Sunday 24 April 2011

Appetite for destruction

The Easter Thunderball ended a little prematurely for us. In fact we only made the 3 qualifying rounds on the first day before things went a bit wrong.
The good bit was the very first pass, ran a PB straight out of the van and went 8.10 at 166mph, thats 8mph faster than my previous best. The bike had very soft settings too - with 25% start on the nitrous and a huge 7 second build time. Plus the 60ft time was miles off the mark, so a fairly certain 7 second run seemed to be on the agenda if we could get it right.
The second run i set the clutch too hard and it bogged off the line, didn't sound right so i shut it off.`
The 3rd run and a softer clutch setting, it still didn't leave very cleanly but picked up and went well till just after half track when there was a bit of a pop a grumble and then a death drone.

Back at the pits it soon became apparent we would not be running again this weekend. One of the spark plugs was flattened and a peek down the plug hole showed a piston at the top but it wasn't attached to the rest of the engine. Looking round i spotted a crack in the crankcases too and it looks like detonation has destroyed it once again. The culprit was discovered under the ignition cover. One of the triggers had come loose and was hanging on by only one bolt. I suspect it's come loose and the ignition timing has altered causing detonation.
We stayed the next day and watched some great racing, and then packed up and came home. Today was spent taking it to bits and finding out whats broken. It would be easier to find out what isn't broken, but all these parts will now be required:
Crank
Cases
Clutch basket
Piston + rings etc
Barrels
2 valves
2 valve seats
Head repair work if possible, including a dent in the combustion chamber and the epoxy has melted out of the inlet tract.

2 comments:

Emmet said...

Good to hear you'll be making a comeback of sorts!

Pete Stansfield said...

Bugger.