TRUCK racer Malcolm Little was left with a very expensive boat anchor when his new 1700hp race motor threw a rod through the side of the block during practise at Manfeild on Friday. It was a gut-wrenching blow for the man who has played second fiddle to national champion Andrew Porterfor the past few seasons. With major assistance from sponsor Alan Griffen, of West Bush Deer Stud, Little imported the latest-technology Cummins engine from America and was looking forward to meeting his old rival head to head. The problems didn't end with the blown motor. The team rushed the truck back to the Masterton workshop and worked frantically until 11pm, hoping to fit the old motor, before discovering that the transmission was damaged. "It's the first time in 12 years that I didn't front up on a raceday," a despondent Little said on Monday. But he's a hard man to keep down. Already he's talking about getting a new block and rebuilding the motor the way he wants it. "We know the engine is very fast ? we proved that in Friday testing ? and it was running on six cylinders this time, which it wasn't at Timaru. The power is there, it's definitely able to boogie, but there was massive turbo lag ... I've decided it just wasn't suited to our application," he said. So, once again inspired and backed by his sponsor, Little plans to build a new engine to his own specifications. "Alan continues to be our main backstop. He's been a tower of strength," said Little "The camshaft and injectors ... that's all that's retrievable from the blown engine. Maybe the head also." One thing on his side is time. The Manfeild meeting was the season finale, so he has till next summer to put it all back together. There remains an element of surprise. The Freightliner ran on five cylinders at Timaru, and didn't race at all at Manfeild. "Nobody knows what it's really like," said Little. "And it's going to be a year before they find out. "We had hoped to get a year's jump on them, but now they'll be doing their own development."
