The whole team had been looking forward to the Retro Show, we had the new Dizzie cap and rotor arm fitted as the old ones were pretty much destroyed, and we knew there was a hell of lot more left in the cars performance. The first problem of the day was getting to the trailer park I left my home at around 12:40 it took me nearly 5 hours to do 100 miles that was how bad the M25 and M1 were on that Friday, utter bloody disgrace the new Dartford crossing system is now slower than the old barrier booth system and the "Smart" motorway system is just an excuse to slow everyone down usually for no good reason, put the bloody hard shoulder back then we wouldn't have to be told to slow down to 50mph 10 miles before a bloody indecent and even after months of TV adverts telling everyone not to travel in a lane with a red X in it no one bothered telling any of our overseas friends this..grrr rant over!.
After arriving at the Pod around 6 in the evening we set up camp and settled in for the night or rather I did as Steve wasn't coming up till the morning and Dave went home to his comfortable bed...swine LOL.
The following two days were going to be exciting, or so we thought? First of all we were going to fire the car up and make sure she works, then if everything is OK Steve was going to get his first ride in the car followed by a couple of runs by me then if the car was still in one piece and we had time we were going to try and get Dave a fire suit that fits and let him have a go..happy days so after a few Jack Daniels courtesy of the Ratchet Strap team it was time for bed.
I was up early in the morning nursing a thick head, grab wash kit and run over to the toilet block it then starting to rain dam! but luckily it was just a very light shower that cleared up quickly, not long later Dave turned up followed by Steve then Mike, We started work on the car, now Steve wasn't happy how the car turned over but after firing her up she seemed ok. So Steve was sent off to sign on for the days racing big grin on his face showing off his entry wrist band.
So the car came off the stands and was roped up to the tow car, Steve went into the trailer and changed into the fire suit, I don't think I have ever seen Steve with such a big grin on his face.
Steve was strapped in tot he car only a helmet and gloves left to put on and the car was then towed down to the pairing lanes ready for the run.
It was a really weird feeling seeing someone else in the driving seat but this moment was supposed to have come last year so can't complain too much, Steve seemed unbelievably calm, I had gone through with him all the procedures and he knew most of them anyway, so the car was fired up I went round tot he side f the track and filmed him as best I could as I couldn't see anything on the screen of the cam corder as the sun was so bright.
So at half track after a decent launch ad run Steve hit the big "Off" button, we all heard it and I think we all knew what had happened? I went to pick Steve up from the first exit and he was already out of the car looking at the engine, he looked at me he didn't need to say anything, we towed back tot he pits where the plugs were pulled on the middle two cylinders of the right hand bank and there was the tell-tale signs of aluminium dust all over them, so the head was pulled and there was an old friend visiting us again!!!!
The head torched again, so after a lot of discussion we think we know what to do, first we have to get the head welded up again and machined flat this time with the correct hardness welding rods then we have to go through our fuel system and see if there is any blockages if not then we are going to put bigger nozzles on those two ports, so all the bits were put into the trailer and loaded up and went home, Now the team have their work cut out to try and get everything ready for Dragstalgia, a race we can't afford to lose.
