Over the years, I've been to different types of races and seen the repairs that are done to keep sleds on the track for the next heat or final. Mechanics do whatever they can in the trailer or staging area to keep a sled race-ready. In between race weekends, well that's when they have time to really go over the sleds and do maintenance along with the repairs.
The crew from London Recreational Racing working on one of Ric Wilson's sleds. The shop had about 15 sleds in various stages fo repair. It's like a grown-ups toy store, with Team Kodiak yellow and Team Wilson Blue sleds parked everywhere.
Some of the carnage: snowflaps, bumpers, panels, wires, track, etc......Not seen are the handlebars I bent when I flipped the 440 sled. ..(Sorry about that!)
More carnage piled up.....
Track damage and stud damage. Time for a replacement!
Chaincase and gears all come out, and get a complete inspection. Gears are changed depending on the track size and course design.
Gears, chains, clutches, etc, all come out. Geez, these guys do more maintenance in one hour then I've done in the past 30+ years of sledding!
This was a clutch that got got rammed by a Polaris ski in Rouyn-Noranda. That happened on day 2 of this race season. Doesn't that look expensive?
Hey, it's Rob Witzel also known as "The Shoc Doc". Rob tore down a shock for me and gave me a thorough lesson on how shocks work and why they eventually stop working. Old oil gets contaminated, ruins your seals, your shocks fade, small internal plates crack, and your sled starts to lose it's crisp handling. There are a LOT of parts to a shock, a lot more then I realized! Got Shoc questions?
http://www.shocdoc.ca/ 
0 comments:
Post a Comment