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whys this happened ....
woodster - 5/10/03 at 12:49 PM

i did my first track day at aintree on saturday . the weather was terrible very heavy showers . my fourth lap only goin about 60 mph .. very heavy rain ... my fireblade engine mountings ... bottom two .... broke off the chassis ... the engine dropped .. prop shaft came off and tried to come through the side of the footwell ............ totally gutted and puzzled .............. why????????????


Jasper - 5/10/03 at 12:57 PM

Is it your chassis - or a bought one????


pbura - 5/10/03 at 01:04 PM

Possibly intermittant traction from aquaplaning caused repeated shocks to the engine mounts?

If you post some pics of the mounts I'm sure you'll get some good suggestions for strengthening them.

If you bought the chassis with mounts, you should contact the supplier.

Awfully sorry to hear about your misfortune.

All the best,

Pete


woodster - 5/10/03 at 01:04 PM

bought the car built from sportspowerdrive .... looking at pictures on web i would say its mk ... il have to make some phone calls tomorrow .... still very pissed off ....gutted!!!!!!!


woodster - 5/10/03 at 01:06 PM

thanks pete


mad-butcher - 5/10/03 at 05:59 PM

suggest you look at my posting in the mk indy gt1 section page 12 called sportspowerdrive.com as you will see by posting it might look one of martins but odds are it ain't
sorry to hear about your misfortune didn't know they did track days at aintree be handy as i'm only in wallasey
tony


chrisg - 5/10/03 at 06:22 PM

MK have never supplied Sports power drive with chassis. It may be a copy but the one thing it is not is an MK.

Cheers

Chris


woodster - 5/10/03 at 09:02 PM

thanks mad butcher that was very helpful...... if my cars not got an mk chassis how does it say under make on the v5 MK INDY ....... even more puzzled ... now how do stand ?????


woodster - 5/10/03 at 09:10 PM

that last posting should of said NOW WHERE DO I STAND??????????just drowning my sorrows


woodster - 5/10/03 at 09:26 PM

the next trackday/test days at aintree are may 29 and october 4 2004 ......... had a good look at beeches just before my engine dropped out !!!!!!!!!......... there where 60 cars there on saturday and it cost me £99 ...........o and £8500 for the car..........................


Simon - 6/10/03 at 08:48 AM

Woodster

Sorry for your misfortune!

How long have you had the car. Is it still under warranty, etc etc.

If Sportspowerdrive built it, then they'll have of lot to answer for - Sale of Goods Act dictates that goods should be of saleable value (ie not a pile of shit) and fit for the purpose (it's reasonable to assume that 7 type car will be used in a track day).

I'm not a legal chap so you'll need to get some proper advice (eg CAB etc).

Suggest you start by talking to SPD nicely.

If no joy get down to Citizens Advice Bureau, then local trading standards etc.

I believe you'll have the law on your side if it all turns nasty.

DO ensure you keep us all advised of what happens.

ATB

Simon


mad-butcher - 6/10/03 at 05:07 PM

be very carefull when speaking to spd as said in sportsspowerdrive.com posting his mums a solicitor....... when was it registered
tony


woodster - 7/10/03 at 09:40 PM

i would like to thank mad-butcher , mk and everyone for there help and best wishes il let everyone know on the forum how things turn out with the car .......... THANK YOU


titch - 9/10/03 at 08:28 PM

I PURCHASED A CHASSIS FROM SPD,AND WAS TOLD, BY BOTH MK AND SPD, WHO HAD MADE THE CHASSIS.
AS FAR AS I AM AWARE SPD BOUGHT SEVERAL KITS FROM MK AND THEN SOLD THEM AS SPD's CARS.ONCE MK GOT WIND OF THIS THEY DID NOT SUPPLY ANY FURTHER KITS,AT WHICH TIME SPD WENT ON TO MANUFACTURE THEIR OWN CHASSIS.THE QUESTION IS----IS YOURS A EARLY OR LATE CHASSIS?


suparuss - 10/10/03 at 08:16 PM

i think if you bought the car from spd, it is they who should answer for this. if they were supplied a chassis, then they should take that up with whoever supplied them with it, which is nothing to do with you.
id have been shouting many profanities down the phone if this had happened to me, sounds very dangerous having a prop shaft flailing around just a few inches away from your legs, with not much more than ally and tube steel to stop it from mauling you to bits.



Russ.


Sport - 11/10/03 at 11:25 AM

I have only supplied 2 complete MK's on the road so if the owner of the so called car would get in touch i would like to talk with you. Anyone else who would like to contact me please feel free to call as we are open 6 days a week.
Please also read the retraction from "Which Kit" October's issue where they admit that they made the mistake for not doing their homework and finding out the true facts about my chassis's.


mad-butcher - 11/10/03 at 01:50 PM

ain't no injuns here just


chrisg - 11/10/03 at 05:54 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Sport
I have only supplied 2 complete MK's on the road so if the owner of the so called car would get in touch i would like to talk with you. Anyone else who would like to contact me please feel free to call as we are open 6 days a week.
Please also read the retraction from "Which Kit" October's issue where they admit that they made the mistake for not doing their homework and finding out the true facts about my chassis's.


It seems to me that "Which Kit" saw the chassis and drew the enevitable conclusion. It Looks Like a MK Indy.

Chris


fed up - 13/10/03 at 07:49 PM

how could which kit have seen the chassis and made there own conclusions

when the which kit mag came out before any one had seen the car


it was launched at the donnington show

before that no one had see more than what looks like a mockup photo in the magazine

what i want to know is did the chap who had the problem with the car contact spd why did he go to mk if every one is saying its not a mk chassis seems strange to me

the only people that know whats gone on is mk and spd

all this bad mouthing is bad for the kit car image as a hole

unless you work for spd or mk then how can you say whats going on and if you do work for either then you should not be using this site to slag of the other company

[Edited on 14/10/03 by fed up]


woodster - 14/10/03 at 08:34 PM

been giving the car a bit of thought .... it is badly damaged ...... if i cant afford to get the car fixed i think i'll leave it as it is and next year i'll show it at some of the kitcar shows stafford , stoneleigh ... how good will it look outside the main hall at donington with the bonnet off all those people walking past asking questions ....... it does look well ........ love woodster


JoelP - 14/10/03 at 09:00 PM

do you have a good diagnosis of what actually went wrong? how solid was your transmission tunnel, and how well did it withstand the prop flailing about? just curious from a safety point of view. ta


stephen_gusterson - 14/10/03 at 09:11 PM

a. you will be lucky to do that and

b. its a kit car. people will think YOU built it wrong.....





quote:
Originally posted by woodster
been giving the car a bit of thought .... it is badly damaged ...... if i cant afford to get the car fixed i think i'll leave it as it is and next year i'll show it at some of the kitcar shows stafford , stoneleigh ... how good will it look outside the main hall at donington with the bonnet off all those people walking past asking questions ....... it does look well ........ love woodster


woodster - 14/10/03 at 09:32 PM

hi joel .... prop cut through the tunnel in a couple of places and put a big dent in it ..... the clutch peddles badly bent it seems to have pushed it over .......... if you think of the beating it took i'd say and lucky for me its f**king strong !!!!!!!!!! i've got some pics i may put them on later


woodster - 14/10/03 at 09:37 PM

stephen .... the cars a bill board on wheels sign written all over .... the public car parks right outside the main hall at donnington


ChrisGamlin - 14/10/03 at 10:44 PM

Woodster, from these latest posts I assume relations between you and SPD are not good? If you dont mind me saying, in hindsight Id say you possibly havent gone about it in the best way by posting about the problem on a public forum before speaking to SPD, but thats forgivable considering you posted in the heat of the moment the day after the problems, when you had nowhere else to vent your frustration.

Hopefully you can sort something out with them amicably, but if that all fails then I'd think you have a good case to reject the car and demand a refund. A car is a car, it shouldnt matter that it is a kit car. It was supplied to you as a road going car, so you have have the same rights as when buying any other new/used car from a commercial establishment. This means it should be fit for purpose, free from major / minor defects etc etc (plus various other legal blurb which you can find on various websites). The fact that the car suffered a catastrophic and potentially dangerous failure may mean that you can persue one of these avenues if all else fails, but hopefully it wont be necessary.

Chris


Sport - 14/10/03 at 11:08 PM

It is a shame that woodster has not contacted SPD over this matter. Even in the light that he was racing the car when this all happened i would have treated it like any other matter. As for the slanderious remarks i am getting over something that no-one has proven who's is to blame if any, i feel that the industry of kit cars is suffering due to this. We all build cars to enjoy them. This car was built from an MK kit and was registered as an MK. I built the car and had no problems with it whilst we drove it around, but as we did not do many miles in the car it was advised that it should be checked regularly until a few miles had been covered. Woodster has owned the car for over 4 months now and has never contacted me to say anything was wrong, so he must have presumed it to be safe to race......1,if a prop came loose, then he would have felt the vibration and stopped before any damage 2, If the engine mounts broke and there are 4 mounting points on a blade, this would have been unlikely for all 4 to go at once. 3, the chassis to have broke, which i feel this to be very unlikely as Martin is a good welder and chassis builder.....so my conclusion is that it was an unfortunate accident which seems to have no blame. I am not pointing any fingers and i feel no-one should point them at SPD as no-one here knows. Woodster has not contacted me about this until i wrote to him to ask if the car in question was his..he said yes....but still he has not contacted me, so i wonder why?


JoelP - 15/10/03 at 11:32 AM

woodster, has MK decided what caused the prop to fail? was it a factory piece?

if SPD was a private individual building a car to sell, the car is right to go back to MK. As he is a company, it should've gone back to him. Ie if you buy a BMW off fred, it goes back to BMW. If you buy a bimmer off alpina, it goes back to alpina. by being a company he is taking responsibility for the build and product.

just cos MK is popular doesnt mean that SPD is a crank.


ChrisGamlin - 15/10/03 at 12:32 PM

Fair enough, I think its something that certainly needs to be sorted out of the public domain between yourselves and Woodster.

Im sorry if my post sounded like it anti SPD tho, I was merely meant to highlight the fact that there were better courses of action to take, but if the car was found to have a serious fault that was not caused by Woodster's actions, then under the law of the land he is entitled for it to be fixed by yourselves or refunded, regardless of whether it was a fault that occured on the road, on track (not racing) or on the moon

From what Woodster says, it sounds like the engine itself has moved/dropped significantly, causing the prop to fail, rather than just the prop failing. The most likely method of engine movement I would think is the loss of engine bolts. I'm not sure how the MK cradle works, but with my ST one, it holds the engine in 4 places, so if you lost 2 bolts it could potentially twist and hit the ground. Ive had a couple of mine rattle loose over the last 18 months or so, and these things happen, nobody's fault as you say, just bad luck if that is the case. If it is a structural failure of the chassis mounting / engine cradle though, I dont think there can be much argument about where the fault lies assuming that nothing has been modified since purchase, and hopefully SPD would take that responsibility on the chin like any good supplier.

Chris

[Edited on 15/10/03 by ChrisGamlin]


Lightning - 15/10/03 at 08:19 PM

Obviously sorry to hear of you predicament, but it has made me think of the cradle that I am making for my blade engine in a tiger. Have made it so that it is using 7 mounting points instead of 4.
All I can say is this forum certainly helps with builds as we can all learn from each other.


woodster - 15/10/03 at 08:43 PM

the damage to the car was due to a prop shaft failure ........ i would like to thank everyone for their help and best wishes .... a big thank you to martin and mk engineering for offering to repair the car and thank you to sportspowerdrive for kindly offering to pay for the repair .....THANK YOU ...... im now looking forward to driving and enjoying what is a fantastic car again !!!!!


Brooky - 15/10/03 at 08:49 PM

AAAARRRRRHHHHHHHH isnt that nice, we are all friends again.


Simon - 16/10/03 at 08:53 AM

Woodster,

Glad to hear all has been resolved successfully.

Good for SPD and MK too.

ATB

Simon


Jon Ison - 16/10/03 at 03:40 PM

read the above posts carfully, ok MK is repairing the car but who is footing the bill ?
bit like saying it was ADR's fault your mondeo got trashed on the M1.

I have seen the car at BTW not just posting speculation.