Now the next part is both scary and I guess ultimately lucky!....
....new gearbox seal fitted and everything rechecked I was due to collect the car pending a final sign-off from Nick, fortunately he was stood at the back of the car when it was started from cold and heard the slighest strange 'noise!'

.....
.....the noise disappears as soon as there's a little warmth in the engine. Tappets, tensioners and everything else rechecked proved good, a leak down test showed less than 2% leakage from each cylinder which was obviously positive however a scope inside the engine shows a very slight touching by one of the pistons!
The downside is the engine back out and heads off to be checked and fixed, the upside is that the core is strong without any sign of debris or bearing damage.......a dodgy gearbox main seal may have messed up my RS track day but it may well have saved my engine!
Fingers crossed I'll have the car back in time for Spa!
Cheers,