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On cleaning the outfit ready for this weekends racing at Cadwell Park we noticed a small oil leak. This has been traced to a hairline crack in the oil tank! Will we be able to get it repaired in time???

Today we completed the installation with the oil tank being the last thing to fit following some alterations to the breather and a slight increase in height to boost capacity. We added the engine oil etc, set the ignition timing and.............splutter, splitter, cough, bang, nothing! Following some serious head scratching we decide to re-check the ignition timing and here was the problem. When Ian fitted the timing plate he had the piston on TDC but did not remove the rocker covers to ensure it was the compression stroke. This was confirmed when we placed the engine on TDC and removed the rocker covers to find the cylinder not on the compression stroke. A quick rotation to line up correctly and hey presto the rotor was 180 degrees out! A quick adjustment, refitting of the rocker covers and she fired first go!

Today we spent the day re-fitting the engine to the chassis and all the other components such as control cables, electrics, exhaust etc.

During July we took our annual holiday and travelled to Chimay to attend the Classic Racing on the roads around Chimay. This year, as usual, we marshalled and had a great time. After the meeting we made the long trip down to Cannet in the South of France to meet up with Richard Darby of 3D Motorcycles. The reason for our visit was to collect our engine that he was rebuilding for us. When we arrived it was late Thursday night so after a bite to eat we went to bed. On waking the following morning we were greeted with a totally dismantled engine! When Richard had a check over of the motor all seemed well. However he is a most thorough person and was perplexed as to why we had been having so many problems. His suspicions had proven correct as our crank shaft had worn main bearing journals! A crank regrind had been done and the hold up was waiting for new bearing shells to arrive from the UK. It was not until Saturday morning that they arrived which would mean a hard day and a bit of work as we needed to leave Richard's by Sunday afternoon. The rebuild was great to watch and we really did get a great insight into just how complex the Trident engine is. We have added a series of pictures detailing the rebuild on the 'Photo Album' page. We bid farewell to Richard on Sunday afternoon and made the long trip back to the UK arriving home late Monday evening. We had a lovely time and would like to thank Richard for his hospitality and working to our deadline.