Velox Motorsports Carbon Driveshaft Thread
 

Happy New Year! We’ve been holding off on starting this thread for far too long and I’m finally forcing myself to put the time towards starting this thread that it deserves.

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Around April/May last year we started testing a carbon driveshaft we heard about from a friend. It touted some pretty cool features that we thought would warrant trying it out and potentially offering for the community. After 50 or so dyno pulls (at 350-400whp), 6k miles, and a dozen or so passes down the ½ mile event, we feel it’s time to start a thread and show what it has to offer.

First, we’ll start with the testing the manufacturer does:
-It is rated for 5000 n-m of torque (a little over 3600 ft-lbs)
-It has been fatigue tested at 2000n-m (fully reversed, so +2000, -2000) per cycle, for 100,000 cycles
-It is balance tested between 8,000 to 10,000 RPM
-Similar BMW models have passed over 10,000 RPM @ over 200 MPH without vibration failures

Carbon Tube Construction:
-Strictly kept 76% carbon to 24% epoxy ratio, ensuring high strength and low weight
-Dual filament windings based on Formula One class manufacturing technology
-Raw carbon fiber material is from Toray in Japan, who is the same carbon supplier as Nissan’s GT-R carbon driveshaft unit
-Military Grade T700 24k Carbon Fiber, which is used on missile bodies and high pressure fuel tanks
-The tubes are cured in an autoclave mold to closely control temperature and pressure bonding, improving performance without increasing weight.
-Weave pattern is designed for high torque loads

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Other Neat Features:
-Weight savings of approximately 55%
-With a failure rating of 5000n-m, this will pass SFI certification if that becomes what multiple people are interested in. We will go through these motions if enough people ask, but it isn’t cheap to do so unless there is a demand, we aren’t going to do it.
-The ends are 7075-T6 cold forged, then heat treated, and have an anti-oxidation treatment
-High quality joints are used featuring low stiction


Carbon to Aluminum? How does that work and is that even safe?
-The manufacturer will not divulge in entirety how they bond aluminum to carbon, as each company has their own “proprietary” means of doing so. Without getting into too much technical jargon, it’s basically a very strong glue with specific surface finishes on each to ensure they withstand what is deemed a reasonable service life. 100,000 cyclic loads to nearly 1500 ft-lbs seems reasonable to us to consider this component to have a life cycle to that of the entire car.

Short Video we created with some of the manufacturing videos that we asked for:
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND-y2YBTNeI&t=1s"]Velox Motorsports Carbon driveshaft - YouTube[/ame]

Below are some pictures of the products, let us know if you have any questions, comments, concerns and we’ll do our best to address each .

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@Drakiv has tested the driveshaft, as have a few others. Hoping they will chime in as well :).

Thanks for your time,
Eric

Very nice piece, I like how you included the small shield on the transmission side. Hope to purchase one of these in the future.

One question I always had about these pieces - does this compromise safety at head-on crash? Our car has 2-piece shaft with a joint, and IIRC this joint is designed as a point of failure during crash, so the engine can slide "under the cabin".
My concerns are about road-use since this will be super strong piece.
Thanks.

Any confirmed fitment with short shifter kits? DSS shafts have issues clearing them, looks like this one has a little more room.

I can confirm that after running a DSS Carbon fiber shaft first and now having the opportunity to test the Velox Carbon Fiber Shaft out, that the DSS did have issues (even though it was minimal) with clearance for a kartboy short shifter and the Velox doesn't have the same issues. Plus the rating for the Velox is 4 times the rating for the DSS which is only rated for 900+ ft/lbs of torque for informational purposes.

Thats a good question since the engine dropping down is one of the major safety points. Never would have thought about if that is a a crumple zone sort of speak

How would the joint (which is supported and bolted to the body) be a point of failure that would allow the engine to drop?

One other thing to keep in mind is that a carbon driveshaft probably isn't as strong to longitudinal force as you might think. They're designed to take rotational force, not force along the length.

I don't believe this to be relevant. How many people are producing 900 lbs/ft.

Ok, here is my not quite sober reply. I have to preface this by saying this is an un-informed opinion.
My impression of cf is that it is incredibly strong for the loads it is designed for and quite fragile otherwise. When cf driveshafts gets over torqued they tend to disintegrate (which is a good thing). As for end on compression , well, given the sample size of reported car accidents where a carbon fiber drive shaft has impaled the moose crossing the road I am suggesting that one can't say with much certainty the ramifications of having a cf driveshaft fitted.

Actually it is relevant to the quality of the unit and the type of material used, but yes you are correct in the fact that there is no one running that much torque that I know of yet on a BRZ, FRS, or GT86. Or will even get close to needing something of that nature in regards to torque requirements. But again, it was to point out the obvious quality of materials used to make this unit compared to one of the most popular units out there. It's also a justification for the slight price increase IMO. No one said you have to buy one or the other, that's what having options is all about. And I never said that the DSS shaft was terrible, I actually had zero issues with it aside from the kartboy short shifter clearance and it was a great unit. I was just stating my experiences with both of them. Sorry if you don't like the information that I included in my statement, which I even put down was for informational purposes.

Love it Eric!

Yeah, umm, as you may have noted above I have had a little to drink with lunch. Your post had raised my pedant mode in my heightened state of awareness. :)

We are talking torque at the shaft, not torque at the engine.
My NA car can produce 770N.m at the shaft in first gear. (far from the 5000N.m maximum load of that Velox shaft).

I bet my wife can produce more talk.