Track day cars and MOT’s

[(steven)]

Are there any common causes of concern when trying to put track day cars through MOT’s.

Just looked at a potential track day purchase which looks great except that the guy selling it has been trailering the car to track days so it hasn’t got a current MOT.

Trailering the car is not practical so I need to get an MOT on it. The car is a stripped out special with full cage and harnesses, brake balance valves etc etc.

I’m pretty confident the car is in good nick but are there any common modifications which cause the cars to fail?

I had a quick look at the MOT handbook http://www.motuk.co.uk/manual/contents.htm and nothing obvious stuck out.

As far as I could tell, 4/6 point harnesses would be okay. As long as the brake pads worked okay on the test run (if they are race pads they might not be warm enough to provide enough braking pressure to pass) brake mods shouldn’t cause any problems, nor should external battery cut off switches.

Anything else I should be aware of which causes MOT testers to throw a fit?

Edited by (steven) on Monday 5th October 21:30

[spdpug98]

In one of the championships I used to race in, all the cars had to be driven to the circuit and thus needed an MOT, I never had any issues with getting an MOT

[fieldl]

Is it de-catted if modern enough to have a cat in the first place?
Likely to be the only thing that might be a problem. The BMW went through an MOT about two weeks before we bought a trailer.

[Herman Toothrot]

Harnesses. Technically most will fail as they need the big red release button like standard seatbelts - reality many testers will turn a blind eye to this but if they are being awkward they can make it a fail.

[T89 Callan]

Possible emissions failure on modded engines?

Too low to get onto the ramp?

Headlight alignment if they have been taken in and out (like mine have been).

Sharp edges on wings and splitters?

Just a couple of things to consider.

[BertBert]

Handbrake that doesn't work any more? Or flyoff one.
Updated M/C that doesn't have the brake fluid level warning?
Things like hazard switch removed?
No repeaters?
Lights not working?

[andye30m3]

My old 205 gti race car used to go through an MOT with out any issues, I used to have the rain light on the foglight switch so used to swap this back.

Only other thing which could have been an issue is that harnesses aren't always approved for road use but I never got pulled up on this.