Tyres. Their RB3D2 tire being one of the only choices I could find in the 175/70-15 size we needed for the 356. A larger diameter tire would have helped our ground clearance, but a larger diameter tire was going to prevent us from having the two tires under the hood – the two RB3D2 tires barely fit with the top one deflated!  Maxsports could not validate the longevity of the tires, the most extreme test previous had been on a Classic SAAB managing just 5000km on a set. We bought the last remaining 12 tyres in existence and distributed them across Asia hoping we would rendezvous with the tires before we needed them.
Ironically we logged over 6000km on the first set on the way to Almaty and these were only about 25% worn. We had no punctures and although the front tires both had significant bruises and sidewall scars from rocks, they were still completely serviceable. We changed to our 4 spare tires in Alamaty and those tires took us to Paris and beyond, another 10,000km without being more than about 40% worn.
Maxsport Competition tyres are racing re-tread tires, so if you ever had a doubt about the durability of a re-tread tire, I can assure you that Maxsport company knows how to make a competition tire. The tires were potentially one of the most troublesome pieces of equipment on the event and thanks to Maxsport Competition Tyres, another one of our zero issue decisions.

Harvey Weidman, Oroville CA. Faced with the knowledge that steel wheels can be repaired just about anywhere with the simplest of tools, we had to choose between 4.5 x 15″ wheels and 5.5 x15″ steel wheels. The 4.5′s took it with a weight advantage that tallied 21lbs over the 6 wheels we would be carrying. We then rounded up seven 4.5″ wheels, all in the thicker gauge early 911 configuration and sent them to Harvey for his blessing. Harvey restored all the wheels to correct roundness and run-out, then blitzed them with a light spray can silver to ward off rust. We dented the Right rear somewhere in Mongolia, probably as we ran without dampers for several hundred kilometers. Even the dented wheel was working fine, we eventually cycled that wheel out of service when we swapped tires in Almaty. Other cars had split wheels, cracked wheels, broken spokes, shattered hubs…..our 40 something year old Porsche wheels were fine with our modest size tires.

Dan Acker Leatherworks, San Francisco CA. First time working with Dan after countless recommendations from others. We chose a late 70′s Recaro seats, then treated them to new leather with black Mohair velour inserts. Dan refurbished the cushions and Pirelli webbing to make the seats safe and comfortable. Our office chairs for over 300 hours, the seats were marvelous. The Mohair acted as velcro and only once was I dislodged clear from my seat and hanging in the belts when we nose-dived onto a huge rock in Mongolia.

Thanks once again to you all for your contribution to our Peking to Paris experience.

The most recent new 915 delivery from Porsche was in 1986, some 24 years ago! With the 915 used in such great high mileage road warriors as the 911SC and 3.2 Carrera, we see transmissions that have been used (and abused!) in a way that is well beyond the test conditions originally explored by the factory.

By Porsche enthusiasts globally, the 915 transmission (“nine-fifteen” in the USA or “nine, one, five” in English speaking nations) has become loved for it’s lightweight, simplicity, broad model year application by Porsche and suitability for track work. Having said that – there are several accepted weaknesses in the 915, here I will focus only on how the transmission casings themselves are re-worked by WEVO to revitalize them for an ongoing future.

I covered some amazingly dodgy efforts to cure this issue on an earlier blog post. Sad and ignorant work performed at the expense of an uninformed customer.

The core issue with 915 transmission cases is the location and fit of the shaft bearings. The 915 contains 6 primary shaft bearings, 4 roller bearings and 2 thrust bearing. The 4 roller bearings are press fit into their location – arranged with two bearings carrying each of the input (main) shaft and pinion shaft. The location dowels on the case joint faces in conjunction with the accurate location of the bores and perpendicularity of the case faces are key to these shaft bearings being arranged in parallel and co-axial. Mileage, heat, lubrication and abuse all lead to a loss of the intended bearing arrangement, then exacerbating the worn condition and further reducing the performance of the transmission – a degradation spiral.

SOME 915 HISTORY AND COMMENTARY;
As a generalization I can say that the Porsche 915 pressure castings are beautifully machined pieces with very high accuracy. This is a real testament to the manufacturing efforts of Porsche as a small volume manufacturer. To put his in context, in 1972 when the 915 was first introduced, Porsche delivered a combined total of 911T, E and S models ~ 6000 cars. This equates to just 25 transmissions per day for the production year.

From 1972 to mid 1977, the Magnesium alloy 915 transmissions were manufactured with a cast steel insert, co-cast in the location of the pinion bulkhead bearings of the final drive housing. This created a durable precision armature to manage the location and fit of the pinion bearings. The roller bearings are installed directly into this steel insert.

During 1977 the effects of a corporate technical mandate that initiated from research in the Porsche Motorsports division, lead to the replacement of all Magnesium alloy components with more durable Aluminium alloy parts. This was particularly evident in the pressure cast casings for the 915 transmission and the engine crankcases.

From mid 1977 the Aluminum alloy case 915′s prevailed. The steel insert was no longer co-cast in the pinion bulkhead of the final drive housing – the roller bearings were now installed directly into the aluminum bores in the housing.

From 1984 and the introduction of the Carrera 3.2 motor, the 915 final drive housing was altered to accommodate a small OD roller bearing where the input shaft is carried in the pinion bulkhead of the final drive casing. This 55mm Ø bearing (930 302 391 00) is taken directly from the 930 series transmission. The smaller OD allowed for the narrow bridge of material between the two bearings to increase in cross section by about 300% – I presume in an effort to improve stability of the bearing bores in this particular area. The previous 62mm Ø bearing (999 110 032 00) rarely shows any sign of problem, underwriting my opinion that the smaller and more expensive 930 bearing is a packaging decision related to the integrity of the roller bearing fit.

There were other subtle variations to the casings, such as the mounting of the clutch guide tube, the input shaft seal, shift rod bearings, speedometer provisions etc. - all interesting – but for another expose.

The whole car has effectively been disassembled and inspected.

Not unlike a typical restoration, all the removed parts have been subject to close scrutiny. Then we made the decision made whether they have a role in carrying us from Peking to Paris.

We have been shedding weight in a very deliberate manner, with care not to diminish the civilized ride too far. Part of the appeal of the 356C was the disc brake package, the other was the relative comfort and quiet that the Porsche can offer for such a long haul.

Sound insulation is pretty heavy, and also prone to water saturation or provide fuel for a fire, so we have stripped the engine bay of all the combustible materials like the cardboard liner and the bulkhead sound pad. To balance the loss of insulation on the engine side, we have added two styles of modern, lightweight sound insulation on the cabin side of the bulkhead. The weight reduction is in the order of 10 – 11 lbs, I will have to tell you later, whether the noise level has risen appreciably….

We have also stripped the sound insulation from the front compartment, in part to lower the fuel tank a critical 5 or 6mm to allow our second spare tire to fit under the hood and in part to reduce weight and clutter wherever possible.

The rear bodywork had a bit of a trim, with a crescent of material removed under the rear bumper to improve our departure angle by a few degrees and to eliminate the effective sugar scoop the existed under the back of the car. This also allows free passage of the skid plate to raise up to the underside of the rear bumper and make a really durable mount and skid on a car with such low ride heights.

The engine has been completed by Alan at “The Stable” in San Francisco. A healthy 84hp at 4950rpm and over 100 lb/ft of torque from 2200 to 5000 rpm. These figures on 87 octane. The motor spec is no secret, just very careful build quality, 1600cc, Zenith carbs, 7.5:1 JE pistons in steel barrels and a special Elgin camshaft.

The transmission has been inspected, a couple of new bearings, new seals and a LSD installed, new mounts and a general clean up to make everything look new and clean. Plus a breather tube to allow for deep water crossing and prevent the hot transmission from gulping in water if the breather is splashed or submerged in a water crossing.

The fuel tank has been stripped, cleaned, soda blasted and painted. An AN6 fitting has been welded to the bottom to marry to the complex Enduro fuel system. Our 26 liter long-range tank has been delivered and final fitted, our twin fuel pump set-up and secondary fuel filter system installed, the primary filters/ water separators with their glass inspection sections are being manufactured now and will be the final part of the whole fuel system. The system is plumbed with Nomex braided, Teflon lined lightweight hoses, filters, valveds, one way valves, a diverter valve, switches, relays, fuses etc. It seems complicated, but in essence is necessarily so to offer the versatility of range and tolerance to dirty fuel. With a total of 78 liters, I hope we have a range of over 320 miles on unpaved roads. Testing will tell.

The brakes have received a dual circuit master cylinder from an early 911, with new rubber hoses and some new hard lines where necessary. The dual circuits require new master cylinder reservoirs – these are over size to offer some safety range if we crack a brake line and have a slow leak.

We sent seven 4.5″ x 15″ steel wheels to Harvey Weidmann for blasting, inspection for true and straight. Harvey sent them back lightly blitzed with silver, enough to look respectable, but not enough to conceal a developing crack, or make it difficult to clean for a weld repair. Our 175/70-15 rally tires arrived from the UK, with 6 now in the USA and 6 more on the shelf in the UK awaiting deployment to a tire store point along the rally route.

The car will run on stock torsion bars at elevated ride heights, the dampers are custom built Ohlins units with valve configuration that we have developed over a number of different cars and we will carry one spare front and one spare rear.

Many parts in the engine and suspension having been magnaflux crack checked before considered clear for re-assembly.

The electrical system of the car has all been completely scrutinized, with about 50% of the thicker 6 volt wire replaced with modern lightweight wire. The battery has been relocated to a position behind the drivers seat, with a short and light primary power cable direct to the starter – perhaps no more than 15″ away. The lighting system has been rewired to take the load away from the headlight switch and period style Marchal driving lights have been added to the front and a single Marchal flood light to the rear for reversing.

The engine oil cooler from ARE in Brisbane Australia, has been added to the rear decklid, along with a SPAL fan that is switched by a thermo-switch on the cool tank of the oil cooler. The engine bay is plumbed with a full flow oil cooler and Mocal thermostat, once again using lightweight Nomex braided hoses.

The interior has been stripped of the original seats, the rear seat backs and bases and the rubber floor mats (weight!) The floors will be covered in our WEVO trademark aircraft plywood style floors finished with black stain. The seats are sporty mid 70′s Recaro recliners that have been re-covered in black leather with black Mohair velour seating faces for ultimate all-climate comfort and durability. The seat bases were a day long project of their own, to allow for safe installation of the dual lock adjustable seat rails, with the option of some rake and height adjustment.

The dashboard has benefited from a Km/hr speedometer, sundry toggle switches for driving lights, fuel pump selector and screen washer pump. The passenger side of the dashboard is now mostly obscured by the mounts for the GPS and Brantz rally computer.

There are still plenty of small jobs to do,  but the car is expected to be on the ground and testing before the end of June. I dare say we will continue to refine and adjust right up until the car is due at the dockyards in Longbeach in the 3rd week of July.

It is hard to underestimate the nature of an event like this. It takes a lot of thought to find the right solutions and to deliberate on how, if at all the OE 356 systems will be deficient. I know we will arrive at the start of the event with the right preparation to deal with a lot of very predictable circumstances along the route. This is our best preparation to have the time to deal with all the unexpected – of which there will no doubt be plenty!

More at the end of June, more with photos of all these assembled systems.

For a half day of racing, it has a gruesome reputation as being the event that really tests whether or not you have a “race car”, or “project”. For the Risi Competizione team, the victorious 62 car, winner in 2009 and now in 2010 demonstrates the maturity of a fully developed GT endurance racer. In fact the total of 6 consecutive wins, covers all the significant global GT2 endurance races since the 24hr race, Le Mans, June 2008. No other GT2 car or team has won since then!

The Risi version of the F430 is a carefully honed version of the product delivered by Michelotto on behalf of Ferrari. Risi then add their own select refined components (some of which are designed and manufactured by WEVO) and apply a veil of race preparation that includes some very secret attention to detail that sets their F430′s above all others.

Jaime Melo has partnered with a selection of world class drivers to sit in every one of the 6 consecutive endurance race wins. The blazing fast young Brazilian has learned the skill of bringing a fast car (often not the fastest) to the finish in first place – he does so with the support of the team who give him well engineered cars, good race strategy, quick and accurate pit stops and unbeatable green flag averages that are key to Endurance racing success.

It was a pleasure for me to be part of Risi Competizione, both in 2009 and 2010 at Sebring for the 12 hour race. I was responsible for Engineering on the 61 car, a familiar green F430 in the livery of Krohn Racing,  regulars in Gran Am DP racing. Tracy Krohn, Nic Jonsson and Eric van de Poele are partners in both the DP car and the F430 and as a team we will race the green car at Laguna for the 6hr race in May and then the Jewel in the Crown,  a career long ambition for me – the Le Mans 24 hr race on June 12th 2010.

This snap taken as the cars were rolled back to the transporter after the race shows what kind of wear and tear half a track day can take on a pristine racer. The bumps of Sebring are unforgiving, the 61 completed the race with a damaged RR damper, 7th place in GT2. The 62 car, even though victorious – finished with cracked and damaged parts that would never have survived another few hours. However, put that in perspective, the BMW’s that pushed the 62 for over 11 hours finally capitulated towards the chequered flag as the brakes on the BMW’s were completely spent….

The 6 hours at Laguna is a relative sprint in the sunshine of the California Spring time and the fantastic racing surface that comes from the Moto GP  demands of the raceway. It will be the final warm up for the 24 hour at Le Sarthe in June, a final opportunity for Risi Competizione to polish the details of their remarkably successful Ferrari F430 GT racers.

PVX has devoured two starter ring gears (SRG) in a total of about 200 engine starts. The installation uses a shortened 993 6-speed transmission, which precludes the use of the original 993 starter with the starter pinion head supported in double shear by a mount cast into the bellhousing (this mount is lost when 26mm was cut from the bellhousing length)

Like all parts of PVX, we started with the lightest solution we could obtain or manufacture. The lightweight IMI starter was a significant weight saving over a 911 starter. When initial starting and running of PVX lead to damage of the starter ring gear, we suspected that the cantilever pinion design of the early 911 starter was at fault, with the lightweight starter having even greater deflections that allowed the pinion gear to “climb”  out of mesh as the burden of the 13:1 compression ratio in the GT3 Cup motor was encountered.

Before totally destroying the starter or the SRG we switched to an early 911 starter and seemed to have the issue under control, but not beaten. Thinking the wounded SRG was destined to fail after the initial damage – when it did, we installed a 2nd unit, which lasted about another 100 starts…..

I was / am still of the impression that the cantilever design is at fault, with the pinion head free to deflect. What we needed was some system that had a double shear pinion head, one that could behave like the original 993 installation, after all, a 993 3.6 litre motor is 11.5:1 compression and that installation is designed to last 200,000 miles +

So my challenge last Monday on the 8th, was to find a way to emulate that design, within the constraints of the short bellhousing on PVX and execute the work quickly while we complete other tuning and preparations for a serious national event in May.

I had prepared Pete for the fact that we were looking at creating the starter system as a whole new configuration, a combination of OE parts, WEVO parts and derivatives of both to create a pinion head in double shear. Many cars use a simple shrouded pinion head, Chevy’s, VW’s all sorts of Japanese cars. A shrouded starter has the second bearing for the pinion head in the end of the “shroud” thereby needing no other pilot or bracket to support the pinion shaft.

I resigned myself to designing and drawing the 4 or 5 parts that would be needed to mount a shrouded starter. Then went to our Bosch supplier SSF to buy a 993 starter (that should work right?) as the core for the adaptation. The SSF website is great, quick to navigate and they carry huge inventory for cars like the 993 that are in the 10 – 20 years old bracket (plus many much older models too). You navigate to the product by selecting manufacturer – Porsche, Year – 1995, Model – Carrera C2, Section – Electrical, starter, alternator. From the drop down menu I select “Starter” expecting a single starter option to appear. As the screen fills, I am already clicking on the part number and the photo….

I am confronted with a thumbnail image of a shrouded starter?? – not a 993 starter as I know it?!? There in a single rushed keystroke I swept away days of design and a couple of weeks delay while expensive custom parts were made. It turned out to be a 993 Tiptronic starter. We obtained our no-core-refund part for under $300 and then crossed our fingers as we tried it into the packaging envelope for PVX, still expectant of some revision albeit reduced.

Within a few minutes we established that the 993 Tiptronic starter was a direct interchange for the early 911 starter – all the physical aspects were the same, the mount pattern, pinion projection, pinion design – all the same.

So with another new SRG installed, Brian had PVX running again 48 hours later. Fingers crossed we have now solved the starting issues for PVX, which has been the only element of unreliability since this amazing car started to accumulate test mileage in December.

Pete has started to attend Bay Area AutoX events and learn the style of driving needed to deploy the power and utilize the grip of massive tires. No doubt it is a science project and we are happy that the car has the versatility to be tuned and adjusted.

More rewarding was the unexpected gift from the Porsche parts catalogue, when by pure accident I discovered the compatibility of the 993 Tiptronic starter (have you ever looked at a 993 tip transmission? – barely looks like a Porsche product at all!) with the starter from a 1972 911.

Oh, did I mention it is just over 3 lbs lighter too?…… fantastic

I offered as much hard nosed pragmatism as I though the 3rd year greenhorns would listen to, then added WEVO to the sponsor roster for the 2009 ECU FSAE challenge. With such easy access to the myriad of Aircraft fastener systems from our WEVO office in California, it seemed appropriate to assist the team with sponsorship of their fastener and bodywork fastener requirement (thanks to Coast Fabrication, CA and Skybolt, FL).

Windrush Yachts in O’Connor, WA has been a sponsor of both ECU and the 2008 World Champions UWA over the past several years. Tracey and I were happy to add WEVO and our contributions to the efforts of students in the most remote city in the world – Perth, Western Australia.

When I was studying at Curtin university in the early 80′s no such career education opportunity existed, if you had a passion for a vocation in motorsports, then it meant completing a Degree in an associated field (in my case Industrial Design) then travel abroad in an effort to make friends and forge an opportunity…… pretty wildcard, but hundreds of Western Australians before me went on the same path, with many – like Kim and Barry Green making it all the way to the top of ladder in the USA.

In 2009 the FSAE – Australasia was contested by 24 teams from Australia and New Zealand, around the globe the number of teams participating in FSAE is over 200. It provides a wonderful environment for our youngest creative thinkers to explore the rules of the FSAE and be exposed to the learning and the pain of learning in a truly unique manner. There is no doubt the FSAE and the tertiary programmes that employ the FSAE as a key part of the curriculum are producing some fine young engineers and technicians to fill the openings in the motorsports industry. In addition, these young men and women are exposed to unique design, fabrication and project management challenges that make their experience appropriate for many other problem solving industries too.

Last week, on another trip to Perth, I caught up with John Hurney, course controller, Luke Mason Team Principal and James Murdoch - lead on Chassis design. Luke and James showed me the variety of solutions they had designed since my visit in May and were clearly massively more mature from the whole experience. They were both filled with stories from the 2009 run-off event experience in Melbourne too, where the ECU teamed finished a credible 6th place in only the second year of participation. The FSAE has been a large part of their last 12 months – obsessively large and will be an experience that will serve to remind them over and over the fundamantals of completing and managing projects of this style.

Good luck to the 2009 graduates of the ECU Motorsports programme, hopefully the efforts by all the local sponsors, mentors, tutors and lecturers will help you reach your own goals in a motorsports career without ever needing to experience the “old fashioned way”

This time we are covering some more recent history and forthcoming shifter product developments.

In 1999 Windrush purchased our first 3D CAD programme and at the same time purchased Z-Corp 3D Rapid Prototyping equipment to augment product development at WEVO. The costly luxury of 3D prototyping equipment was unusual for such a small company in the late 90′s and we offset some of the costs by building models for a wide range of clients.

We also put the equipment to good use by stretching the envelope of product development and casting those ideas into 3D models that were the extravagant predecessors of more restrained and marketable solutions.

The shifter above and below was designed and built in 2000 – pretty much on the basis of a dare by Jerry Woods, who challenged me to come up with an “idiot-proof” shifter for a 915 that used irreproachable logic to control the access of the gear change sequence. The complicated mechanism dubbed the “logic plate” resides at the base of the shift lever and controls the access to each gear in a logical manner – in particular, only 3rd or 4th are available as a downshift from 5th, with 1st, 2nd and reverse all blocked.  I hate to think how much time was spent at the design workstation, or the 3D model machine to come up with this functional prototype, but we did it and I recall the surprise and dismay that Jerry exhibited when a) we demonstrated it was possible and b) we demonstrated how absurdly complex it would be to achieve the “logic”.

In September 2001, with more realistic goals, we introduced the current architecture of WEVO shifters. They perform wonderfully and with about 2500 shifters in circulation for 901, 915, 930 and G50 transmissions, we have loads of happy customers.

With so much product in service we inevitably get requests for derivative products. Over the 8+ years so far, we have delivered straight levers, tall levers, extra bent levers, lightweight levers, short levers for hi-console shifters etc, etc.

As you can see from the 2000 experiment, I once considered the angled main shift tube an acceptable solution. The discreet shifter experience we have accumulated since 2000 means that I no longer believe that is a valid solution. Two basic reasons - 1) the angle change of the shift tube leads to deflections and lost motion (both killers to accuracy and shifter feel) and 2) the angle shift tube requires cutting the chassis for tube clearance and we always try to design WEVO products that can be installed and removed from your Porsche without any irreversible modifications.

The 915 Tall Boy shifter will be available fully tested and ready to race by Memorial Day 2010. You can see a passing resemblance to the 2000 Shifter project, but the design actually shares much with the existing WEVO 915 shifter. In addition there is a partial adoption of logic, with the reverse lock-out being disarmed by a press button and remaining inactive until 5th gear is once again selected. This time we are better equipped to bring the product to market at a fair price and do so without conceding to the angle shift tube approach used in other high knob shifter solutions. Keep an eye open for products testing in street and race cars during the 2010 Spring.

This deliberately sketchy image does not reveal too much, but as you have come to expect for a WEVO product this shifter will be accurate, light and have great driving feel.

Today I had a chance to uncover some relics that long pre-date the first products I ever designed for Porsche’s, but it is air-cooled and it is mostly hand made. In the very best of “competition engineering” it is also very light – at just 408kg. Crude, resourceful, ugly, dangerous, ingenious, ridiculous choose your superlative, it’s at least one or more of those.

My first ever shifter design exercise, short throw relatively precise and built with some amazingly restricted resources. Nifty push down knob for reverse lock-out stolen from a buddies Fiat 850.

Even more important for our mid-engine, VW powered car club Special, was the carefully made “tailshift”mechanism that allowed the VW transmission to function in the rear location.

This car we called “the Special” was created in a relative vacuum in the early 80′s while studying Design at university and trying to feed dual addictions of windsurfing and car clubs competition events. My windsurfers were more attractive (how hard would that be?!) but the Special was a great way for me to learn about critical systems and solutions that needed to work under duress……both the mechanisms above are the Rev.2 versions deployed after the initial solutions just didn’t work well enough to be competitive. It was last used in an event in 1984 if I recall and the car still wears the numbers 51 and 52 from a Sprint, Gymkhana or Auto-X. I know it was not a hill-climb, for those we used to remove all the cooling fan, shrouds and alternator to make the car even lighter and run only on the battery (note the absence of a starter).

Without the Special, there would not be any WEVO 915 shifter’s or a WEVO 915 SideShift, so while you are laughing remember to enjoy the result 27 years later and the even more adventurous work that will be seen in the future.