Preparing for Kames in East Ayrshire

It's off to Kames this weekend 20th & 21st May (track is in Muirkirk - organised by East Ayrshire Car Club). The car has been untouched since a double victory at Fintray, hopefully only some fuel to be added and it will be racing again.

Kames last year was a right pain for me, on two occassions I've been under the class record in practise, heading for both a class win and a new record, when I've retired with serious engine failures.

The first time granted, was driver fault, when I accidently selected 1st gear rather than 3rd gear, I found out that day that a Vauxhall Nova will not do 11,000 rpms. Needless to say, that was the end of that, the engine needed some serious rebuilding to get it ready for future races.

After frantic rebuilding, the engine performed well at other race tracks gaining a personal best at Forrestburn, before heading off to Kames again. This time the car performed as before, going great in practise, but the engine blew up on the 1st timed run, when a valve head decided to snap cleanly off the stem and rattle about in the cylinder at 8,000 rpm until it punched a hole through the piston and wrecked the cylinder head.

At this point I decided enough was enough and retired for the rest of the season, to build another engine.

Anyhow - fingers crossed the visit to Kames this weekend will be slightly more uneventful but more successful.

Find out how I get on at www.reidracing.co.uk