not starting

[LewisG306]

Hi all , Ive had a scout around the forum to see if i can find any similar issues that people have had and cant find a definite or clear answer.

I was out last night and the car was running absolutely fine , decided to have a race with 200bhp+ merc (and beat i may add ) and then afterwards pulled up and shut off.

I then left it for 10 mins or so and then went to restart it , i usually wait every time for the glow plugs to do there thing , and the start. but it didnt start.

Tried turning off and then letting glow plugs go again , even though the engine will have been red hot from the rag before. It finally fired up after me planting my foot to the floor , but did it with a lot of white smoke and some really bad knocking and then ran fine and i drove home. I decided to check the timing last night and that seems all fine apart from the upper timing mark on the pump pulley being quite tight and same with the cam. I then rebuilt all the left side after checking the timing and gave it another try. Nothing this time , not even a cough or splutter.

Hope this is just something daft and not any engine damage of some sort , i worry way too much

Any help would be much appreciated , Thanks

Lewis