Oh hey guys! Hanaldo is back! New account name, same user, same car... Kinda. I will be posting a new build thread in the Motorsport section soon, but I wanted to update this build thread to kind of finish the story before I start the new one.
So I've been inactive on the forums for a long time since I started my business, but I've had a few developments over the last few months that have seen the car going in a different direction and I wanted to get back on the forums to document it again and get involved in the motorsport community on here again. Basically where this thread left off is about where the progress on my car ended. After it got stolen, I lost a lot of the enthusiasm I had for it, then I got very busy with work, got married, etc. etc. and it just became the daily driver for the last few years, pretty neglected and not much to write about. There were a few odd changes here and there, but honestly nothing too interesting.
That was the case up until about September last year, when I thought it would be a good idea to drive my wife to work in the city on a Saturday night, only for a wild policeman to appear to inform me of how that was a mistake... I'm pretty mellow these days and don't have as much issue with the police handing out stickers as I did when I first got the car, but it still irks me when they clearly have NO idea what they are talking about or looking at. Considering it was still registered as a non-turbo GT, my car was a relatively highly modified car making 401rwkw on E85, non-ADR approved Sparco race seats, etc etc, so it was certainly yellow-sticker worthy if you're going by the rules. So it will always annoy me that the things that essentially ended my cars road going days were clear indicator lenses (despite the fact I had amber bulbs), and a 3" exhaust. NOT the volume of the exhaust, which was actually legal, but the size of it. And that is all the officer picked me for.
After the initial pit inspection, the two items on the sticker were cleared straight away. But they wanted engineering certs for all the modifications, which was fine because I had always carried out each modification in accordance with the regulations so that I could get approval if I ever needed to. I actually had every intention of keeping the car on the road and getting it engineered, but after the DoT requested swept volume tests, and braking and swerve tests, I decided it was going to be too much hassle. By the time I had even received my Pre-Approval letter, the car had been off the road and deregistered for 2 months. I had held off buying another car because I had planned on getting the 34 going again, so I had been catching the bus that whole time - not something that is particularly convenient for someone running their own business that uses a load of materials. By that stage I was over it, I needed a car, and I could just see it dragging on for another few months at least, wasting several thousand on tests and engineering in the process. So I made the decision to take it off the road for good, and turn it into a track car that I could use for product development for my business.
Oh hey guys! Hanaldo is back! New account name, same user, same car... Kinda. I will be posting a new build thread in the Motorsport section soon, but I wanted to update this build thread to kind of finish the story before I start the new one. So I've been inactive on the forums for a long time since I started my business, but I've had a few developments over the last few months that have seen the car going in a different direction and I wanted to get back on the forums to document it again and get involved in the motorsport community on here again. Basically where this thread left off is about where the progress on my car ended. After it got stolen, I lost a lot of the enthusiasm I had for it, then I got very busy with work, got married, etc. etc. and it just became the daily driver for the last few years, pretty neglected and not much to write about. There were a few odd changes here and there, but honestly nothing too interesting. That was the case up until about September last year, when I thought it would be a good idea to drive my wife to work in the city on a Saturday night, only for a wild policeman to appear to inform me of how that was a mistake... I'm pretty mellow these days and don't have as much issue with the police handing out stickers as I did when I first got the car, but it still irks me when they clearly have NO idea what they are talking about or looking at. Considering it was still registered as a non-turbo GT, my car was a relatively highly modified car making 401rwkw on E85, non-ADR approved Sparco race seats, etc etc, so it was certainly yellow-sticker worthy if you're going by the rules. So it will always annoy me that the things that essentially ended my cars road going days were clear indicator lenses (despite the fact I had amber bulbs), and a 3" exhaust. NOT the volume of the exhaust, which was actually legal, but the size of it. And that is all the officer picked me for. After the initial pit inspection, the two items on the sticker were cleared straight away. But they wanted engineering certs for all the modifications, which was fine because I had always carried out each modification in accordance with the regulations so that I could get approval if I ever needed to. I actually had every intention of keeping the car on the road and getting it engineered, but after the DoT requested swept volume tests, and braking and swerve tests, I decided it was going to be too much hassle. By the time I had even received my Pre-Approval letter, the car had been off the road and deregistered for 2 months. I had held off buying another car because I had planned on getting the 34 going again, so I had been catching the bus that whole time - not something that is particularly convenient for someone running their own business that uses a load of materials. By that stage I was over it, I needed a car, and I could just see it dragging on for another few months at least, wasting several thousand on tests and engineering in the process. So I made the decision to take it off the road for good, and turn it into a track car that I could use for product development for my business.
