[DeTomaso] ADA LM Pantera 6 sp. Quaife

[Patrick Hals]

In re doing the ADA LM, Weight is my N° enemy, so I won't go for a Ricardo, no matter what, as there are other "slimmer" alternatives.
At LeMans 1994, the gearbox broke because of the pilot who had spun in the gravel, and broke one teeth of the gearbox, while trying to get out of the sand, which requested a gearbox removal ( 4 hours lost... ) 
Still, the car always had gearbox problems, later in 95-96 with a Hewland March sequential gearbox too.
So, not only am I looking for weight saving, but reliability also is among my top priorities.
ZF's seem to be limited in torque ( which is why we installed an oil cooler on Candy's gearbox, and it was worth it.)
With ADA, we are talking about a much more powerful engine, a lighter car, a higher torque, higher REVS, higher G force ( the car has ground effect) ... and , while not neglecting RBT's new 6 gears ZF, I am not sure it will stand such an increase on all fronts, for long races. Still, I will ask, many thanks, Jack, for suggesting.
Quaife is among the top existing manufacturers of new gearboxes, and they are familiar with actual racing technology. "Our" familiar ZF was designed 40 or 50 years ago... and while being seriously improved, I doubt they can match actual race performances in terms of reliability, gear change speed, longevity, price, and probably weight  ( how much does a ZF 6 speed with paddle shift cost and weight ??? ) .
Also, i'd have to import it from the States ( shipping costs, 10 % custom duty, + 21 % VAT on top of the total amount... ) Even with a strong Euro, it is worth having a look at...
Many thanks ( should I say, "as usual", Jack ?.)
Pat
  Message: 47
  Date: Tue, 5 Aug 2008 18:38:52 EDT
  From: JDeRyke at aol.com
  Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Quaife 6 speed sequential for the ADA LM
  Pantera
  To: adin at frontier.net, detomaso at realbig.com
  Message-ID: <c2e.3b127637.35ca307c at aol.com>
  Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

  In a message dated 8/5/08 9:40:15 AM, adin at frontier.net writes:

  > Patrick, perhaps its the new "Ford GT" team that is running that box? I 
  > don't even know who it is, just that there is a car racing . . .
  > 
  PRICEY and scarce if true. After nearly a year, a well-to-do friend just 
  located a new Ford GT transaxle for his hi-buck kit car; without shipping, it was 
  over $14,000.... He said his source was turned down by several Ford dealers 
  who claimed they were required to keep them for warranty purposes for OEM Ford 
  GTs that might fail their trannys. Sounds like 1972 with the Pantera's ZF.... 
  which also didn't fail much. The GT transaxle is massive- easily twice the size 
  of a ZF. Dunno what it might weigh just yet. 

  FWIW Patrick, while its not sequential like a motorcycle trans, RBT offers a 
  6-speed version of the venerable ZF, and someone developed a paddle-shift 
  attachment for it. Call RBT and find out if you're trying to reinvent the wheel 
  here. Remember the last time the ADA car ran at LeMans in '94, its Toyota GTP 
  transaxle is what failed, relegating them to DNF. There's a good chance that if 
  a ZF had still been in place, they could have at least officialy finished, 
  possibly quite high up in the points. FWIW- J Deryke


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