Congratulation to Team Roddisons

Congratulations to Team Roddisons on their podium placings at The Race of Remembrance on The Anglesey Circuit over the weekend
Team 1 (Mk4 )Finished 1st in the 2000cc class, and 5th overall, Team 2 (Mk3) finished 2nd in the 1600cc class
The Roddisons modified Mk4 gearbox certainly seems to be standing up the extremes race conditions create.

Full results at https://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=BARC/2018/184521ror.pdf 

Global Cup car went out with failed gearbox.

Think the ‘Global Cup’ must be similar to the baseball ‘World Series’ that doesn’t exactly embrace a great deal of the world.

Maybe if they had expanded their sourcing to include some Sheffield steel gearbox components they might not have had such an ignominious end to the race.

20+ laps is a pretty impressive margin. Could have done a call out to a broken down ambulance half way through and still got the class win.

 

The World Series was named after a Newspaper sponsor, not because it aspired to be a global competition.

 

The objective of the Global Cup is to supply a single spec of car to support competion globally. If you start saying UK cars should be modified differently, they are no longer global cup cars.

 

Anyhow, probably Essen steel is superior to what ever is made in Sheffield these days. Mazda Europe is a German company.

 

I haven’t read of evidence to indicate that it is due to problems in metallurgy that are causing the failures; its due to the Skyactiv ethos. A gearbox made in Sheffield to Skyactiv requirements will also break.

 

Sheffield has an international reputation for metallurgy and steel-making. It was this industry that established it as one of England’s main industrial cities during the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. This industry used Sheffield’s unique combination of local Iron, Coal and water power supplied by the local rivers. This fuelled a massive growth in the city’s population that expanded from 60,995 in 1801 to a peak of 577,050 in 1951. However, due to increasing competition from imports, it has seen a decline in heavy engineering industries since the 1960s, which has forced the sector to streamline its operations and lay off the majority of the local employment. The steel industry now concentrates on more specialist steel-making and, despite appearances, currently produces more steel per year by value than at any other time in its history.The industry is now less noticeable as it has become highly automated and employs far fewer staff than in the past. However a small number of skilled industrial automation engineers still thrive in it. Today the economy is worth over £7 billion a year.

Essen especially through the Krupp family iron works — became one of Germany’s most important coal and steel centers. Essen, until the 1970s, attracted workers from all over the country; it was the 5th-largest city in Germany between 1929 and 1988, peaking at over 730,000 inhabitants in 1962. Following the region-wide decline of heavy industries in the last decades of the 20th century, the city has seen the development of a strong tertiary sector of the economy.

Information, facts and figures taken from Wikipedia

 

I inherited a truly stunning 5 course Sheffield steel cutlery suite from my great grandmother.

I believe it was a wedding gift.

It’s all engraved with a certain “Clan” owned hotel apparently they owned back in the day which is still very much in business.

Suffice to say it’s pristine, zero corrosion, pitting, or even a scratch.

There is no evidence of it actually being used.  

Literally as new in their velvet lined cases.

I’m afraid…soon enough…they will be off to a quality auction house as my son will never use them.

A better end than ending up in a council skip when we are dead as he’d likely do!

Or, I may approach the current (same) family with an offer to buy.

They are well heeled to say the least.

No intention of doing much with it all for now…bigger fish to fry.

 

We use a Nickel Chromium carburising steel which increases strength by around 30% over standard. All of the steel we use for our components is sourced from UK based companies only.

 

Paul

RE I haven’t read of evidence to indicate that it is due to problems in metallurgy that are causing the failures; its due to the Skyactiv ethos. A gearbox made in Sheffield to Skyactiv requirements will also break.

Rodders will be able to confirm these details, according to my diary the Roddinsons modified Mk4 box was fitted prior to The Birkett 6 hour endurance in October 2018, since then it has been thrashed around Pembrey (21/04 - 22/04/18), Snetterton (07/05/18),Anglesey (26/05 - 27/05/18),Donington park (02/06 - 03/06/18),Mallory park (05/08/18),Cadwell park (08/09 - 09/09/18),Rockingham (22/09 - 23/09/18),Brands Hatch (27/10 - 28/10/18) along with one or more charity days at Blyton Park

At The Race of Remembrance at Anglesey (08/11/18  - 11/11/18)  it was driven by Paul Roddison, Dan Welch and Rob Austin

and it is still going strong !

 

 

 

 

The gear failures that I have seen both at Paul Roddisons and on Miata.com are clearly bending fatigue failures originating in the root of the gear teeth, i.e classical bending stress fatigue failures, something that I have seen many times when a gearbox test and development engineer.

The cause of this failure could well be metallurgical through incorrect chemical composition of the steel or incorrect heat treatment during manufacture.  It could also be incorrect manufacture with a lack of root radius or induced grinding cracks in the root.  It could also be a fundamental mistake in the design of the gear with the gear tooth being incorrectly sized for the loads being experienced or a lack of stiffness in the layshaft resulting in uneven loading the the gear tooth.

Without access to the gear design information, steel specifications and metallurgical analysis it is impossible to tell what was the fundamental cause of the gear failures. However it is incorrect to say that there is no evidence to indicate that it is due to problems in metallurgy that are causing the failures.  As I say it could be metallurgy, gear design or manufacture or any combination of these…

 

 

 

 

Sheffield Forgemasters - We are still the largest independent Steel Makers in the World