DS's in Motorsport

[pottsy]

Had the chance to take the DS to a motorkhana today. OK, it was mainly for the Minis and we had a ball in them as well, but it was too good an opportunity to miss to have a practice for the Ampol Re-run next year.

Surprisingly the beast is quite agile and steers around flags really well.

Thought I'd share this shot of Moby Dick in action.

 

[fritzelhund]

DS in motorsport

Be a little careful in Motorkhanas..DS have been known to drop the end of the driveshaft out of the gearbox housing in extreme manoeuvers. The tri axe is able to slip out of the housing at the extremes of motion.
Earlier triaxe housings were made of aluminium with steel liners and the "slots" that the three balls slide in were closed at the end. The later steel ( and stronger ) housings have no limiting effect ( the entire driveshaft can be withdrawn ). It makes driveshaft boot replacement easier, as the housing doesn't have to be removed to extract the driveshaft.

From memory the left side is the more likely to pop out, and tears or dislodges the boot and spreads that moly black grease everywhere...so a good repair needs the entire thing cleaned to ensure there is no dirt and grease mixed...it isn't really a pop it back in job.

 

[pottsy]

Thanks for the "heads up". The movement of the car wasn't all that extreme. I was actually just walking her through trying to see what sort of flexibility could be had. First gear only but it still looked spectacular! Jaws were dropping all over the place!

To get the whole thing in perspective, I was about 40% faster over each test in the Mini as I was in the DS. Given a lack of a handbrake on the rear wheels, it's quite a difficult task to turn around at the end of a slalom for instance. Still fun though!

Apart from the Minis we had a couple of other interesting cars having a (gentle) go at the tests. Out of a Roll-Royce Corniche coupe, an HSV Senator and the DS, the DS actually set fastest time of these three. Still miles behind a Mini but I gave the other blokes heaps anyway! It's amazing how quickly one adopts a French accent when one is ragging a chap in a Rolls!

I plan to dismantle and clean both driveshafts in the near future as part of my preparation for the DS 50th anniversary run, as well as for the Ampol re-run.