Hello All:

1967 Volvo 122S Wagon. So, we have a few timing gear discussions going, and I thought it might be appropriate to vent my frustration by attempting to make it constructive. Formula 1 fans might enjoy this also.

Why are the timing gears on our otherwise borderline-overengineered beasts made of a fiber material that is clearly inferior? If the reasoning is that it is not a stressed component, then why do they fail? It seems very strange that Uncle Olaf would go this way, particularly when the steel gears were apparently already died and tooled for the marine application.

Also, mine got crunched specifically after a series of downshifts coming off the highway, ironically right after the following exchange:

Greg: "So Jeff, you really know the sound of this car really well, right? Like you can just tell by listening when something isn't right?"

Jeff: "Yes. And actually, something is sounding not exactly right right now."

I always admired the late Jim Clark (who died during a support race on my first birthday, sadly). His engineers always marveled at how he could drive so quickly and be so light on the equipment. Where other drivers would run out of brakes at the end of each Grand Prix, they would actually change Clark's brakes every two race weekends. He drove the very fast but rather fragile Lotus 49 in 1967 (the year of both Virginia's birth and my own) winning in 4 of 11 events, scoring points in two others (including a podium) and retiring in the other five events. He still placed third in the championship, only 10 points behind champion Denny Hulme.

I wonder if my driving style is distinctly un-Clark-like. I strongly suspect he would have made it to Washington, DC on Sunday, seen the show, and enjoyed two much longer nights of sleep than I have.

Cheers,

Jeff Pucillo