Maiden Voyage – At Last!

This weekend has been a DIY disaster! My Mum and Dad came up to help me fit a new basin and toilet as well as decorate the bathroom downstairs. By lunch time on the first day, we had had to call Yorkshire Water, and abandon any pretence of finishing this weekend. By close of play on Saturday, I had called in a professional builder to try and salvage it all. Not good!

But that was not the only event this weekend as on Friday morning, the paperwork finally came through which makes my car legal to drive on the road (once I had the license plates made).

So after a quick trip to Halfords to get some plates made, Dad and I bleed the newly repaired brakes (I fixed a slight leak in the brake line), pushed the car down on to the road and it was finally time drive the car.

After a full year of work, it was a fairly exciting and daunting experience.

So after a final check over all the vitals, it was time to spark the engine, strap ourselves in, cross our fingers and head out on to the road.

So how was it?

To say I was a little apprehensive would be an understatement. A mixture of excitement at finally driving the car mixed with a degree of fear at the dozens of unknown things that could go wrong. But mostly I was just so pleased that I had finally got to the point where I could take the car out for a spin.

Dad decided to come with me on the first short ride and we planned to just drive the short ride around the block keeping in 1st and 2nd gear.

The clutch point is very high on the car and when the engine does bite, it is a little fierce. These can be adjusted but it meant that driving off from standstill was a little tricky but I did manage to do it first time without stalling. As we gingerly pulled away from the house, tested the brakes and was a little alarmed to feel that they did not work too well. We had just bled them so I don’t think it was air in the lines but rather they just didn’t seem to work. I decided that we would continue and see if they improved (which they did).

I live in a very quiet village so I didn’t encounter any other traffic on the first drive which meant I could concentrate on getting a feel for the car, which was great.

Having arrived back at the house a couple of minutes later without incident, we decided a slightly longer run down a nearby country lane was in order. This allowed me to open the car up a bit, test out the brakes (which I think may still need some attention) and get out of third gear.

So this was it, my first real drive of the car!

We drove around 5 miles I guess an deserted roads, not wanting to get too far from home in case of brake-down. Upon returning, Heidi asked me how it was, here were my thoughts.

• The car handles well. Doesn’t pull and feels very planted on the road.
• The gear indicator is not working correctly as it had no idea what gear we were in after 2nd gear. This may just be a calibration issue.
• The oil pressure warning alarm flicked on and off a few times. I need to ask MAC#1 about this.
• It is fairly windy in the drivers seat. My hat blew off at 50mph!
• The car felt solid, not too many vibrations of rattles.
• Gear change and diff are very ‘clonky’ and noisy but I am told that is normal for a bike engined car.
• The bakes were hard work. This may be because all my life, I have driven cars with servo assisted brakes. I also didn’t really consider that I had four new sets of brake pads. Usually you only change the front or rear pads on a production car and brake pads take a while to ‘bed in’ so I hope they will improve on the next few trips. If not then I will need to hand it over to the experts!

But all in all, I was frilled to finally get on the road and even more thrilled to be able to share the experience with my family. Now all we need is a few good weekends weather!

Once we had the initial test run completed, it was time to take everyone for a ride around the block.

Throughout, Heidi was videoing events and you can view them below.

Here is the very first drive of the car.

 

Then it was everyone’s else’s turn.

Hannah has been so supportive throughout the build and really excited about her first drive.

 

My wife Heidi is 6 months pregnant but that did not stop her.

Hannah was having a lot of fun.

Me and Heidi swapped positions half way round so she could have a go driving.

Then Dad had a bash at driving.

Then it was Hannah’s turn again. She was desperate to have another go.

My Mum also braved the cold for a ride.