"I find the whole business of religion profoundly interesting, but it does mystify me that otherwise intelligent people take it seriously." Douglas Adams
Clearly it's about FREEDOM and JUSTICE and THE AMERICAN WAY. You commie Euros wouldn't understand.
Life's too short to drive bad cars.
DIdn't realise that the US state approval system allowed the car to then be used/driven in other states.
Leads to the obvious question .... WHY BOTHER ? Clearly as soon as one state permits it then all a potential owner has to do is buy the car in that state, register it and then take it home and drive ?
Definately "Land of the free" .... as long as you have enough money to be able to work your way around the system. Otherwise it's the "land of the insane"
Europe is now struggling with that and why a desire to move to a single system.
I can drive a kit car in Germany until it needs a TuV test, then I can drive it home, MOT it in the UK and drive it back to use for another 12 moitnhs minus a day Problem of course is getting agreement on what that one tests should be given the UK loves it's kit cars and some other nations seem to love their rusting, smoky dangerous heaps !!
Why don't the US states agree on what is needed ? I mean they've had 100 years of the car and been "one nation" for all of that time. At least I can accept that Europe's really only struggled with this is a "one republic" (!) issue for 20 years . but if they still havne't got it solved in 100 years I'd be wanting to overthrow them !!
"A woman without curves is like a road without bends, you might get to your destination quicker but the ride is boring as hell'
Maybe I'm missing something here.
Is it that simple to have a car registered? and then, is it that simple to have the car registered elsewhere?
I ask because I know many European cars and supercars are not road legal over there. I know that in 2000 the late Benni Caiola managed to regularly register his Zonda in the States though, then again the other cars now still present on the US soil aren't registered and they couldn't be registered anyway, according to Pagani itself.
Do you have any idea what could be the reason?
KFL Racing Enterprises - Kicking your ass since 2008
*cough* http://theitalianjunkyard.blogspot.com/ *cough*
I think the car has to get in to be federalized(passing EPA and NHTSA requirement) first before they can be registered in US. A lot of these cars gets in as a "kit car" in parts, which does not need to be federalized, then you can use the state side of regulation to register the car.
University of Toronto Formula SAE Alumni 2003-2007
Formula Student Championship 2003, 2005, 2006
www.fsae.utoronto.ca
In the US, FF gets great tires but low power motors. We get ~116hp vs ~150hp. On the other hand the US tire rules at the national level are more open. It would be interesting to see which version of FF is faster.
For not much more than an FF car in the US you can get an F1000. That would be fast enough to be very scary. The are pulling laptimes that aren't far off of Formula Atlantic. F1000 cars are ~1000lbs and have 1L stock bike motors.
Basically with track day toys I understand the idea of road and track legal so long as the vehicle is actually road usable. The moment it becomes to specialized to really use on the road and basically needs to be trailered to the track, then I say get a real race car and be done with it.
I like the way England handles kit and small volume cars. I wish the US had more loopholes for that sort of thing. The issue in the US is states are free to make many laws that only affect the state internally. At the founding of the country states wanted/demanded a level of sovereignty from federal control. Not always a bad idea because often things are screwy at the federal level. Anyway, to make things easier for the car companies at the federal level it was decided to have just one set of standards for mass produced cars. This ensured Ford didn't have to build a car to the standards of every state. However, since home built cars don't meet these federal standards each state still has the freedom to approve motor vehicles which are outside the federal guidelines. Net result, some states are home built friendly and others are not. This is something I think about because at some point I would like to build a kit car.
In the US you can't simply register your car in your state of choice. Most states, fearing a loss of tax revenue, have laws that prevent such things. Also, most states have laws that dictate that you must be a resident, own a business etc in said state before you can register a car there.
"Horsepower sells motor cars, but torque wins motor races."
-Carrol Shelby
"I find the whole business of religion profoundly interesting, but it does mystify me that otherwise intelligent people take it seriously." Douglas Adams
No, you can cross state lines with the vehicle. The issue is you can't register in another state. So I live in say California, I can't register my car in Texas. I can use it there but I will have to go back to CA to renew. There might be a loophole in here somewhere but for the most part it's a non-issue in the US. For a car like the 550 Spyder replica I would like to build I may end up having to register it as a 196x VW bug. That works in some cases but not all. I'm not sure how I would register say a Mazda powered Westfield.
States vary by many things. Emmissions, height of the headlights, acceptable lighting colors and distances, minimum stopping distance, tire type/tread depth, even maximum hp figures can vary. The list is quite long and each state has it's say in what it deems acceptable for a motor vehicle. For one example, Wisconsin has a maximum hp rating for cars under 5,000lbs at 800 something hp to be registered as a road vehicle. How they test for it or enforce I have no idea, but thy should give you an idea of the limits that states are able to impose.
"Horsepower sells motor cars, but torque wins motor races."
-Carrol Shelby
Also there are states with no emission law(outside of the Federal ones, which they don't enforce at state level), like in Michigan....
For my old car I was iffy on passing emission(drive clean) in Ontario, I have no issue to that effect when I registered my car in MI....
University of Toronto Formula SAE Alumni 2003-2007
Formula Student Championship 2003, 2005, 2006
www.fsae.utoronto.ca
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