GR86 Cup Youtube series
 

Toyota USA is running a video series on the GR86 Cup.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scBAk1qBiwM&t=8s


The "race recap" videos are pretty much a waste of time unless you want to check out the different liveries.

Yay!

Half of the drivers that were interviewed were literally teenagers.

It sure seems to me like they intended to make this into basically a U23 championship. The series website doesn't have their ages but I'll guess they're all in that ballpark.

I think I read it in one of the oil pressure issue threads on this site but I heard there have been mountains of failed engines in these races.

The only clue to that I've heard in these videos so far is in the 2nd one below at the ~11:20 mark. This very crash-prone guy mentioned how the car started "cuttin out" going into the hot lap, surely that was uncle Rodney. So his engine blew and he went on to qualify "pretty far back.." I'm guessing there were multiple people who blew engines on their qualifying lap that he ended up ahead of :lol:

https://youtu.be/_cIzWyw5LAA?si=LF3wtOKSSSrs3Qso

Actually, there have been more sequential transmission issues than engine issues. Some have had multiple transmission issues in the same weekend. Of the several teams I regularly interact with, only 1 has had an engine failure. I'll be at Sebring all weekend with the series and can report first hand on any issues. Leaving in an hour to head that way in time for practice #1 this morning.

Really!? I want to say I remember you chiming in on whatever thread it was that I read about the engines. I thought some guy said there were multiple engine failures and nobody was disputing it, but maybe he meant trans failures and I misread that.

I'd go look for it but I'm abroad and this site is especially slow, extremely slow where I'm at. I'm fortunate it's not blocked :rolleyes:

And that's a little funny that the transmissions are failing anyhow. It's not like these cars are torque monsters, sheesh. I recall hearing maybe in that first episode that the point of going to those dog boxes was durability. It was probably more because half the drivers don't know how to drive stick :lol:

Around the time of the COTA race there had been 3 or 4 engine failures. Of the 3 teams I regular interact with, only 1 or their has had an engine issue.

Helped a team today change a clutch. Found it interesting that the sequential uses an OEM disc, pressure plate, release bearing, fork and slave...

None of the teams I enquired with today has had an engine failure...
Copeland, Zotz, Godwin, VGRT, BSI, Tommy McCarthy Racing, RVA
See if I can ask any others tomorrow.

MarioS2062 wrote in response to BRZ900's original YouTube video entitles "BRZ/GR86 FA24 Oil Pressure Loss Demonstration":

"Toyota GR Cup car mechanic here. We had 3 motors blow up on us at COTA and could not understand from looking at the data if the pressure drops were enough to cause catastrophic failure. Even the Toyota guys themselves were questioning the lower pressures. This is incredible information and really hope the engineers have found all this out also. Best of luck and stay safe!"

I would hope that with all of the technical expertise in this series they would be doing some serious datalogging.

Toyota pulls data from every car after every on-track session including practices, qualifying and races. Speaking with the lead engineer at one of the larger, more successful teams...the data that has been pulled from the few engine failures has shown it was not an oil pressure, or mechanical issue....but from driver mistakes that exceed the limitations of the engine and/or from teams not running the recommended oil.

There were zero engine issues at Sebring, a few clutch issues, axle & diff issues and a bunch of bent wheels....

So money shifting? Can you money shift a sequential transmission?

Kinda hard to money shift a sequential as it shifts one gear at a time, higher or lower. But it may be theoretically possible to over-rev the engine if you bumped it down multiple gears while still at speed, or the more likely scenario is running the RPM's up to high in the wrong gear as the race cars don't have the over-rev protection of the OEM ECM.

Natural tendency is to pull well past the torque peak before shifting. Without rev limiters, I'm not surprised that teenagers are fragging these engines.