shane r
Well-known member
Well, we've done it! We started off our first season at Big Bang this past weekend.
Friday saw me arrive at Santa Pod late afternoon. Quickly set up camp and went about preparing the van for Saturday morning test sessions. Bumpers off, passenger seat out, cooker unit out, gas bottle out- in fact everything I could think of out. Then stinger exhaust on. Brian Burrows and Danny Allen then appeared to help me balance the carbs. Danny spent about and hour on them, with Brian checking in to make sure all was well.
Soon Just Beany and Mr Beans arrived to lend some moral support. I was pretty much ready for racing at that point so we chilled and had a few beers in Fueller's Bar.
Saturday morning and I went to sign on for RWYB, as qualifying wasn't going to start until Sunday morning. I was instructed that Race Scruitineering would take place at 3pm. Went back to the Pits and put the kettle on. At that point someone arrived and said qualifying started in 2 hours, and I had to pass scruitineering before then too!!
PANIC! At this point more of the CCR crew arrived in the form of Marv, Muddy Boots and Tia. I told them the score and we set about getting ready. Off to scruitineering and found out that I needed a Race Logbook to run a non-street legal exhaust. This was sorted and both my kit and van passed-ready to race.
Up to the track then and in the fire up lane, I noticed that it just wasn't running right. Out on the strip against a mate Paul from Vanshack in his van. The lights dropped and I put my foot down-next to nothing. managed a terminal speed of 50mph and 25.5 second 1/4 mile- all on three cylinders!
To make a long story shorter, we eventually got back to the pits and pulled off a rocker cover to find a small piece of brace ring and the sheared off end of a push rod. There was nothing for it but to drop the engine out and have a good look. To my absolute joy it turned out that an oil fitting had broken off (the brass ring) and made it's way to the rockers where it had bound a rod an snapped it off. Head off to have a look and all else seemed ok. A new rod was donated free from Mega Bug and we installed that along with a new set of tubes and seals for the right hand side. All back together, plugs changed and tappets regapped. At this stage I opened a beer, officially declaring our race day as finished. We then carried on to get the engine back in and it fired straight up, sounding sweet. The track had closed, with us having spent 6 hours from start to finish of the engine fix.
Sunday morning and it was time for another run. More soon, check back...
Friday saw me arrive at Santa Pod late afternoon. Quickly set up camp and went about preparing the van for Saturday morning test sessions. Bumpers off, passenger seat out, cooker unit out, gas bottle out- in fact everything I could think of out. Then stinger exhaust on. Brian Burrows and Danny Allen then appeared to help me balance the carbs. Danny spent about and hour on them, with Brian checking in to make sure all was well.
Soon Just Beany and Mr Beans arrived to lend some moral support. I was pretty much ready for racing at that point so we chilled and had a few beers in Fueller's Bar.
Saturday morning and I went to sign on for RWYB, as qualifying wasn't going to start until Sunday morning. I was instructed that Race Scruitineering would take place at 3pm. Went back to the Pits and put the kettle on. At that point someone arrived and said qualifying started in 2 hours, and I had to pass scruitineering before then too!!
PANIC! At this point more of the CCR crew arrived in the form of Marv, Muddy Boots and Tia. I told them the score and we set about getting ready. Off to scruitineering and found out that I needed a Race Logbook to run a non-street legal exhaust. This was sorted and both my kit and van passed-ready to race.
Up to the track then and in the fire up lane, I noticed that it just wasn't running right. Out on the strip against a mate Paul from Vanshack in his van. The lights dropped and I put my foot down-next to nothing. managed a terminal speed of 50mph and 25.5 second 1/4 mile- all on three cylinders!
To make a long story shorter, we eventually got back to the pits and pulled off a rocker cover to find a small piece of brace ring and the sheared off end of a push rod. There was nothing for it but to drop the engine out and have a good look. To my absolute joy it turned out that an oil fitting had broken off (the brass ring) and made it's way to the rockers where it had bound a rod an snapped it off. Head off to have a look and all else seemed ok. A new rod was donated free from Mega Bug and we installed that along with a new set of tubes and seals for the right hand side. All back together, plugs changed and tappets regapped. At this stage I opened a beer, officially declaring our race day as finished. We then carried on to get the engine back in and it fired straight up, sounding sweet. The track had closed, with us having spent 6 hours from start to finish of the engine fix.
Sunday morning and it was time for another run. More soon, check back...
