A NUMBER of Supercars teams discovered “significant” bellhousing cracks in the wake of last month’s Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500.
The Gen3 cars had appeared to hold up relatively well on their first visit to the brutal Surfers Paradise Street Circuit.
However, on the latest BJR Run Down podcast, Brad Jones Racing general manager Chris Westwood revealed the bellhousing findings.
“A couple of teams have picked up that the bellhousing was cracking, which has forced everyone to check,” said Westwood.
“And it’s pretty much across the category every team has found that there’s been significant cracks in those, so we’ve been machining new ones.”
Co-host Macauley Jones added: “That is pretty handy that when one team does have this problem, they actually share it because we don’t need problems like that kind of thing going on and if we do need to make modifications and make new ones, it’s a very timely process.
“A bellhousing is a pretty intricate piece at times. And they are a new design for this year obviously.
“It bolts on to the back of the engine where it covers the flywheel and the clutch and then it has the tail shaft that will attach to it.
“And if that thing fell off, you’ll clearly know about it. That thing would definitely let you know underneath the car that something’s going on. You would definitely feel the vibration.
“It doesn’t surprise me that it cops a bit of a beating.
“So if there is a weak spot, it’s going to show up with some cracking like it has and hopefully we can get on top of that and fix it. It’s going to cover where the clutch is.
“And the clutch at the moment has probably been a bit of a topic as well as how you have to manage the heat inside the clutch, you can quickly overheat on the start, which we’ve had problems with clutches overheating with the way that you do a start, but these ones are pretty sensitive.”
During the week, team owner Brad Jones delved into jammed throttle issues and potential solutions.
