I'm not sure on that Robbo.
Last years gearbox wasn't a gearbox as defined by the ACO. The ACO defined a gearbox as a casing that carried the load twixt suspension and chassis. Last years transmission sat in a cradle with a seperate carbon structure taking the suspension mounts. Therefore they could change the box as it wasn't a gearbox as defined in the tech regs.
However, this years transmission has the suspension directly mounted to it, so in the ACOs eye it has become a gearbox again. Therefore they cannot replace it during the race. It can be repaired but not replaced.
Now what happens if the car gets a good smack on a rear wheel during an accident? The impact loads will now be transferred directly into that carbon gearbox casing. As we saw last year when a pug tore its suspension mounts out of the chassis after hitting the curbs too hard, it is a relativly week area. Have the designed the suspension components to fail in a controlled manner before such impacts can affect the gearbox casing? Once that casing is damaged its game over. It can't be changed in the race. The Audi drivers did quite a bit of wheel banging last year, two big accidents at LM last year were started by hits on the rear wheels and McNish was out of contention after banging wheels with a GTE car at Silverstone too. It's not an area of the car that Audi can take a chance on in my opinion!
I'm suprised that Audi have taken this route. Last years system was a much better concept. Is weight distribution so critical on the new car that Audi have had to take such risks?
Yes there is the additional weight of the hybrid system to consider, but Toyota look to have got there without such drastic measures.
Also as Audis hybrid system is powering the front wheels, and there is the additional weight of the drive motors and power storage systems, then I see no need for them to place available ballast over the front end to make use of those wide front tyres like Acura and Rebellion have done over the last few years.
Of course I'm no expert and these are just my own ignorant ramblings, but something just doesn't add up. There has to be some inherent problem with that car to have made such a radical, and some might say backward step in that transmission solution.
Si
