Confidence in the car was at an all time low, but decided i'd enter the Allcomers as a bit of a shakedown of the new engine. The plan started off well, 3 laps into practice i came in so dad and Dan could check for signs of problems under the bonnet, no problems, the car felt good, and so i went out to complete the session. I started to push on a bit more each lap, but was keeping my eyes on the gauges. After about 4 laps i noticed the oil pressure warning flash up on the digidash as i exited Gerrards, bugger!!! I slowed it right down and carried on down the straight, the pressure picked up again so decided to continue, but as soon as went past thepit entrance into the left hander of the Esses the light flicked on again, bugger bugger!!! So i slowed it down again and came back in. I'd checked the oil levels before i went out, but as this was happening on the corners i decided to whack a bit more oil in and give it a try. Unfortunately as soon as i got on track i realised that pressure was still dropping off and came straight back into the pits.
A look back at the video showed that the oil pressure light warning had started to flicker the lap previous to the digidash warning, which is set lower (15psi), bugger, bugger, bugger! The engine still sounded fine though when i came in, so we decided to quickily fire her up again. This time no oil pressure registered in the first couple of seconds so i killed the engine. We decided that this could be down to the earth on the senders or a blockage in the senders flexi pipe. Removing the pipe showed no blockage, so we then resorted to lashing up an earth lead straight to the battery.
Upon firing up we had oil pressure again, so all happy it was a sender issue we prepared for the RGB practice.
As i came out of the pits for practice, the oil pressure looked fine, but as soon as i entered gerrard its started to drop, and this was at a slow pace! I was going to come straight in and held my arm up, but noticed the pressure come back up on the straight, so i thought i would do a slow lap to try and figure out what was instigating the drop. As it turned out any corner at any speed caused the pressure to drop, but if i tootled round it would hold about 25psi, on the straights it would not get above 60psi, but at least it had some pressure. I continued for 3 laps (to ensure i could at least start at the back of the grid for RGB) at a very slow pace watching the pressure constantly then came in.
We drained the oil out, which looked horrible, a strange colour and very, very thin. This oil had only done the power runs on saturday morning and about 10 laps of mallory:-
This was 10-40 fully synth castrol race, which is red when new, it now had the consistency and look of muddy water! we assumed that this was the cause of the oil pressure problems but decided to continue and take the sump off. As i pulled the sump off the oil pick up pipe fell onto the floor!!!
The modified pickup that reaches into the bottom of the modified sump consists of the top half of the original plastic R1 pick up, glued to a metal fireblade lower pick up, this joint had failed allowing the bowl like pick up end drop off into the sump!! No wonder i had so little oil pressure!!!
Andy Bates has done this modification to several engies that run in the NIsevens and never had a failure, so either i was just unlucky (again) or something in the oil attacked the glue (liquid metal) causing it to drop off. So andy went off to fix the pickup, including a strap that would stop it ever dropping off again even if the glue gave up again. meanwhile we cleaned the sump and oil cooler out. We still dont have an explanation for the odd oil, maybe cavitation caused by the air being sucked in through the broken filter, dodgy, contamination in the engine or maybe fuel getting into the crank case???? We check the fuel pressure which was staying at a constant 40psi, so fuel being forced in through over pressure cant be the reason. If anyone has any suggestions please post!!
With the pickup and sump all back on i refilled the engine with some of Andy's 15-50 oil that he recommends and started the car up. Instantly pressure was back up high, and reving the engine saw a good increase! But by this time i had missed the allcomers, so other than a pootle around the pits i wouldn't know if it was all operating as it should, or if the engine has sustained any lasting damage.
A small monsoon fell 20 minutes before the RGB race, meaning lots of scrabbling around in the pits softening off suspension and fitting wets for some people. But the good thing about this was that we would get a green flag lap, giving me nearly 2 laps (including the out lap) to asses the engine and oil pressure. My initial plan was for a very steady start and keeping my eyes on the gauges, something i had mentioned to a couple of the new guys when i was advising them to hold back and brake early at the first corner due to the bunching up effect. But as it all looked good as i rolled up to at the back of the grid for the start lights, and the red mist descended, i ended up flooring it and got an absolute flyer, making up 3 or 4 places and also nearly getting passed Henry before he shut the door on me. This left me and Bob side by side around Gerrards. This is how it stayed for most of the race, bob and i slowly making up a few places while dicing with each other. It was very very slippy, and visibility behind the BDN was pretty horrific, especially when bob decided to start using his James Bond like oil slick spray device, otherwise known as a leaky oil cooler! We had plenty of side by side moments, slidey moments, nearly touching moments and one grassy/mud moment, but on the whole a very gentlemanly tussle, bob drove well in the BDN debut and also defended very well (and fairly), especially coming into the hairpin, but after he missed a gear coming out of the Devils elbow i managed to get passed. Unfortunately the oil slick from the BDN had found its way onto the camera lense, and my visor, so the last 2 laps have been cut from the video, you will just have to take my word for it that i managed to get past.
So from starting last out of 21, i finished 12, so pretty damn pleased with that considering what a terrible few weeks i've had, and whats more the car seems to be working!!!! I will drain some of the oil off when i check the car over to see what state its in, hopefully it will be fine and i'll be fighting fit for Brands in 2 weeks!!!!
Pictures of the day:-
And one i like which sums the race up nicely for me
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