April 14th 2010 Engine and sponsor news
Not what we wanted to be reporting here, but both our newly fitted Dart heads have sustained significant damage, with the ports above piston number 2 taking the brunt of it. The heads are probably repairable, but the work involved will be very expensive. As for the new custom made pistons we fitted over the winter, 6 of the 8 are now only useful as paper weights or ornaments, and 2 of our nice new rods are also trash. The cylinder bores in the block also took quite a pounding, again number 2 cylinder coming off worst. Most of the valves are also damaged, so they'll all need replacing. The block will require machining but is salvagable. One of the lifters also fell apart, and we've yet to establish if the camshaft can be saved. About the only major component to escape damage appears to have been the crank, which is just as well as we've only made a couple of runs on it! So, dear fans of dark racing, we will not be competing at Shakey at the beginning of May. However, most of the team will be sitting in the bleechers at some point over the weekend, so if you see a miserable bunch of spectators wearing Nosferatu T-shirts, feel free to come and say hello! On a much brighter note, we're proud to have added new vinyls to the car in return for all the fabulous work that Nick Bolton carried out over the winter, fixing all the damage to the carbon fibre after our slight brush with the wall at the European Finals at Santa Pod. Anyone looking at getting repairs carried out to their road or race car should speak to Nick, his work is top rate! Make sure you come back regularly for progress reports from the crypt!