I have been busy repairing my car from September's race. As I was exiting Turn 4 at AutoClub Speedway in Sunday's race, I put two wheels off into the dirt. Usually, this isn't a big deal - just ease up on the throttle, keep the wheel straight, and ease the car back onto the track.
However, there is now a HUGE pothole right where the gaiter ends from so many drivers doing this same thing. I hit the pothole with both left side wheels and could feel it through the whole car. Right away I could hear a strange rumbling sound so I slowed and then exited the track (ending my race).
Back in the pits, I took a look at the suspension but didn't see anything obviously damaged or bent so I drove the car home in the slow lane (still rumbling all the way).
The next day I put it on the lift and still didn't see any obvious damage, so I took it for a short drive and sure enough, still a pretty bad rumble that was speed related.
The car went back onto the lift and I pulled the left side wheels and sure enough, they both were bent!
I put two of my spare wheels on and took it for a drive and it drove and sounded fine. So I parked the car and went about other things.
A few days later, I noticed a puddle of oil under the engine. Uh oh. That can't be good. Back onto the lift and found that the oil pan had a big scrape where the oil pan hit the ground when the car bottomed out over the pothole and the oil pan was cracked around the center rear bolt flange. That pan must have really flexed upward when the car bottomed out!
Did I mention that I bought that I had previously bought a skid plate from Steve (steved0x) to protect the deep sump from exactly this type of incident but that I never got around to installing it? Uh yeah, its true (walking away with head hung low....) And Steve, being the gentleman that he is, didn't even make fun of me on Facebook when I posted these pic's (and I probably deserved some ribbing).
New oil pan
and skid plate are ready to install this weekend.
Front wheel and rear wheel photos along with crack in oil pan...