Thats gotta hurt

I've never really hurt the bike before so wrecking a set of cases like we did is a new experience. It seems strange that just recently i acquired an extra set of cases and they are going to be needed so soon.

The initial theory as to what caused the damage was detonation, or small amounts of detonation culminating in the cases finally giving way. However i have the engine apart now and there are no signs whatsoever of detonation. Number 2 cylinder was definitely hotter than the others but it was number 1 where the damage occurred, plus the plug has a perfectly intact electrode, the valves look fine, the seats and head haven't cracked, and the ring lands are untouched too.
So now the theory has changed, and the damage a little more visible it seems obvious the barrels and head have attempted to exit the equation. One possibility is the reinforced by the fact i spent most runs last weekend suffering wheelspin off the line and having to short shift into second due to having the wrong settings for such a slippery track. The theory is that having changed gear early and thus reducing engine speed - that with all the nitrous and fuel going in during a prolonged intake it just couldn't cope when the ensuing cylinder pressure went a bit mental and so tried to blow the head off.

I need to examine the crank for any damage yet but fingers crossed it is ok as i simply cannot afford a new crank. If it's survived i'll have my spare cases machined out to accept the bigger barrels and try to get it rebuilt in the next 3 weeks ready for the National finals at the end of September.

The event at the weekend by the way went pretty well excluding the damage sustained. As i mentioned in the last post the hope was to go and run some consistent and hopefully fast runs. we certainly got consistent and the bike went faster than it's gone before in it's current guise.
We had none of the electrical problems that we traditionally have from time to time, and particularly at the last event. Plus we finished up with an overall 4th in the qualifying times.
The first 2 runs were 8.5's and the 3rd an 8.4 @158mph. even the engine wrecking run was a fairly good 8.7. It ended there though and we had packed up before the first round of eliminations and spent the day watching.

So now the rush is on to finish getting this engine apart, get the spare cases modded and transfer all the bits to them.