It was a beautiful sunny Monday morning and as I was driving to work, twisting my way down Roche Abbey Road, I happened to notice an "MK Engineering" van in front of me. I knew the van belonged to Martin Keenan.

I had grown up around and been through school with various members of the Keenan clan and knew most of his brothers. I used to follow & support Martin throughout his competitive motocross years and hang around together in our biking days messing about with our bikes. Years had passed; Martin had moved on, and from socialising at the local with his brothers, I knew he was now successfully manufacturing kit cars and components. Bike engined cars at that. I was interested, but never seriously considered building one.

There was nothing exciting happening in my life at this particular time. Don’t get me wrong, I have a lovely wife and two gorgeous daughters who we both absolutely adore and who take up most of my spare time but I needed something ‘happening’. A project, which would keep me occupied and stimulated was what I needed. (I’m just that sort of person)

So I made a mental note of MK Engineering’s website and during my lunch-break at work, had a look at was on offer. The more I read, the more interested I became. Just thinking about it…. a car that could do 0-60 in around four seconds with six-speed sequential shift, was something I had always dreamed about owning. Trouble was, it cost about a hundred grand and was Ferrari red. But unless I won the national lottery, this was not something I could see myself owning in the near future. These bike engine kit cars however…… now these WERE affordable and offered a similar thrill and exhilaration. I pondered……. How difficult could it actually be to build one? What is involved? I had no experience of this kind of thing but knew that my elder brother had considered building a kit car in the past. He also has an engineering background (though not mechanical). This got me thinking. It would be a challenge for us, but if willing, we could both build and finance it together. It was only a fair-weather weekend car after all (most of the time), so sharing the car once it is built shouldn’t be a problem. MK was only down the road for help and advice. I knew Steve (Martins brother), had recently built one, so he would be a good source of practical knowledge. Everything seemed to make sense, so I called my brother to see if he was interested……… I knew he would be.

I planned to go with him to MK on Saturday morning to have a look at the setup. Unfortunately he wasn’t available that day so, instead, dad came with me. It was approaching lunchtime when we arrived however, and MK was just locking up, but we still managed to have a quick look round an Indy and a smashed up GT1.

On the way back, dad also expressed an interest, in building one, so I discussed this with my brother. We both agreed it would be beneficial and although three into one might be a problem once the actual car is built, we would cross this bridge when/if we come to it (which may well involve building another!!!) So we all met up and laid down some common ground rules we would abide by. We discussed the various options and agreed that an MK Indyblade it would be, yellow in colour, for visibility and therefore safety. (These things were small and extremely quick, so we needed to be noticed!)

We researched in earnest and arranged to visit MK on Saturday morning to order our kit.