ChasSomT.

Re FV1609s reply (Post4) and the dipping of tractors at the GDSF - What, even trailered-in tractors? If I owned say a 432, Not registered and Never used on the road, is it the case that I couldn't run it on my own land without paying FULL fuel duty on whatever I was running it on? What Has this country come to? Grr, Tsk Tsk Disgusted of Leomington Spa!

You wait 'til you are fighting a Sarry on a lovely hot day, in heavy traffic, when it decides to play the 'petrol vapourisation game'! I must have sweated pounds, cursing it 20 miles or more until a couple of cool jerricans of Army 'One- Star' cured it completely! Happy days! Grr. . .

I have had problems with having to log in 3 or 4 times, to view pictures today, and I'm on Firefox.

ruxy your link is brilliant! Thank you very much for that.

I'm Not sure, but maybe 2. For balance? I was D + M B1 on CVR -W was it 35 years ago, and there are (faint) bells ringing in my head.

Stop showing pictures of those s.a. Saracens, please! I want one, (at least one)

Robin, May be able to do a 'deal' on the 'Sand Channels' Give me a week or two. Chas.

Aha! As griff 66 and Tim Gray said above, the Ferret had an oil bath filter, but the Fox, that 'partially (!) replaced ' it had a cyclone filter. I was in a TA Recce unit when CVR came in, and I thought that the oil bath filters were replaced due to cost. Tim, is it a FACT that cyclone filters ars more efficient? As I recall, the 'Swirl inducing' vanes on the Fox filters weren't substantial.

Weren't The Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry, B Sqn. The Royal Yeomanry, rather than The Queen's own?

(New topic?) Ref. CVR Reg. Nos. As far as I can remember all our other Foxes were **FD**, the highest numerically that I can recall was 11FD20. One day, I must go through my old photos and at least list the Reg. Nos. I joined in 1975 when we had Saladin, Saracen and Ferret (01DA22 was an odd one I recall, most of ours were **BA**) Ah, memories!

I would just love a Sampson! Are the ones in service still petrol powered? Going off thread a bit, is there any 'logic to British Army Reg. Nos? I ask because when I was 'in' we had a Fox 00GM90 - the only one I ever saw with a GM number.

Jeez, Tommo, you QOY boys did things different to us RY lads! Ferrets, Saladins, Saracens and Fox, with the engine OFF 'Pump -Up' the (gearbox) brake bands by selecting each gear, and depressing the GCP FIRMLY 20 times in each gear, in turn - 20 in 1st, 20 in 2nd, 20 in 3rd etc. Select neutral, start the engine and let it warm up. (Hope your antipodean Fox has had the carb. flatspot sorted.) Select 1st, firm press of GCP to the floor and back, select 2nd, if on the flat, a few revs, let the handbrake off, you are away! Release accelerator and press and release the GCP when at a 'slow jog' sort of speed, re-apply right foot, select 3rd and you are on your way! Easy after a few goes. Loads of FUN if you are 'sensible', even off road. Didn't 'lose' any of our 8, in the 5odd years I was instructing CVR(W). Never thought I would ever say this, but I would love a go in one again!

A Ryanair flight into Manchester gets into trouble - Air Traffic Control gets a frantic call: Help, Help! Easter, Pancake Tuesday, Bonfire night, Halloween, New Years Day, Bank holiday Monday . . . " Calm down Paddy, it's Mayday for heavens sake ! With apologies to those from the 'Emerald Isle' No offence meant.

I agree with everything Minesweeper said (post 48) It would be 'Tragic' if this forum went belly up. Just let us know how, and how much! Chas.

It's not the 1st of April, is it? How do you keep 126 people in suspense?

I Do take your point AntarMike, but when the Locomotive 'classes' were set up, I don't think they had an 11ton AFV in mind (designed to carry ammunition I have to say) or an APC built to carry half a section of Infantry. It's a bit like the offence of 'Furious Riding' that is still on the Statute books, and has been used against 'Lycra louts' - it was introduced to cope with horse riding 'Boy Racers' in the 18th century! 'Old Legislation' 'bent' to handle unthought of situations, years down the road. I knew i shouldn't have put a figure to annual mileage, but it was in a previous post that you mentioned 'vehicles rarely used on the road' I loved the Ferret ARV (More a crane than a tractor though!)

In my post I wasn't suggesting a new 'Class' of EXEMPT vehicle, more a more accurate class for registration purposes. Most of the 'Problem vehicles are already Mot exempt by virtue of tracks, weight, width, accessability of components, all-wheel-drive and other reasons I've no doubt. Saracens and Saladins are over 'a width limit' but call them Locomotives, which they clearly are not, allows them to be legally wider. Can I call a 432 a Locomotive? Or do I have to make it narrower by loading it on a trailer? That is how ridiculous it is! As for calling a Ferret a tractor, I've never seen one with a tow hook or bar, or even a picture of one.(Towbar I mean. . . ) AntarMike mentioned a few posts ago ". . vehicles rarely used on the road . . " Maybe that is an avenue which needs more exploring, 750 -1000 miles a year? How would that suit owners?

AntarMike, I hear what you are saying re HGV based vehicles, which is what I understand the consultation is all about. Released ex military Fodens, MANs etc, certainly shouldn't be exempt. They can 'easily' be MoT'd. With reference to wheeled armour, UNDER the relatively recently imposed width limit, Fox, Ferret, these cannot be MoT'd because of permanent 4WD and 26"+ suspension movement! Because there is no category for them, they are called Locomotives (light and heavy) and other categories. They obviously are NOT HGVs, or HGV based. It obviously annoys owners of 'Legal', registered, ex military vehicles to learn that they now fall foul of a recently imposed width limit, (that didn't/doesn't apply to the same vehicles, when in military ownership!) Stalwarts, 432 series, Saracens, Saladins, OT??s etc. All of this could at least have been partially avoided IF there was a category such as 'Ex Fighting Vehicles'. As has previosly been mentioned, the mileage these vehicles do has kept them 'below the radar' ie no incidents to draw official attention to their road use. What I suggested in my previous post was that this 'oppurtunity' could be taken to maybe suggest a category, not a list, as another poster (Sorry) pointed out, to try and alleviate some anomolies we face.

Ref post #295 AntarMike - yebbut the Mot exemption 'consultation' is for HGV based vehicles. The proposed category of 'Ex Fighting Vehicles' COULD exclude HGV based vehicles.

I don't want to broaden this too much, but an 'Ex Fighting Vehicle ' class would go a long way to removing some of the 'anomalies' re Tracked vehicles. If you could get 'Them' to look at this now, with reference to wheeled AFVs, it makes sense to consider tracks, if only to save having to go over the same ground sometime in the future.

Yes, Well done AntarMike, many thanks for all your hard work.

Just logged on using blue log-in box, same 'problem' - wouldn't go to page 2, had to go to Forum then Today's posts, as before when I logged on the 'old way'. Never mind, I can put up with it. Great site, I spend more time on here than everything else put together! (Hope that doesn't make me 'Sad'!) Cheers Chas.

I use Mozilla Firefox 3.6 and often, not always, I can't open page 2 of What's New? Todays posts until I go to Forum then New Posts. Also, quite often I find, after I've logged in, I find I'm 'Not logged in' after 3 mins. 5mins. but more usually about 8mins, and, just lately it is not remembering me when I log in. No worries, I can work through it, just thought you'd want to know. Thanks for a great Forum, I thoroughly enjoy it. Your hard work is Much appreciated. Chas.

I know this isn't Mot related, but your post states drivers must have the correct licence for the CLASS of vehicle. This is an area that needs sorting out, surely? Look at the discussions about how to classify wheeled armour - Ferrets, Saladins, Saracens and Stalwarts etc. The powers that be don't know how, where or even IF they need Mots. Goods vehicles made before 1960 can be driven Unladen on a car licence. Anything made before early January 1973 can be taxed Historic Vehicle, and I won't start on tracked vehicles. After Mots have been sorted, there should be a further 'Consultation' on all these points, don't you think? Just my opinion Chas.

Thank you to everybody who has posted, and especially to those taking 'an organisational role' in responding to this 'threat'! It has just struck me that there must be Thousands of presently exempted vehicles owned by us who take part in this 'hobby'. The very fact that we have been overlooked when this 'Consultation' started MUST mean that we have not drawn attention to our vehicles by virtue of causing any problems with regard to 'Roadworthiness'. That MUST mean that there is no 'Case to answer' on SAFETY grounds. I understand this is about 'Harmonisation' within Europe, so surely the sensible thing to do is to look at 'Best Practice' with our European partners, consult on that, and bring in fair, workable legislation. The British Army 'MoT' their vehicles, (359-957 tests?) who better to test ex-millitary vehicles than the people who have been doing just that for years? Just my thoughts (keeping me awake) Looking forward to presenting 'our' 439 'Earthmover' (!) to our nearest REME unit.