I blew up an axle at Union Rallycross this past weekend. Chalk one up for a learning experience—axles are consumable items. I did a conservative ~3000 RPM launch, heard a nasty pop followed by grinding, and limped the Trunkmonkey Pink Impreza halfway through the course and back to service. After initially thinking the problem was with the clutch or rear diff we quickly found a twisted CV boot on the driver rear that made it obvious that the CV joint had shredded.

After a few hours of fighting with frozen bolts and removing the DMS 50 and lateral links we got the axle out, counted the splines, and raided Dave Getchell’s service truck for a spare. About an hour later the car was reassembled and back out on course for afternoon runs and came back to compete on the second day. I’m just glad the axle blew up at a $50 Rallycross and not on SS2 at an $800 ProRally.

Many thanks to the dozen or so guys who stepped up to the plate to help get the car back up and running!