Conclusion

 

  

After the first 3 weeks of driving it, I covered 600 miles. Including a 200 mile round trip to Dax on Good Friday and a 160 mile ride with my mate and the local Triumph Stag Owners Club. So far I've had two problems, the first was a small petrol leak from a flexible hose, were it joined a copper pipe in the engine bay. This was cured by tightening up the clip. The other was the heating feed pipe came off inside the cockpit. Again the clip was slightly loose. Unfortunately both these faults happened whilst I was taking a mate out on his first ride in it. He hasn't been in it since.

I've now checked every clip on the car and re-tightened where necessary.

The car is going to take a while to get to grips with, its not the sort of vehicle you can just get in and chuck round corners from the word go. Its probably a combination of not wanting to damage it, after spending so long building it and having to learn how it handles. As time goes on I will push it further and further to see where its limits are. The brakes are absolutely superb, they feel solid and very reassuring, even at high speed. I'm also very impressed with the complete lack of rattles and bangs I was half expecting. The Dax is certainly a very high quality kit and driving it is so different to any other car I've ever driven. The feed back from the steering is excellent, it lets you know what's going on, but it doesn't shake your arms off as you go over bumps and pot holes. Despite the fact that the body is mounted directly to the chassis and the suspension is virtually rock solid, it is quite a comfortable ride. OK its not as smooth as many family cars, but it is a nice solid feeling ride.

I originally had a 13" steering wheel on it, but this was hard work so I've fitted a 14" and its made a lot of difference. I've also fitted a set of windwings on it, these have made a lot of difference to the breeze passing over my ears.

I've replaced the header tank with a stainless one and chromed the rocker covers and the plenum chamber, purely for cosmetic reasons.

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I would like to thank so many people for putting up with me while I built this, I'm sure they enjoyed it really. I would especially like to thank those that I work with, who've lent me their talents to help make this car what it is. Without them I would not have even considered building a kitcar in the first place.

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