Thanks Dick and Dave.....

Not my best weekend... I can't say I am a fan of that place, but not because of my issues, it just lacks ..ummm... character.

Anyway, I have to apologize to those who were unlucky enough to be in my race group and who came upon the mess I left on the tunnel turn. Notably Gary Hutchinson in the silver BMW...sorry about the tire. (And a special thanks and sorry to the Weavers, whose windshield I did in. You couldn't meet nicer racers if you raced for 20 years.)

It seems that a clutch/pressure plate exploded in 4th gear, 6500 rpm or so, and scattered 20 pounds of itself and bellhousing and other bits of my car for hundreds of feet.

It was a loud bang, followed by what sounded like rocks being hurled at a tin roof. I coasted, trying to stay up along the wall in case of fluid spills, then crossed the track sharply to an infield road, but evidently the debris field was too great, and clean up took quite awhile.

The collateral damage was comprehensive. Fortunately, due to the short nature of the RX-7 engine, the flywheel is just in front of the firewall, so damage to the interior, and living objects, was nearly non-existent. But, CAT scan the car's section at the 6" range in front of the firewall, and it's another story. The transmission remains bolted in the rear. But the entire front of the bellhousing is gone. And the parts of the engine it bolted to have gone with it. The back half of the starter was dragging under the car, hanging by the solenoid wire. The heater hoses, oil gauge, fuel gauge and all electrical lines are mangled or severed. The clutch slave cykinder is missing parts. The throw out bearing is thrown out, along with the levers and such. The header is collapsed. There's a 2" hole in the hood in a double thick section, and a 4" gash in the firewall.

And i haven't taken it apart yet! I'll post pics when I do.

Why'd it happen? Not sure yet. The clutch and PP have been in the car for two seasons, the bolts were torqued when it went in. They've got, I'd guess, about 10 or more events on them. Last spring I rebuilt the engine and checked the clutch wear, all looked fine for the season. ISC did the initial build of the motor and balancing. I've felt slightly loose wheel bearings thru the steering wheel before, I've felt a driveshaft that had a harmonic to it, but I didn't feel a thing here. It just went BLAMO! (in the wors of Steve Matchett!)

So, I dunno.