Hi all,

Just wanted to share some joy at getting my Meerkat RV8 back on the road again after passing its first MOT today. It was good to feel the wind in what's left of my hair again and to hear that V8 roar!

MOT was painless but still nerve-racking as it was an old friend conducting it and I know that he is highly experienced both as a garage owner, MOT tester and kit car builder. He knew exactly what to look for and although I'm sure he would have been sympathetic if anything came up which could be fixed there and then, there is no way he would have done me any "favours" with anything serious and to be honest that's why I took it to him. The last thing I wanted to be doing was arguing with some Kwik-Fit (say) MOT tester because my non-existent wipers don't work on my non-existent windscreen while he/she missed some suspension arm fracture or something else serious. It's comforting to know that another set of eyes has had a good look at it 3 years after my SVA test. One thing he did spot was the fact that my locking tabs on the front left brake disc to hub bolts were not folded over. I know I fitted them with good quality thread lock and torqued them up but I am simply stunned that I hadn't folded over the tabs. He said that strictly speaking that wasn't an MOT concern but obviously I fixed it for safety reasons. I just can't explain how on earth I missed that as I am ridiculously meticulous when it comes to stuff like that - seriously! There was also a fuel vapour leak on the fuel pump outlet where only the oil residue from the fuel was barely visible. That was easily fixed by just nipping up the union a bit but the leak is so very slow that I'll only know if it is actually fixed by checking it in a week or two. Emissions were excellent with only 0.3% CO (limit is 4.5%) and something like 12ppm HC (limit about 1200 I think). Not bad for a pair of SU carbs on a 1977 Rover SD1 V8 engine eh??

After MOT I went to sort out road tax and had realised the previous evening that my insurer hadn't actually sent me the certificate! Aargh! I had checked the MID database and it came up as insured so I knew I was okay to drive to the MOT. I also had the receipt from payment to the insurer which included the policy number and underwriter details etc so I took that to my local post office in the (faint) hope that they might issue a tax disc. The guy was very reasonable about it and after checking the MID database and looking at my documentation he decided to issue a tax disc. Top bloke, shows that there are still people out there who are capable of making a judgement rather than just being a jobs-worth.

So, hopefully doing an oil change tomorrow and taking it for a spin. Happy days!

Well done Craig - I agree wholeheartedly with the second set of eyes going over the car. Really can't understand the proposed no MOT on pre-whatever cars.

Always good to get back on the road, though I shan't be doing that for quite sometime - budget on extension has now been blown to about 120% of est. Bearing in mind I only had about 80% to start with, that's quite a percentage

ATB

Simon

That's great news, Craig. 3 years soon goes, doesn't it? How many miles have you clocked up in it?

Thanks guys and sorry for the late reply.

Simon, yeah it is good to know that there is nothing glaringly obvious wrong with the car. Although an MOT isn't nearly as thorough as the SVA/IVA but by having a tester who is very familiar with this sort of car, he can probably cover more than a typical MOT tester would.

To be honest I'm thinking I might sell my car later this year or early next year as I'm just not getting to use it as much as I should be and I think I would be better selling it and buying a pair of karts for my son and I to have some fun in at a local outdoor track. I always feel a little bit selfish when out in the Locost as I'm the only one who really gets any enjoyment from it.

Steve, that brings me on to your question - how many miles... My speedo magnets came off for a couple of hundred miles but if you add that to the odometer reading of about 860 then it's going to be just over 1000 miles in 3 years! Not great really but those miles were all really good fun (for me at least!)

A lot of my problem comes from the unpredictable Scottish weather because although it might be sunny in the morning, if I were to take my car to work there is a good chance it will rain some time between leaving home and getting back again so I'd have to take a change of clothes and wrap my valuables in plastic etc. Not ideal really. And although the Locost has never (so far) let me down on the road with any reliability issues, I can't help thinking that my Toyota is a safer bet and since I'm an IT contractor, if I don't get to work then I don't get paid. For short journeys around town it just doesn't seem worth getting the Locost out of the garage and getting kitted out with jackets and helmets etc for a quick trip to the shops. Even if I did this, I'd be nervous about leaving the car parked in town for obvious reasons. My insurance doesn't even cover the car if not parked in my garage. So it comes down to "leisure trips" mainly and I just don't seem to have much time for that these days. I managed a trip from Kilmarnock to Kirknewton and back (about 120 miles) to pick up my daughter from gliding training on Sunday and that was nice but I need to work on the driving comfort side of things to make it more enjoyable. I need somewhere to rest my left foot and ideally something to locate my right heel too. I also need to revise the steering wheel position a little bit to gain some elbow room and improve the wind deflector to reduce buffeting at speed. If I can do all that then it might get used a bit more.

The good news is that the car seems to be very reliable and the engine runs really well. It can add MPH at an incredible rate and was easily able to blow away a scoobie on Sunday. Basically it will throw you back in your seat in 5th gear from anything above 40MPH all the way to a theoretical 125MPH. 0-60 by stopwatch is sub 5 seconds. Ideally I'd like to find a higher ratio diff (mine is 3.92:1) so that I can make better use of the other gears and keep 5th for cruising. The chassis is great too with usable grip and excellent balance. Out of corners you can provoke oversteer under power but it is so easy to control and traction is massive. This to me vindicates my decision to go with de-dion axle design as my tyre contact patch is very consistent compared to IRS.

Short term aim is to fix the comfort issues and finish painting the car and then I'll decide whether to sell or not. A lot will depend on whether I can use it more over the next few months.

Cheers,
Craig.