Jack,
Excellent point. At VSCCA events, we ask the driver to present his car at
tech with a FILLED OUT tech sheet (i.e. driver is supposed to self-tech the
car before coming to "tech"). The club tech inspector then techs the car (a
separate column on the tech sheet). It's not a perfect system, many drivers
ignore it (or you see them scribbling in check-marks as they push their car
to the tech line), but at least it's an attempt to clarify that the primary
responsibility for inspecction lies with the car owner/driver. I always
tech my car at home a few days before loading up for an event, to avoid late
surprises -- not perfect, the tech inspectors have found a thing or two that
I've missed over the years.
>
>Now I'll let someone else tell you what the signs are.
>
In my experience, the only practical warning sign of an about-to-break
spoke, is other previously-broken spokes in the same wheel.
I have disassembled used wire wheels, and yes you can often visually see
(with good eyes) a crack starting at the base of the spoke, but only when
the spoke is removed from the hub & the paint removed. Not exactly
practical between-race maintenance. So, my practice is to check for broken
spokes AT LEAST once a day on a race weekend, and preferably between every
session. When I find a broken spoke I remove the wheel & mount the spare (I
always carry at least one, and often two, mounted spares -- same
tire/compound). I then replace the broken spoke, at home, before the next
race weekend - and record the event with a paint mark inside the rim. Once
a particular wheel has accumulated a history of, say, 5 broken spokes, I
send it out for rebuild (all new spokes). In my experience the spokes all
seem to reach their fatigue life at about the same time, once a wheel has
shed 4 or 5 spokes (over the span of 4 or 5 race weekends) most of the
remaining spokes have cracks & are soon to follow.
Sounds tedious, perhaps, but it's really no big deal and I have never had a
wire wheel go to complete failure -- they always warn you with one or two
broken spokes in a session. All it takes is paying attention.
But Jack knew all that already -- so just for the benefit of others on the
list.
Regards,
Mark
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