I worked the enduro on Saturday and was surprised by the relatively poor reliability of the bike powerplants.
My thoughts are:
1. Are these engines dry-sumped in FSAE cars? I suspect not, and wonder how they can last as long as they did without one. Seems like oil slosh, not present in the bike, would be a real problem, as UO can attest.
2. Why did two (that I know of) transmissions eat themselves? U of Hawaii was especially sad, sounding like someone left a pair of pliers in their gearbox. Seems to me that bike trannies in a car have a very difficult time due to having about 10x the traction. In a bike, the rear tire just spins, venting off the torque. In the car, though, all that torque has no where to go -- and starts eating gear teeth. Or, is it simply poor shifts by the driver?
I guess my real thought is, is this size bike engine and tranny appropriate for the fictious weekend racer product? Or is a larger engine more appropriate if for no other reason than reliability. I'm curious for your comments.