Project SC300 Road Racer: Part 17 – Get out there! Or not…

Perhaps it was just not meant to be.

The reason I had disappeared for so long was because I had suffered some kind of mechanical failure. Exiting turn 6 (the tightest corner at Atlanta Motorsports Park) in second gear and rolling into the throttle, I grabbed third and heard a horrific grinding sound. Out of my peripheral vision it simply looked like I had missed the gear. The shifter didn’t appear to be in third. So I tried to put it back in third, and, still, things sounded bad.

I tried fourth. Still horrific! So I parked it in the grass in as safe a spot as I could manage and waited for the inevitable tow.

Ultimately it turned out that we had suffered a catastrophic transmission failure. The Toyota W58 transmission came standard on the Lexus SC300s that were equipped with manuals. This transmission was never designed for big power. It was just enough for an NA 2JZ. I have no idea how harshly this transmission was treated before I obtained the car, and with over a hundred ft-lbs more torque than stock we were definitely right at (or exceeding) the design limits of this transmission.

With my day ended early I licked my wounds and loaded the car back onto the trailer and headed to a new home – L2 Motorsports – to have the transmission sorted out.

Stay tuned in to find out what transmission is going to take the place of our crunchy W58!