Arguments about what's considered a Street Car has gotten very stupid

[HyperSpeeder]

In what way? What do you believe is permitted that shouldn't be? What additional legislation would you create to reduce the problem your perceive?

This is not exclusive to the UK, but cars like Caterhams are exempt from most requirements because they have their own category (kit cars), despite obviously not abiding to the same safety standards as other road cars.

The legislation was probably put in place to let home built cars drive on the roads, but obviously there are companies that take advantage of it to keep selling their cars.

I could ask for the law to be more specific regarding the "kit cars", but someone would find a loophole anyway, as Chapman originally did (and was ingenious!).

 

[AmyUD06]

This is not exclusive to the UK, but cars like Caterhams are exempt from most requirements because they have their own category (kit cars), despite obviously not abiding to the same safety standards as other road cars.

The legislation was probably put in place to let home built cars drive on the roads, but obviously there are companies that take advantage of it to keep selling their cars.

I could ask for the law to be more specific regarding the "kit cars", but someone would find a loophole anyway, as Chapman originally did (and was ingenious!).

Can you show me on this doll where the big bad Caterham touched you?🙄

 

[Seikenfreak]

Curious thread..

If I imagine myself playing the game like this (maybe I did with other games a long time ago 🤔 ), I think the spirit of the lobby is to have fun driving "realistic" road cars or stuff that is more down to Earth so to speak. Cars of a certain performance range, or PP in this case.

So if I had to guess, it's that everyone else is driving like.. Civics or Mustangs or Camaros or BMWs etc.. Stuff you'd see and actually drive on the road. And then someone comes along and they want to take a literal race car out and then be a knob about it and say "Well look at the # roadcar! It's a roadcar!" That seems silly in this context. They are race cars that someone put a couple extra light bulbs on.

We call this "Ruining the immersion"

The Radical is anything but a road car But, I'd probably consider the Caterham to be more in the spirit of the idea because it is (or there are versions) that are slower and more equivalent to a Miata. Does the Ariel Atom fit this category? It's tricky. Just saw one last weekend up on the Dragon. And actually I think people take Radicals up there as well 🤔

Still! I stand by my idea that the intention of the person who made the lobby was for people to drive "Normal" cars.

 

[Samus]

And yes, the British legislation is too permissive. Because they need to keep their kit car garages afloat.

You think the Government cares about kit car garages? Ha, no. They'll let you drive anything on the road if you meet all the conditions.

Just ask Edd China. He's driven a road legal sofa, office, bath, a bed, you name it.

 

[Famine]

This is not exclusive to the UK, but cars like Caterhams are exempt from most requirements because they have their own category (kit cars), despite obviously not abiding to the same safety standards as other road cars.

This isn't true in any way. We don't have a separate "kit car" category (the USA does though) for a start.

There's a single legislational difference between kit cars - and this applies to any car which has been substantially built or modified* by a single individual or concern other than vehicle manufacturer - and cars built by a vehicle manufacturer. That difference is that the vehicle must pass an "Individual Vehicle Approval" test (IVA, formerly Single Vehicle Approval or SVA) in order to be legally registered for road use.

The IVA test is no less stringent than a Vehicle Type Approval, and cars are required to meet basic minimum requirements for mandatory equipment and - you'll probably be surprised to learn - safety and pedestrian safety.

Vehicles built by a car manufacturer that is not a volume car manufacturer (200 cars per year or less; not to be confused with "low-volume", at 10,000 cars a year or less) must still acquire Type Approval, but are not subject to crash test regulations, electronic assist regulations, and - to an extent - emissions regulations ("low-volume" manufacturers are also less constrained by emissions regulations). That's largely because a company which makes 200 cars a year or less ordinarily can't afford to send 10 examples to Thatcham to be blasted into concrete blocks of various shapes and sizes.

However that particular exemption includes cars you'd think of as cars rather than just the apparently objectionable Caterhams, Ariels, and Radicals. The Noble M600, for example, has no ADAS of any kind - not even ABS - but you'd hardly call a handbuilt, £200,000 supercar a "kit" car (even if there was a category for it, which there isn't). It's also a European standard (we were after all in Europe from 1973 to 2020) and applies to non-volume European brands like Bugatti and Koenigsegg (though they do crash test their cars; the NHTSA in the USA has no such exemptions)... unless you think they're "kit" car manufacturers too?


So, to re-ask my questions, in what way are British laws regarding what qualifies as a road car "too permissive"? What do you believe is permitted that shouldn't be? What additional legislation would you create to reduce the problem your perceive?


*A component "totting-up" system is applied. Your car is scored by the number of major components replaced with non-standard items, or standard-fit items for a different model of vehicle, with higher scores for more significant parts. Once you reach a certain threshold value, your car no longer qualifies for its original Type Approval and must be submitted for IVA before being road legal - even if the original car was a mass-market item.