As some of you might know my Escort didn't go as well as it should have at Brands, here's why....

Time Attack gives three 15 min practice sessions before qualifying takes place so as I had never driven there I knew that getting the most out of those was the only way I would ever have any chance of getting anywhere near the missiles that were there. I could have attended the track day laid on for competitors a few days prior to learn the track but sadly I only found out about it at 4pm the very day.

First practice 10am:

Started the car up at 9.50 to get it warmed up, ahhhh it's on three cylinders Faster than a fast thing I whip a new set of plugs out the back of the van and in they go, restarted it and on four again whayhey.
Started the session and after the tyres had warmed up I started trying to get used to the track at this point the car goes back onto three, I decided to try and learn the lines with the misfire but in the back of my mind I was scared I was hurting the engine so I came into the pits and quickly removed the plug leads only to find one had a hole burned in the side...





After finding this I taped it up with insulating tape and ventured back out onto the circuit and all was good for half a lap and then the misfire returned

During that session Steve Fitzpatrick suffered a electric water pump failure and was putting his car back on his trailor so I cheekely asked him if he would lend me a lead, he did. Nice one Steve I took the car up and down the lanes and give it a beating, during which it didn't miss a beat.... Back in business

2nd practice 1pm:

Sitting in the pits waiting to get on the circuit I noticed a strange oscillating vibration that I had never noticed before, oh well no time to look now so out onto the track I go. Again once the tyres get some heat into them I try to press on but then the car starts popping and banging during each time it completely looses power, I drove it like this for about three laps but it wasn't getting any better Luckily for me someone had a spin so the session was red flagged and we all returned to the pits until the obstruction on track was removed. I opened the bonnet looking for a loose pipe or wire and noticed to my amazement that the crank pulley was running out badly, doh... I thought the bolt had come loose, sadly this was not the case and in fact the nose of the crank had broken off!!



The popping and banging was due to the teeth on the pulley eating the crank sensor. How the timing belt stayed on for several laps and the engine still remained timed up I will never know.



So that was my day over and I was pissed off but at the same time felt really lucky that the belt had stayed on and not mashed my engine to bits.


Thanks to Glen and the Time Attack folk

 

sorry to hear bout the misfortune martin ,

just a case of putting another crank in it ??

the words " git and jammy " spring to mind

 

Ouch!! but as you say, it could have been much worse as a result of that.

to Steve, for helping out.

 

Bloody hell Martin, that's a mare, BUT could of been worse, not as if that's any comfort to you...

 

Wounder, yet so very very lucky.

 

Didn't know you had entered the Time Attack Series now Martin, (been on holiday incase you've posted before) excellent news!

Sorry to see you've had trouble's though!

Did I read somewhere that you did not have a firewall in the car or something? I guess this has now been rectified?

 

that is a very lucky escape fella,

i came over and had a good look at the car and it such a shame it hasnt really performed to its abilitys in front of everyone yet as its an awesome machine

when i spoke to tommy form FMS he said it was fcuking shockingly fast once you put some boost into it at gatebil


hope to see you running without all these hiccups at the pf trackday soon and
would love a passenger ride if your offering them,

would give you a passenger ride in the xr2 in exchange, 300bhp in that to me is mental fast but it aint exactly gonna be much to you

 

Jesus cant beleive it disnt do more damage

 

Is the crank pulley a standard ford item then, is there an uprated item you can change to or will you just use a standard one?

What would have caused is to snap off ?

 

not having much luck Martin,but,saying that,you were lucky the cambelt stayed on.

 

Wounder (<-- not piss-take tears)

 

martin, that hole in the ht lead looks very much like a a high voltage track mark, as in the insualtion has broken down to an extent that the HT has found an easier path to earth than anywhere else and burnt through there. Once this breakdown starts theres no stopping it. Insulating tape wouldnt stand a chance at them voltages. If something has burnt through from the outside ignore the above but it certain looks like typical HT breakdown of the insulation material. Are you using a very high voltage coil? Are the leads rated for that correct voltage. Dont get me wrong, its safe to say you have way more experience than me in this field and I may be way off the mark, just my 2p worth (as a HV engineer I spend all my days trying to stop high voltges getting through materials and this is normally what it looks like on a failure).

 

fook me running i take it, its time for a new crank and away you go again ??

 

Yes, the car will only be off the road for a short period. It could be sorted this time tomorrow if I did not have to wait for the balancing of the bottom end!!

 

Shame, That is some very bad luck

 

Seen this a few times over the years....... bet you looked up and thanked god himself when you realised what could have happened!!!!!


Steve

 

beefy would just glue the end back on and hope for the best lol

 

Exactly that... All I could think of was smashed big valve head, pistons, damaged block etc and the huge cash that it would have cost to sort out Makes you think about driving on after having a few pops and bangs though!!

 

tbh that failure could have written the entire engine off

wouldnt like that bill

 

How it looks now Zero BHP

 

Lucky as hell that didnt do anymore damage

 

is that a custom crank mart?

 

probably lol

but i would of used chemical metal and gave it the full 24 hrs to cure lol

and then wrapped some duct tape round it to be extra sure !!!!!

 

Yes and to answer Matt J's question about Ł1500

 

cant believe how lucky you were martin

obviously its a shame it happened, but my god it couldve been so so nasty

she lives to fight another day all teething problems,im sure in the first years of the 1st one it was similar?

 

thats just put me off an uprated crank for my new engine.
was there a reason for it doing that?

 

that sucks , and I would imagine there is no way to machine the end bigger due to the crank cam belt pully? gutted for you

 

nice one that should hold it no problem mate and there is me thinking you would use prit stick lol

hope you get the car sorted martin you aint had much luck with it it has potential to do big things

 

Martin, unlucky yet lucky.

Heard about it last night, its a shame really

could there be a specific reason why its done this atall?

 

Lucky bugger could have been very expensive!

On a side note does it make much difference you not using a front ARB? And do you sell them legs you have fitted to your car as I may need something like that for my fiesta cosworth project.

Dan

 

what a cunt but lucky bastard at the same time

why did that happen martin

 

Holy shite batman!

Them angels were looking down on you yesterday!

 

lucky there was no further damage

i suspect that it suffered from some nasty harmonics due to lightened pulley/flywheel/clutch etc

 

Bloody lucky mate.

At least the damage wasn't anything to terrible.

 

your just like me
waste no time in getting the
lump out and sorting it.
its one of them nobody's fault things
and your on the case.
"if ya want summat done"

 

could the misfire have caused the crank damage?
possibly due to a combination of the factors nicks' listed about lightened everythings?

but yes, i will repeat what everyone else has said, you sir are one jammy dodger, go and buy a pack and stick them all over the motor just to be on the safe side

 

more lucky than a lucky person living in luckyland

if it had been me it would have took the motor with it & probably caused me to crash taking a number of other people out with me just to make it even more expensive

hope its sorted soon

 

Doh feel for you just begs the question why do we bother!! Lmao