Phil Seton - you let me down

Even with the arctic conditions, spirits were high last night and we started to put the engine back in with a new found positivity. Engine slotted in, new crash bungs went on (very nice vortex ones - lets see if we can keep them nice!), airbox, radiator, exhaust.....

About 45 minutes later we looked at each other - "Go on then, start her up"....

The engine burbled into life and we smiled and congratulated each other.

I started to recall how last time, I'd stood there, blipping the throttle, smiling to myself until I stared down and saw oil pouring out.

"There's oil pouring out!"
"Yeah - it must have been a pisser"
"No, I mean mean there's oil pouring out NOW!"
"WHAT!!"

Yep - for the second time, we had rebuilt the bike, only to find that Phil had let us down again. This time the error was pretty simple and avoidable. He had misaligned the cam chain tensioner gasket and it was leaking. I won't bore you with the new swear words I thought up.

To be fair to Phil, he's done all he could to rectify each problem. He holds his hands up and admits they should never have happened in the first place, but given that we live at opposite ends of the country, he has done all he could to rectify both problems and that means everything. Phil - you messed up big style, but your still a top bloke.

The suggested procedure for rectifying this would be to take everything off the top of the engine (petrol tank, airbox, valves) and then remove the cam cover and tackle it from there. Luckily, Scott was able to shortcut this procedure and we removed the gasket pretty quickly. The gasket wasn't looking too pretty, considering it should be a spanky new one (I paid £370 for the engine refresh remember!) but it was positioned correctly and backed up by some extra sealant and put back together.

So with another top up of oil, we were ready to go

This time the starting of the engine wasn't met with cheers, just anticipation....

We ran it for 5 minutes and saw no further leaks. "She's good to go" said Scott... "Cheer up mate - you're going racing!" I was happy, but completely absorbed by the fact that I had lost confidence in the engine. An oil leak in the garage is one thing, but an oil leak at 150mph is something completely different. I was trusting my life in Phil's hands and from what had happened up to now, that wasn't really a safe place to be.

The bike was wheeled into the van and I headed home

Today, with the snow falling, I'll be phoning up to pay my £300 entrance fee for this weekends racing. I'll be sleeping in the van, with my wife, and the bike, with temperatures just above freezing. I just hope the weekend goes well so that I remember why I do it. Why I put myself through so much stress and pour in so much money into something so demanding.

Then I think of the feeling of winning, and I just want to get out there and do it again!