Well folks I didn't need my book of excuses after all as Bella (my 1965 250 Mach1 for those reading this for the first time) had plans of her own to ruin my weekend!!
I'm not exactly sure when she is fifty this year but I guess I must have missed her Birthday as she threw a hissy fit just after leaving the holding area in Saturday morning practise and decided she didn't want to play and cut out on the main straight.
After recovery back to our paddock and a few checks followed by a push to start in the hope of it being something silly saw her fire up but immediately started making some horrible noises so it was hit the kill switch and no racing for us.
I could have started delving into the motor there and then but the given the noises I heard and the possibilities of why, the thought of bringing the bike home in more pieces than I took it there in didn't fill me with enthusiasm to do so, so for the moment she is sat in the naughty corner of my garage waiting to be looked at later this week.
I have drawn a little solace from it all though in as much as, I have had pretty much three seasons racing without any major problems, a faulty battery at Donington last year caused me to miss a race followed by torrential rain cancelling the remainder of the weekend being the other and here at least I wasn't at the end of the start/finish straight about to drop it into fourth and 'fall off the end of the world' into Paddock Hill bend or else I think I would be looking at a very broken bike and quite likely a broken me too let alone what kind of holes might have been punched through the crankcase if it is (as I am leaning towards it being) either a broken crank pin or a main bearing failure causing the noise but allowing it to still run (of sorts).
On the plus side it was good to catch up with my buddies from the CRMC and also with those of you from here that managed to find me- BIG apologies to those that looked and didn't but I do hope you had a great days entertainment watching some old bikes go round in circles.
With only five weeks to go until the Donington festival it is looking unlikely that I will be racing there now unless I can find something to ride in the meantime- my mate has a Greeves Silverstone he doesn't race at the moment as he's got himself a 'nice reliable Ducati' but we'll have to see as I think I may be looking at a fair few squiddlies to fix my motor and entry fees are getting on for the price of a new con rod.
All revved up and only Clearways to go......
