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The problem I'm experiencing in my 172 is different - most of the time the cooling system works fine. But occasionally the heat goes to maximum without touching anything. Turn the car off and the car goes back to the set levels of heating. There's no set time period, sometimes it can go back to...

This appeared in the minutes from the latest MSA Technical Committee Meeting: "CHANGES TO MOT REGULATIONS A query has been raised by a member of the Speed Events Committee as the new MOT regulations are apparently restrictive on modifications; they do however include an exemption for "rally...

That's Snell K2005 and K2010 - kart helmets for drivers under 15 years old. Mainly kart changes, new cross country tyres, more standard tubes sizes for ROPS, red flags and wrong routes on stage rallies, nothing ground breaking, until it affects you!

This has now been raised with John Ryan (MSA Technical Director).

I rolled my ex-works 205 end over end in Ringwood Forest, starting at around 80mph. We were fine, mainly as the front dug in, flipped us, then landed on a rear wheel which absorbed a great deal of the force as it was knocked off. The shell was banana shaped, but they have to give to absorb the...

I agree with you @DaveDreads, there is no adequate definition of a "Competition Car". The "Rally Car" definition is poor and misleading - my rally cars have full cages, buckets and six point harnesses, but I have to have all the trim plus rear seats and can't run number squares/circles.. They...

Looks like I'm a chav then! Sorry, I don't mean to have a go at you, I'm just pointing out how silly this all is and that a definition of a true Competition Car is required to enable low cost entry level Motorsport to exist. Most cars used for entry level Motorsport will be old and modified in...

Your earlier comment was "Using buckets and harnesses without a cage in a lot of cars will have you killed by the roof in a roll because you dont move as the manufacturer intended and unless youre very short, using a roll cage without a helmet will result in you being killed by the cage". I...

I can understand the whiplash feature in the seat, but many are talking about using fixed seats without a cage - standard seats deform in a roll to preserve an occupnats spine. I believe that's an urban myth, I've never seen any evidence, but I'm willing to be proven wrong.

Definitely not the case - not all competition cars need MSA log books. For example of the 50 cars out on the Bath Festival Targa Road Rally on Saturday, probably none will have MSA log books. They're all MSA legal rally cars and for this event all will have at least a rear cage. On most Road...

BTW I've just found the quote regarding the specification of a "Rally Car", It's from 19th May 2014 so nothing new. All my cars have gone through without air bags since then. However they have all had cats. My biggest issue with cats is they fall apart internally after a few good hits and block...

Is this for real? I can understand the rationale for road cars, but using such terminology as "Rally Car" is extremely vague and imprecise. How is "boy racer" defined? The Regulations should define what constitutes a Competition/Modified Car. I can't see why "Rally Car" is being "defined". It's...

Posted in the wrong place, now posting correctly!

I'm having a clear out and I'm not using these wheels any more on my Autosolo 172. I have no idea how to price the wheels, the previous owner paid £200 for the set second hand. They're bare wheels, ideally could do with a refurb but are useable as they are. No centre caps, but they may be in the...

I've found a spare motor and the answer to my question - anti clockwise pulls the plunger back in to the motor, clockwise pushes it out. I was going to turn in the opposite directions, unnecessary additional work to put the plunger back in avoided!

Anybody? Anybody have a spare motor they could try - which direction on the adjuster pushes the rod out, and which in?

I've just changed the headlights on my 172. I screwed out the adjusters on the self levelling motors as much as possible to make fitting them a little easier. One I unscrewed too far and it popped out, easy to push in, turn and re-engage with the threads when the motor is out of the car, but I...

I need to have many championship stickers on my car when competing, but don't want to look a jerk and attract attention on the road still carrying the stickers. I only put stickers on the car if I need to or are "paid" to carry them. I buy a roll of "motorway" spec magnetic sheet, stick the...

And stage rallies at Smeatharpe.

The Xenon headlights on my 172 are falling apart internally. I've been trying to find some new ones but nobody seems to stock them. I MUST be able to buy some somewhere. I haven't checked with Renault but I guess they're silly money. An offside lamp will do for the meantime, does anybody have...

Sounds like a good plan. Experience is everything. You'll still have good fun in a 1.2. I'm an ex-prop so weight is against me as well. It's all about maintaining momentum, no matter what car you're in. Handbraking is fun but you lose a great deal of momentum. Driving round corners, not huge...

Wish I could delete this individual post! The editing went wrong!

If you can run a 172/182 then why did you go for a 1.2? I can only assume cost/availability/convenience. I started at Uni, but a few years ago. If I were choosing a car for Targas, 12 Cars and Road Rallies I'd look seriously at a 172/182. The Rover was acquired (already prepared, a much cheaper...

Where did you find that? As a Targa is run under Road Rally Regs, you have to have the interior. Specifically: Section R 18.1.6. The trim, including the rear seat may be cut to allow the fitting of a safety cage. As James said, do you need a cage? It adds weight and you won't be going very fast...

James, how did you find the Nankangs at Wethersfield? Probably great on the clean parts. I had some old A048 on the front and old Uniroyal RainExperts on the back. I wondered why I was over-shooting some junctions on the third set of tests - no rubber left on the front, but plenty of canvas...

Good check list. The only other things I can think of is are the rear shocks, I've blown a few. You'll see if oil is leaking. Check the brake pipes as well, but the MOT man will pick that up if there are issues, same with the shocks.

TBH I wouldn't put tyres high on the list. I've seen a car roll on a rally due to too sticky tyres combined with too soft suspension. I've had some great results with old, random tyres. I've only ever encountered one pair of tyres which were truly awful. I still have them for Autotests as it's...

We're going way beyond the OP. We're now on to the legality of tyres on the public highway. I've spent a LONG time talking to the MSA about this as competitors don't know what tyres to run where and when. There is no "blind eye" in the eyes of the Law, but there is a great deal of scope for...

All of your questions regarding what can and can't be done for various disciplines can be found in the MSA "Blue Book". It's a book and it's blue! Every licence holder is sent a copy (it's £33 to buy!) but I bin mine and have the PDF on my phone if there's an issue on an event. I didn't know how...

I've just searched for "autosolo" in the Play Store and Autosolo UK is the first one which comes up. This has the same content as the web site, but the app is far easier to navigate.