Well short of getting a bigger car or sawing your legs off I’m fresh out of ideas
I believe Javelin have exclusivity on Elvington
That’s a shame. Are there any other venues in our part of the world that you think might be happy to accomodate an MoT event?
I’m almost certain Javelin “do” club events - i.e. they do all the admin and hard work before and on the day, but it’s still an exclusive event so only MX5OC or MOT members would be in attendance. In fact, I’ve just checked their website and it looks like they do: http://javelintrackdays.co.uk/jt/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=42&Itemid=46
There used to be a rally testing facility over near Grimsby that a mate of mine used a couple of times, but I’ll have to trawl through my old emails to find it. Other than that, you’re looking at proper tracks, which probably wouldn’t be ideal for a car control event and certainly more expensive - from Huddersfield, Croft is probably the closest (fast but a little ‘boring’, IMHO), Oulton Park is next nearest and good fun, then there’s Cadwell, which is just nirvana made tarmac.
Unfortunately however that would be like Noble asking Porsche to use their test track to show off Noble cars to potential Porsche owners.
You can modify the seat by chopping some foam out, or purchase a spare bucket seat, which will considerably lower the driving position.
Is it just my driver licence I need to bring on the day?
You need a helmet as well. If you don’t have one we can rent you one for £10 for the day.
Hi,
yeah, I’ve done the foamectomy…bucket seat is the next step, however not sure of which one - and need to get approval from SWMBO.
Thanks!
I was kind of hoping you’d be a little more pro-active and offer some sort of option*, but you didn’t so I’ve now booked elsewhere. They don’t need helmets, but thanks for the witty and original reply.
*perhaps a ‘flexible booking’ which would allow a last minute change to an alternate date if the weather was poor, or supplying a wiaver so I could accept the risk of smashing my head in and exonerate you of all wrong doings…
I’m sure had you suggested those before booking elsewhere some arrangement could have been made.
It seems a little harsh to judge someone else as being insufficiently proactive when you won’t suggest solutions to the problem until it’s too late.
Dear Octy_Ross
We take safety very seriously and have sent people away before who felt that following instructions was beneath them, particular those that try to avoid wearing their helmet or leave the straps loose. .
If you care to read to read your original post, where it talks of pisspots and how we are going to make sure you don’t get wet, it was hardly conducive to a sensible answer. Maybe if you had phrased it in a less arrogant or Jack the Lad way you would have had a more sensible answer. When we book the venue we commit to pay for it and we get billed if cars turn up or not. Like absolutely every other TDO we can not offer an “only if it is sunny” option for pretty obvious reasons. I will be stood with the other marshals whether it is sunny, minus 3 or if the rain is coming across horizontally
As for signing a waiver to say that you can ignore all our safety requirements it doesn’t really hold any water. We wear helmets because otherwise people bang their heads against the hood mechanism. While you maybe happy to split your head open, I am not, at very least it is off putting to other customers. I have also known someone hit their unprotected head hard enough on the hood rivet to knock themselves out, at which point their car was free to do what ever damage it wanted including running into other cars. The lawyers, mine, theirs and including yours would not give a dam about you signing a waiver, the net result would be that MoT had failed to prevent an avoidable situation which resulted in injury.
Sorry Nick,
I didn’t mean to rattle your cage, I hadn’t intended to display arrogance in fact on re-reading as you request still don’t see it as arrogant, I presented you with a particular problem; I’m tall, the car isn’t, what options can you offer? You presented ‘cut your legs off’. Sorry, but this shows you didn’t even read the problem properly it’s not my legs that are too
long, but my back…you should have suggested a spine-ectomy 
The word pisspot has been interchangable for ‘helmet’ (particularly open faced) since at least when I were a lad - probably before, I hadn’t understood it to be a particularly obscure term of phrase for helmet.
I understand your and your venues difficulty in regards of flexibility, however there’re a few other options you could have presented, you didn’t.
I have no moral problem with utilising safety equipment but do have a physical constraint, the mere fact I’m interested in driver development should indicate my views on safety.
As I saw it, I posted my last post in order that if someone else had a similar problem and wanted a solution other than major surgery they’d have somewhere to start.
Regards,
Ross.
Understood, Capitan
However, it’s not my job to chase the supplier of a service, it’s the suppliers job to chase customers.
Regards,
Ross.
I see it as everyone’s job to try to fix everything [:D] I guess I wouldn’t be posting on forums otherwise.
Bolting an Elise seat directly to the floor of your MX5 would pretty much fix your problems with no downsides at all. Apart from having to find a couple of hundred quid.
Failing that you can bolt any side mount bucket to the floor using steel angle for about a fiver a seat for fitting, plus a hundred or so for a bucket. Some buckets are rubbish to use with a standard seat belt though, and having a proper harness on all the time is annoying for most people.
And it’s a mk 2.5 so I need to find somewhere to bolt the seat belt too…which is why it’s taking more thought and less rushing in action.
Elise seats have the seat belt bolted to them - so no need to drill holes in the floor for that. I’ve had a few of them in various cars. The bonus of Elise seats is that the seat back is less than an inch thick - so you get more leg room as well as more height.
I suppose another solution would be to put a cushion the floor and sit on that. I’ve seen race cars with just pads on the floors and bulkhead instead of seats.
Don’t worry chap - Nick wasn’t trying to be smart, he’s the nicest bloke in the world, and didn’t expect you to take it seriously…!
If it’s wet, you wont get wet because you’ll be skidding about and having fun! Right? And it’s suicide not to wear a helmet doing any sort of sliding around at all, seriously, especially in an MX-5 with all that sharp metal around you and our height! If you cannot fit in your car with a crash helmet on, I’m afraid, quite simply, the car is not suitable for you. No physical constraints of a cars cabin should EVER put you at the risk of hurting yourself - and the simple answer Nick was pointing out was ‘put the roof down’ as that solves all the problems instantly. 
On a constructive note - I’m as tall as you and fit no problem with a low mounted bucket seat in a MK2 and a MK2.5, which I covered in an issue of Soft Top Hard Top - I can’t recall the issue number I’m afraid, and Nick has also covered on this very forum (again, not 100% sure where to look). We have had chaps even taller than you do fine - and it WAS raining.
We cannot, and will not risk anyone’s safety when it comes to skidding cars about - but it shouldn’t stop anyone having a huge amount of fun.
Merry Christmas ya’ll!
Eeeek, too much festive spirit, this has crept up faster than I was expecting!
Can I still book?
I need a helmet, can I hire this on the day or should I have pre-arranged?
Yes, no problem, space and helmets left.
We even have Car magazine there!