Hello all,

I have a bit of a strange request. I live in Australia and we are currently having issues with our government bodies with regards to the rules and regulations that govern our vehicles. Even through some rules are changing (some for the better, some for the worst), more needs to be done to help the local industry.

Anyway, we were talking about this the other night, and a builder who uses to live in the UK mentioned there was a study undertaken. He mentioned the study was about the good environmental impact that kit cars have. It went into the recycling nature of kit cars, and compared the pollutants used to create a new car compared to a kit car. He mentioned that this study was used to push the government bodies in the UK hard, removed red tape and government BS and allowed the industry to thrive.

I was hoping that, if possible I could get access to that study or get in touch with someone who knows about.
There are some people here that would be very interested in looking at it. And hopefully create change for the better.
Thanks for your help.
Tim

Don't know of any official 'study' being done, although there are a lot of opinions.

For me, kit cars use the most favourable means of saving the earth. Instead of 'recycling', which uses energy twice (to destroy and create), they 're-use' (no energy consumed).

Interesting. Something I have meant to look into, I guess you need to find out the carbon impact of building a new car... Can't believe the authorities are interested the number of kitcars is sooo small!! Still let us know what you find out.

I think a kit-car should come out pretty green on the energy/CO2 front (for total life time i.e. including emissions from building it) if not on local air pollution (i.e. most don't use lamba sensors ect)..

One thing that does irritate me is people in the UK moaning about the Goverment silly rules and kitcars, the thing is they let us do it at all!! In most EU countries it is a big no-no, in the UK the government has gone a long way to make it possible....

Dan

I found this, but you need a subscription to access / purchase it. Google picked up the phrase "Kit car" in it, so it might be useful.

Whereabouts in Oz are you? I joined the WA car builders club while I was out in Perth last year (to get my hands on their build manual, to figure out if I can bring out the MNR if / when I get my PR visa.. )

ETA: I completely forgot this link - that might be more useful!

[Edited on 17/3/10 by vinny1275]

Kit cars follow all three of:

REDUCE - REUSE - RECYCLE.

Just the shear difference in mass between kit cars and tintops should swing the argument - 500 kg of material against 1000++

And most of that recycled as well

[Edited on 17/3/10 by Ivan]

Don't forget the increased fuel economy.

... ......

Did I just mention fuel economy?!? I must apologize, run those engines are hard as you like!

vinny, i cant get that link to work. i may be able to access that link if its mended or if you can give me the title of the study as i work at a Uni.

Cheers
paul

Very interesting topic. Look forward to hearing about how you get on!

hmmm,

You can also be against it....
- no safetycage
- no abs
- no airbags
- no stability programs
- in UK a lot of noise 99 dbA

But,
- recycled
- less weight
- less pollution
- new idea's
- avoiding the "big-ones" to rule the world
- happy people

Still I think the kitcar is not suitable for the high and daily use. It's more like having a motorcycle.

BTW: in the Netherlands kits are allowed due EU-rules changes last year!

I am in Vic.
I tried that link and I couldnt get it going either.
Some government bodies here are strongly against kit cars.
But they wont tell us why, cause if they do, they have to explain why and we can argue against it. Tough situation to be in.

I was speaking to a member of a group who is pressing for change, and we thought this information would be very useful to push for change.

Thanks

Geez Tim, you get around.

Rick Jones
[ricc q on OzClubbies]