[Treeve]

Gents,

It's not just dash padding. this is to get you away from crash testing. But let's not go there.

The club approves it's own plates. No technical knowledge required.

The guy who drove to Orange (about 45 minutes longer than just Bx) had his car set up by a reputable alignment place. The issue being that there was so much adjustment, that the guys in the shop with the laser alignment gear got it miles wrong - 8mm toe out at the rear for a start - and there were many more areas of issue. Regardless, some of the alignment stuff you won't pick up on a pink slip, and it is exactly this car why I will always make sure an ICV gets to do the emergency lane change test.

Some stuff you can't see when you inspect it - that's why you have to test. I've also heard stories of 'not for road use' being ground off tyres, I've seen similar tyres from Formula Ford cars on trailers ("I didn't think the trailer had to comply" was the excuse). The trailer didn't have anything to do with my inspection, but if you bring a car on a trailer like this, wouldn't you expect someone to say something? The dash padding is a small thing, but if you total up all the 'small things' that you can try to get away with over a number of builds, then you end up so far from the legislation it's not funny. The dash padding is a way of proving some kind of forethought for protection for your passenger. In the same way as headrests to stop you snapping your neck. Cobra's didn't have headrests, but perhaps because I've never crashed a Cobra I won't need to put the headrests on...

Be reasonable, play by the rules. Why not make a removable dash pad so your car can look cool when you want to be one of the cool kids, and then be compliant when you're doing the right thing. Just a thought.

Treeve