April 1st .... ..

April 1st the joke is on us... Up as usual light winds forcast untill 9pm then strong , good we'll make good progress south and try to get the record we need about 160 km or so we think . Off to a great start, staying low hoping over power lines and going good about 30 ftoff the deck , motor goes dead, not time to grab the toggles only have the wing tip sterring in my hand oh shit ... flare and run asap .. whew no breakage to the motor or me , happy boy . Guys catch up .. wrap tape over a potential problem area at the starter figuring it was shorting out , start it and it stops again , can't get it going. Swap carbs out thinking this one was getting work out . New one onnot tunned wont idle proper , spend about 40 minutes and we have it going again , but rough on low power .. off I go... 20 minutes later ,motor cuts out again same as last time ... ahhhhhhhh these motor are driving me crazy !!!!!!!! Decision is made to change motor over and use the last spare motor , do the swaps and get everything ready when were about to put the prop on we notice the crack in the motor case , from the previous post belt tensioner ... shit ! get another motor out , the last and only one that might run and swap all the working parts on to it ,,, The guys now these part by name ... and what it takes to swap out , but i'm noticing the wind increasing from the west .. its 9 pm already, we've done 3 hr and 40 km . I take off and have a problem with the steering , something is caught .. figure it out and go ..... I fly about another 20 km and the wind is brutal, the cold front is here ! We missed our window of oppertunity those F%&&**O(*##ing motors ... Drive into town about 3km and have brecky and coffee, a nice treat at the local truck stop . Sunday afternoon nothing in town is open , meet with craigs parents whom come and visit and camp at the local caravan park. Go for a run in the wind ...loosen up the body and stretch . Sleep.... maybe tomorrow !