Some Official Answers on the VW Trophy Truck
11/21/08 5:12 PM
More reports:
"It was the Gear Box. I saw Andrew with Xtrac at the Borrego pit. He said at Mile 130 the had to change out the gear box. He was not sure what broke inside. He did say they were more worried about rear ends, instead of the gear box. I saw it come through Borrego and I can't believe how quiet it is. They really need a siren on it, because I could see how a Bike during the day (during the race) could not know they were right behind them. It was quieter than the Super Duty. I did ask Andrew if he knew what the race schedule for next year was? He said he did not know. My guess would be that the next race will be the Baja 500" Another: They were down at race mile 130 for two and a half hours installing a brand new one".
"Defective seal causes major time loss
The Touareg TDI, which (was) powered by a 550-hp 5.5l V12 diesel engine from the Volkswagen Group, was running almost perfectly across the entire distance. Merely a defective seal on the gearbox caused a loss of time at an early stage and, subsequently, even required the gearbox to be exchanged. “Ultimately, a simple seal had an enormous effect with a big loss of time. This defect surprised us because it had never occurred before,” said Don Tebbe, Project Manager for the Arciero Miller Racing (AMR) team which, in close collaboration with Volkswagen Motorsport, is responsible for the development and fielding of the Baja Touareg. “Shortly before the finish we also exchanged the rear differential just to be on the safe side. From tests we knew that this part might possibly be at the limit. Work on an improved version is already in progress,” Tebbe added."" Sure.
Original Report 11/22/08 5:41 AM
Confirmed by Baja Racing News.com this morning, by a high level snarky source at International Racing Consultants, "the Volkwagen Baja Race Touareg TDI team refused to give us (the racing results company for the Baja 1000) the black box", "we still do not have the black box that was on the Volkswagen Trophy Truck in this race".
This makes all the results for the Volkswagen effort in the 2008 Baja 1000, questionable at least.
Early on, the purpose built Volkwagen effort "was hurting". Several reports from Ojos Negros stated severe mechanical problems had the chase crews in tow, while the Volkwagen team scrambled to solve the currently unknown issues. Now with the news of the 'black box' not being turned over to the racing results experts, it raises the obvious question. Does sponsor money pay for race results?
Do you think Baja Racing News.com will follow this story? Hell Yea!
Editor, Gary Newsome
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