Today at on this odd 29th February 2012 @ 11.45 two and half years after starting this project and some 3000 hours of work (in total by me and others)
and around £14,000 the Beast got an IVA PASS at Norwich on the second attempt. 
First was test was in December 2011 so the IVA fixes were reasonably quick.
Oh did I mention it PASSED. 
Now just suspension set up, steering, exhaust and power tunning from 185BHP to 300BHP to sort out to get to Le Mans this year 
Think I did say that it had PASSED it's IVA? Yeah I'm sure I talked about that ealier. 
Just the DVLA stuff to get sorted now that it's PASSED the IVA
Yee-Haaa!
So, how did the re-test go then?
Congrats chap
Did you say it PASSED!!!!
Well done! Congrats & all that good stuff!
Well done
Well done that man
Congrats - no essay/story this time!?!
Congratulations
Well done, cool build
Well done mate, Its such a great feeling..... I was hoping for story time, I'll let you off as you must be too excited
I'll scribble the full story once I've celebrated with many more beers
Cheers Guys!!!
Congratulations!
Congratulations on passing on this fine day
Jacko
Well done that man, Does that mean it only needs testing every leap year?.
Denis.
Well done buddy !
NICE ONE.
Well done!
Shame it wasn't registered today too. It wouldn't need an MOT for 12 years!
well done
now get some plates on it then look at www.southernkitcars.com forum and come out on a run. will be good to have another saab engined car in the
pack.
Here which on of these damn DVLA forms do I need to scrawl all over. Want a Q plate for the Beast coz it just won't look right with a proper
plate. It's supose to be a prototype sports car not anything real or vintage. So which V55/4 or V55/5 or both? Just when I thought it was all
good. Confused again! 
Well done and congratulations.
v55/5 is for kits. i think the 55/4 is for imports
Cheers Ash. See you at a meet in the near future, well that's a DVLA near future which is not relative to anything Einstein knew about
Well done!!,
BTW, you passed on the 29th, no MOT for 12 years
quote:
Originally posted by Marcus
Well done!!,
BTW, you passed on the 29th, no MOT for 12 years
OK as promised the WLR story of the pass.
So we got the trailer early for the retest. Getting the beast to sit comfy on a car transporter is tricky. The damn thing is so wide it only fits with
5mm to spare to each side rail. Bodywork destruction is almost guaranteed. It's easier to reverse the car onto the trailer in terms of ground
clearance, coz “big nose” hates anything higher than scattered horse pooh in front. But reversing up a tilting trailer and being accurate to +/-5mm is
a little time consuming! So this time 6” x 3” planks lined the deck of the transporter and were used to reduce the initial incline onto the trailer.
Lifting the whole car clear of the side frames gives much more cock up room and allows the car to drive on in a forward direction. Simple!
Strapping the beast down, so that it doesn't leap off and attack passing motorists, was also changed this time. Last time going over the body
work left the Beast wriggle room on it's suspension. So this time the straps were passed over the front and rear lower wishbones. Then the wheels
were locked using smaller straps and finally the trailer winch is used. Provoking the Beast with some shaking, bouncing and a sharp stick proved it
could not escape.
Next trick was to remove the wing mirrors so they didn't do a repeat of their sky diving performance, as in the the first test. And, unlike trip
one, the fuel cap was made secure. Following motorists would have to de-ice their own cars on this trip.
Right, test is not until 11am so a drive to Norwich from Colchester could be accomplished just outside the rush hour and in day light.
Note to self “Always go in the Dark”!!!
60MPH on the inside lane of the A14 means you catch lorries. Unfortunately every driver overtaking our rig comes out of “brain dead duel
carriageway" mode into “What on earth's that”? mode and hangs in the outside lane along side the trailer. This causes a queue of
cars, each of which has to have a peek. If there are more than two males in the car they could be out there for some time while they decide, in their
expert opinion, what it is.
Mean while our little convoy is now stuck behind traction units doing 42MPH with no bloody way out.
“Go AWAY” 
Having figured what was happening the power of the fully Abbott Racing tuned SAAB 95 2.3T was put to work. Lorry in the distance. Eye Spy Car Spotted
along side trailer. Floor it!! Car spotted is now saying “What the Hell” as the rig beats MR2 60-80MPH times and jumps into the outside lane. This did
make the trip somewhat uneconomic, but hey what we suppose to do, become farmers?
Arriving at Jupiter road test station finding the gates open and driving straight to the parking area outside the IVA shed was simple, as opposed to
last times locked gate pitch black unloading. Unloading using the new planks was a snap, the wing mirrors reattached and we were ready. But we are
early. OMG!! Nerves start to fray and sweaty palms need repeated jeans rubbing time. Gathered out side with the owner of the car under going import
checks, means the 17 paced laps around the beast didn't look quite as weird as it would if I were alone.
Denise, the tester, popped out to say the other cars paper work was about to be completed and then we'd be in. Smiles, shake hands, quick
reminisce and off trotted Denise. More pacing, followed by a dash to the waiting room loo.
TIME!!
Quick chat about how I fixed the self centring issue, Denise was very happy that it had been done with Castor changes and not “the usual bodgers
route”. Mmmmm, there was a little more toe out than there had been, but this stayed unmentioned.
15 minutes and a few ticks later, including a quick tweak of the headlight, Denise was in the car driving out of the shed to check the self centre and
rear view. Now for anyone who thinks they can get through with masses of toe out, camber and high tyre pressures, forget it! The car is weaved slowly
through cones then more quickly in a straight line and through cones. Turn in and straight line stability is also being tested here, me thinks. Then
the self centre is tested from at least two thirds full lock each side. Happy with the driving stability and degree of self centre another big tick is
entered on the fail sheet.
Parked and wing mirrors adjusted the final test receives a wonderful, great big, lustrous tick.
Over to the office, re-leaved of £90 and handed a scribbled on form. What? All that for a scrawled on bit of paper. What an anti climax! Still the
joy was euphoric and much hand shaking and thanks were banded around before the loading process. The beast hopped onto the trailer as if it new it was
escaping the vets with no fear of return 
Even the tailgating, trailer hovering Dumbo's could not dim the happy singing all the way home. Burgers in a lay-by produced some inquisitive
conversations and for the first time I was actually able to talk about using the car and it's trip to Le Man with major confidence.
Next job DVLA
well done
Cheers everyone for the congrats, but as susprected the DVLA have already thrown a spanner in the works.
They want to inspect the car to re check what VOSA checked at the IVA ie, chassis no:, engine no:, VIN plate. There is actually a place on the IVA
pass cert where it says they have been checked by the inspector. When I mentioned this to DVLA phone wally he said "VOSA are a diffrent agencey
to us"
So I asked "Don't you trust them then"?
"We need to prove it's correct" came the answer.
So apparently VOSA can't be trusted! 
"That's a highly efficent waste of tax payers money" Says me.
"Thank you" says phone geek ????????? I give up!
Next problem is they want it at Chelmsford, busy place and no way it can be driven there. Then they say if the car is on a low loader or trailer it
has to be removed to be inspected. So some how or other you have to get a rig into a crowded area heavily used by university, bussiness park and the
DVLA office. Unload the car causing mayhem, drive it into a special parking place where a DVLA pen pusher will check the numbers match with exaclty
what VOSA noted. They will then toodle back off to finish thier coffee, while I create more cahos reloading the rig again. Let's not get into the
cost of this for me (trailer higher and fuel) and the DVLA (disturbing said pen pusher from thier coffee).
Oh and they are most helpful about not inspecting cars. They only inspect on the 14th and 21st of this month. Can't disturb this highly trainned
coffee drinker on any other day. How long does it take to view a few numbers?
Oh well booked 21st as I'm at the wrong end of the country the rest of this month
Time to do all the odds and sods jobs on the beast till then.......
quote:
Originally posted by PeterV
Cheers everyone for the congrats, but as susprected the DVLA have already thrown a spanner in the works.
They want to inspect the car to re check what VOSA checked at the IVA ie, chassis no:, engine no:, VIN plate. There is actually a place on the IVA pass cert where it says they have been checked by the inspector. When I mentioned this to DVLA phone wally he said "VOSA are a diffrent agencey to us"
So I asked "Don't you trust them then"?
"We need to prove it's correct" came the answer.
So apparently VOSA can't be trusted!
"That's a highly efficent waste of tax payers money" Says me.
"Thank you" says phone geek ????????? I give up!
Na I was very polite and anyway it was a call centre some place with a chap with no idea where Chelmsford was.
As for VIC it's just wierd. Yeah they can check you have not changed anything since IVA but if you were going to, you'd do it after the
VIC.
Having spent a shed load on money on an engine rebuild I'm not sure many would change that.
Changing the chassis? Really. I think not.
A VIN plate is just that a plate.
Those that run Goverment agencies need to be given the common sense gene in large spoonfulls
But rules is rules and we have to keep these DVLA chaps in work during these tough times, I mean we don't want to have more teachers and nurses,
then where would the country be
All joking aside I just wish they'd put the car examination area some place where cars could get to, you know like the VOSA guys have. Most of my
concerns would then go away.