Clicking noise from engine - Cam wear? - Sigma

[Thurtene]

Hi All

At the end of a recent track day at Rockingham, I heard a ticking noise from the engine. I thought at first it was gearbox/clutch related but when I got the pits, it was clearly something in the engine. A combination of factors (all my own fault) suggest I've run the engine too lean on oil...

I've taken the cam cover off and noticed something on the cams towards the front of the engine. Can the good people on here offer any suggestions what this might be...? I've attached pictures of the cams (a discoloured cam - a bit 'yellow', a bit of possible scraping). I've also got pictures of a magnet passed through the drained oil showing small bits of metal as well as pin-prick flecks of metal in the oil from the filter.

Is this in keeping with normal running, part of the cam wear (if that's what it is) or something more sinister?

Cheers!

Joel

[rj]

On a K-series spring caps give up at high revs.

Been there - more or less stripped the bottom end as I thought the sound came from there, but it ended up being simple.

It could also be an exhaust gasket leaking. Or a primary leaking.