With Corvettes, Vipers and some other front engine cars already on the grid maybe it would pave the way for something more HotRodesque. Even if it is not THAT competitive. Would (modified) Hot Rod transmissions last the 60,000 gear shifts? Lencos might be out of question as you weren't supposed to downshift them. What about Jeffcos? Would their clutch discs last? Any mods to make them last? Of course you'll need heavy cooling. What about Liberty Transmissions? Any other high HP trannys buyable by HotRodders?
Ford 4 spd toploaders worked just fine for Carrol Shellby in the 60's, and I imagine they would work just as well today.
Would this have had a Cad/LaSalle tranny? ( serious question, I really don't know what cars they were OE in ) BTW, if we keep this On Topic for the HAMB ( mid '60s or earlier ) the engines had broader powerbands and the transmissions had fewer gears. So 24hrs of racing would have taken less shifts than they do today.
From the factory, it did; a side shift Cad. Not sure if that race car had one, but what else would they have used back then.
It had the optional 3 speed stick. The Monstre had the same engine and driveline. Edit. I don't have the Info in front of me, but if I remember correctly, the Cunningham Le Mans Cadillac was really close to stock. Le Monstre had an engine that was souped up more, and the aerodynamic body, but underneath it was basically the same car. So since those used the Cad/LaSalle gearbox ( thanks, F&J ), that answered the question. A Hot Rod transmission held up to the 24Hrs of LeMans.
Most passenger car gearbags do more than 60,000 shifts in their lifetime . Just not in one 24 hour stretch . Modern race boxes are non syncro [ syncro-smash ] and are usually very close ratio, so it is easier for the driver to match revs to ratios. The nearest I can describe is a motorcycle shift, just back off the throttle and whack it through. The biggest killer of standard boxes is REVS, 3-4000 rpm shifts are easy but with the same percentage rev drop at 7-8000 and the sycros and dog-rings start to struggle. A brand new Tremec TKO 600 will need a freshen up after about 30 club races [12 lap ] in a high rpm car. If it was "face plate" converted it will last for years.
An interesting read is the build on those Caddy racers. I sure the gear boxes were helped by the somewhat low RPM of the Caddys used during the long race. The big Sedans were kept to around 4400 rpm maximum.And the engines were pretty close to stock... http://www.briggscunningham.com/home/le-mans-era/lemans50-html/
I like the way some jump up to police these situations. Just not HAMB friendly. Lots of talent raced Le Mans in the time frame that is so special here. Lots of those people were hot rodders and racers who looked at Le Mans and felt they could not only race there but win there. Yes it took many years for Ford to finally win a convincing manner but they did it with technology that fits in here. Cunningham with Offy powered racers and as Metalshapes points out Cadillacs both stock bodied and custom. Shelby, of course raced for many years prior to his Cobra onslaught of European circuits. I would suggest that many of the teams that went to Le Mans and other European road races were in fact "hot rodders" that would be welcomed here now for their knowledge and experience. I think the HAMB concept may in fact be a little larger in scope than some would want to believe. Great question and I guess a properly set up transmission, maybe even stock ones would and did hold up to the grind (excuse the pun) of 24 Hours of Thrashing if taken care of. Brakes, tires all of it would suffer incredibly and yet survive they did. Although out of the time frame NASCAR raced there and Corvettes, Cobras and specials have raced for years. The French love them for the sounds of the big booming V8's.
Well lets see, a '39 Ford transmission has probably had 60K shifts in it in the last 70+ years. I have a turbo 400 that has seen around 100K miles since I got it used out of a stude C gas coupe. it is still stifting and shift hard and fast whenever I use it. Here is the rub, would they even let you compete or even hit time trials with a hot rod at the 24 hours of Lemans. It is basically a proving ground for late model factory cars, at least that has always been my understanding of it. Offset, This could actually prove to be good open discussion and bench racing. I doubt that anyone wants to hear about a modern Ferrari or Corvete, but we can make good discussion if we can keep a what if mindset. Oh old n new, There are a lot of "Hotrod" transmissions out there that will take a lot of meat being thrown at them. B&M built hydros specifically for blow engines for example.
The Ford Gt-40 427 cars had a transaxles case with Galaxie gears and synchromesh in them (maybe top loader). Some of Porsche race cars had synchromesh transmissions. But most road race cars use the dog type gear change like a motorcycle or Hewland box. There was an art to making gearboxes last. Double clutch and matching RPMs. Ago
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