Book early to avoid disappointment

[Luke Beaumont]

Somehow I got the idea that SVA appointments were on a 2-3 week leadtime, so I tried a couple of centres today hoping to be sneaky and get one in a fortnight. Not so. 1st choice Gilligham told me I wouldn't get one before the end of October, and the 2nd choice Chelmsford 4 weeks. mad.gif

 

So, tomorrow I'll ring round a few further afield, but given that Gillingham is out of the frame, am I going to have bother with an FIA bar? The build manual is noncomittal, simply saying that you may have problems at other centres. Anyone got any firm experience of putting an FIA bar through Chelmsford/Norwich/Croydon/Leighton Buzzard?

[Brad Tipp]

Mine went through at leighton Buzzard WITHOUT the FIA bar. From reading other threads it seems that things are a little iffy with the bar. Reading the letter of the law, as long as you have fixed mirrors these should be able to do the job, but it seems like not all centres take this view.

 

Why not just put it through with no bar in place and then refit it afterwards? I know it's a pain, but at least you know you'll pass.

 

T 1 PPB - Superlight

 

"Well yes officer i'm not arguing, it's just that [insert excuse here]..."

[MJS]

Luke, I will be facing the same dilemna as you in a few weeks as I have ordered my 7 kit with an FIA bar. I was hoping to take it to Gillingham with bar in situ, but if the earliest appointment is end of October then I may try elswhere. I was only going to go there because I heard they pass FIA equipped cars.

 

My nearest SVA centre would be Norwich, so I will be interested to hear how you get on regarding lead times, and also if you submit your car with or without bar fitted should you choose this location.

 

Anyone else taken their car to Norwich?

 

Cheers,

 

Matt.

 

Superlight on order, been waiting 16 years biggrin.gif

[Luke Beaumont]

This is proving to be a most unpleasant end to an overall enjoyable build.

 

Phoned the Mitcham one today, who were quite helpful and said that there were cancellations available this week & next, and that I should send the form off and contact them again. Asked to be put through to a techie for the FIA bar, and then it went downhill. He couldn't comment on the FIA bar, only to say that it mustn't restrict 10% of rear vis, however that may be measured. "Gillingham pass them, Caterham even say so in the manual" quoth I. "You shouldn't be telling me that Sir, I'll pretend I didn't hear it". Just when you think that you're dealing with a bunch of regular people, they brandish the hard stare of governmental superiority sad.gif

 

Brad: thanks for confirming that they'll pass it without a bar at all - that at least gives me the option. Obviously being able to see in the direction you're not going is more important than surviving a roll.

 

Matt: I'll keep you posted.

[Bob Corb]

Luke

 

I took my VVC superroadclublightsporttrophy to Derby for its SVA on Monday and passed with the FIA bar in place although we didn't bother doing any other visibility check or noise test because the examiner had done another just the same on saturday morning (at 7.30am, whoever that blue car at Caterham midlands belongs to, thank you I copied your wiring tidying,door bolting and rear light piping, hope you enjoy it).

 

When I was there somebody rang up and the call came through to the examiner, he said "Yeah, bring it back tomorrow morning at 10". I guess retests dont take too long to arrange.

 

Bob

[MJS]

Luke, I agree with you entirely - how can an identical car be passed at one place and not another? mad.gif The fact also that you can get a pass *without* it fitted at all is absolutely ludicrous. Like you say, as long as you can clearly see the Volvo that is about to rear end you, that's all that matters.

 

I'd appreciate it if you could keep me posted as I'd like the whole process to go like clockwork!

 

Cheers,

 

Matt.

 

Superlight on order, been waiting 16 years biggrin.gif

[simonwelton]

surely this whole FIA bar visibility thing is just a creation of the jobsworths?

Vans have no rear windows, artic lorries certainly can't see behind and even the average family saloon with three dirty great headrests has worse rear vision than a seven. As long as you have 2 mirrors (doors) bolted in place so they are non removeable no examiner could fail you? Don't quote me on this though.

 

Si