[RigMan]

Hurrah!

Monday 30th July was the official end of my build as the car cruised throug to a pass at Chelmsford. And what a relief!

The test was booked for 08:00 and My friend and I arived with the Cobra on the back of a trailer. We ligned up behind a Japanese import and a 3.5ltr Rover powered Trike also in for testing. About 08:20 my designated inspector walked out and we soon got down to business. The chap was friendly and helpful and let me know what he was thinking and seeing. I had neglected to fit something across the front grill opening, and so my friend (as I was sitting in the car jacked up on the hoist) tie wrapped some pipe foam across the grill. They were more than happy with that! My 3½" Le Man fuel filler cap passed, which I had some reservations about, plus my Cobra badges. The headlights needed realigning as I had jacked up the front of the car to raise the indicator lights to just above the required height. They seem happy to let you perform these adjustments as you are going along. It is done at a leasurely pace and are almost trying to string the test out as much as they can. They alot 4 hrs for it and actually we only took 3 hrs and that was with a ½ hr tea break! Good old HMG!!

At 11:30hrs I was issued with my MAC and we were done. Lessons learned was that you need to take as many bits and pieces with you to perform any 'lash ups) as you go along, and additionally, having someone with you to do these whilst you are operating the controls to fix the problems and fetch tools etc is a must! You are almost in a production line as you go through the testing eqpt, so you don't want to take all day! The biggest help however is the overall condition of the build. If they see that you have taken alot of time and effort on the build and that you have paid attention to detail then they are much more sympathetic when it comes to anything boarderline. They are actually trying to pass the car. If however, the approach is more cynical, where you are trying to pass with the letter of the law rather than the meaning of it, thay might be less tollerant. The Trike failed!

Hope this helps.

RigMan