MY BEST BODGE (BANG!)
Longstone Tyres Dougal Cawley puts a leg out of bed
I’m not known as a good mechanic and really there is only one reason for that. The mighty Piglet, my Ford Model A-powered vintage racer, was getting faster and faster. The extra G forces in the twisty bits caused oil surge – when I cornered hard, instead of the oil going up the oil pump, it sloshed up the inside of the engine block, losing oil pressure with the resulting clattery sound. So I ragged the head and sump off and had the errant con-rod out by 4am Monday in time to get it delivered to John Kirkby in Kent before 10am on Tuesday. John kindly white metalled it and I shoved it back in by Friday night in time to go racing at the weekend.
At the VSCC Sprint at Goodwood I was
doing a ton down the Lavant Straight when the big end cap, that I hadn’t done up properly, came off the crank. When the crank came round again it found a con-rod in its way, so to complete its circle, it pushed it through the side of the block.
It was really noisy and it also vibrated quite a lot. But by the time I came to a stop I had spent quarter of a mile spreading Castrol R all over a wet track. If it could have only lasted that day I would have fixed it properly over the winter. Live and learn.