Racing Driver Reattaches Transmission Shifter on Track Without Stopping
Gearbox problems are a nightmare for a racing driver. A car that does not shift when you want is a disaster on track, one that forces a driver to slowly limp back into the pit lane in a single gear before waiting out a long repair. Driver Oliver Webb was not about to suffer that fate when his GT2-class Dodge Viper racer held in second gear, so he took the matter into his own hands.
The video starts well into the process, with Webb coming onto the straightaway with a bushing in his hand and the gear knob and boot already removed from the transmission. While holding onto the steering wheel with his wrist, Webb tries to line the bushing up with the bottom of the gear knob at a steady speed. He does not quite get it right the first time, but a little twisting and wiggling gets the knob back in place at least temporarily. By the time he reaches the next corner, he is able to move the car out of gear and continue on his way.
While this certainly does not seem anything like a permanent solution and is far from the recommended course of action when a car has a gearbox problem, it is some impressive quick thinking by a desperate driver in a situation so dire that the gear knob came off entirely. The issue was presumably more permanently solved before Webb went on to win at least one of his historic races in the Viper.
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