pleegwat

I own that part as included in 8868. There are no pinholes, which is not surprising given the era the piece originates in.

I don't expect lego to ever go for hydraulics.

Space was last year. This year is F1, and honestly I can't think of any technic-related F1 sets which aren't F1 cars.

Impressive.

When was the last 1:8 car with a new gearbox?

I know. Under display options, you can also choose to hide parts you own to get just a list of parts you need to substitute. But just having the parts list does not tell you whether you will be able to substitute something else for them, or if a recolor will be acceptable.

If a free MOC uses a part I don't own (ignoring color), I may download it and see if I can make it work anyway, and I may abandon the moc if I fail. But that's still a download. If I need to pay for the instructions (even if it's only a few euros) then it's much less likely I would take that risk.

Apparently, it was close enough for Mercedes to approve it.

Yes, sorry.

Two pumps, two valves, with each pump actuating the other pump's valve.

15 stud wide body vehicles comes up pretty regularly. This includes 42175 from this year (which you probably won't be interested in), as well as 42144 from 2022, 42128 from 2021, 42112 and 42108 from 2020, and 42098 (the car transporter) from 2019. Many small cars denoted in reviews as 'fits on the car transporter' also fit this scale; those are 13 studs wide. Length can be completely off for these, particularly trucks tend to be too short for their width, but they look reasonably in scale as long as the widths line up.

I'm pretty sure I've seen one with it at some point. It has the advantage (also in RL) that you do not need any bevel gears.

Hey, the professionals did it years ago, why shouldn't amateurs follow suit?

You could also use a 1x4 half liftarm with axle holes at the ends in combination with a 1x5 half liftarm with pinholes throughout.

There may be a solution with this part, though that would mean a different gear ratio and possibly more slack. I thought there was a version based on a 24z gear but I can't find it offhand. https://rebrickable.com/parts/24014/technic-arm-with-gear-8-tooth-and-15l-axle/#part_usage