Depressing, but exciting!

After 22 years of running about on public roads, it seems my number 1 engine can't put up with the race track, which is hardly surprising. I'm amazed it lasted as long as it has. My number 2 engine has also had enough! They both filled the dyno room with so much smoke, that Steve had to evacuate the place!...... sorry Steve!

The two engines have spent the last week in the dyno workshop being worked on to extract more power and get them running right. That was not to be and after performing poorly on the dyno, were then taken apart for further inspection. Steve has updated me on the sorry state of them both.

Number one has a blown head gasket, warped head, very badly seating valves, terrible scoring in a couple of the bores, one is particularly bad, and the exhaust pipe is seriously stifling the motor.
all pretty bad stuff!
Number 2 has also a blown head gasket. the rest of the motor has yet to be stripped.

It always was the plan to have one motor seriously tuned, just not quite this early in the year.
Oh well, there's no time like the present I guess!

Obviously I will miss the next round at Snetterton and more than likely the following race or two. I am rather gutted, but at the same time relieved. Neither engine would have survived another race and I would have hated to have ruined someone's weekend by possibly dumping fluid all over the race track or had one seize on me. It also means that soon, I will have a nice new motor, pumping out maximum allowed bhp and hopefully allowing me to move up the grid a few places.

So to the tuning work.
Steve has given me several options on tuning and we have reached a decision.
Rebore, new ballanced pistons and rods, new bearings, lightened crank, porting work, gas flowing , skimmed head and a multitude of other tweeks.
We have decided to loose the starter and also the generator and run total loss electrics. This, among other bits, will shed a good 6 kilos off the weight of the motor.
By the time Steve has worked his magic, we should have 106bhp at the rear wheel and shed a load more weight bringing the old bus up to, or very close to, the Thunderbikes power to weight ratio limit.

The really great thing about it is, it will give me a chance to work on other stuff. Not having to think too much about the motor now, I can concentrate on the brakes and suspension. The raised power will certainly show up both these areas and we'll see what happens.If I can get these sorted, I can then really concentrate on ME and my riding, which is what I'd rather be doing. I will hopefully be picking up my newly reworked forks from Steve Jordan when we get to Snetterton, to add to the improving package.
Now we should be getting somewhere! all I have to do now is be patient and keep earning those ££££!