In a rather “last” minute decision Annalie and I take leave for the 15th and head out trackside. Documentation and scrutineering done, we make use of the first session available to see what our rebuild post running bearings at Dezzi Raceway will do and test some changes to Fossa’s rear suspension.

Completing a few laps have me pull in to the pits and just in time as Fossa have filled her oil catch tank to the brim and have started dripping oil. For some or other reason Fossa seem to have too much crankcase compression.

We throw around a few idea’s and head home. The first idea is to run her with the Roach’s Anglia engine. A few tests have us decide against the idea and the fact that she is currently our only running car as the Cortina has shown a brake issue which I have not gotten to due to the short daylight working hours in the winter and the TIME taken up repairing and preparing Fossa.

A compression test have us puzzled even more as this does not indicate a problem. The general consensus is still failing compression rings. We head out to get the known needed spares and Fossa’s oily engine is removed, stripped and cleaned. At around 01h00 Saturday morning, raceday, her engine is reassembled and at 01h30 after fitting only her engine we call timeout. The idea is to head trackside and at least support …

At 06h00 Antz Vlok from the Cape provides a wake up call. Annalie comes up with the idea to contact our Little Giants group “rep”, Chad Ten Doeschate to have him nominate a time for us. We are going to try to finish Fossa and head out to Zwartkops Raceway for our races. A little while later John Ten Doeschate calls. The driver of the red Anglia can not attend and the car is entered, do we want to use her. With my mind so preset on completing Fossa and post the Dezzi Raceway incident with the Dart, I advise of our plan.

All work completed, I head around the block for two slow laps to enable some bedding of the rings and just to get a feel for Fossa’s readiness. Pulling into the yard I park Fossa, ready to load. Opening her bonnet indicates oil in the catch tank! Disappointment is very closely followed by tiredness due to the four hours sleep ….

After quite a few emotional changes, decisions and work in 24 hours …. The couch wins!

We run another compression test with results slightly lower than the previous but that is to be expected as the rings have not had any bedding time. Having fixed so many engines in the past with success, I just can not seem to get this Kent engine’s ghost.

Following in house team discussion, we are in two minds about entering Fossa into races without testing and running in on a track day which is considerably cheaper than a race entry with a lot more stints. I also need to split available time across more projects and prioritize them. Still, the question on why the excessive crankcase pressure, so despite the above, we will do a basic leak down test to try to determine where that pressure is coming from.

Two Historic Tour races remain for the 2017 season. 28 October at the Redstar Raceway and 2 December at the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit. The Redstar event was sort of planned but the Kyalami event doubtful due to rather steep entry fees. Nobody said motor racing is cheap nor demanding on time, but there has to be limits.

Cheers ….