diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index f4abac455..cb7d01a0a 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -12,9 +12,10 @@ hold
 wip
 .old
 tests-old
-# Tests run from tox
-tests/utils/vcs/tackle-fixture-released/*
 
+# These repos are cloned locally for testing
+tests/utils/vcs/tackle-fixture-released
+tests/utils/vcs/tackle-fixture-unreleased
 
 # mkdocs.yml is generated
 mkdocs.yml
diff --git a/tests/utils/vcs/test_utils_vcs.py b/tests/utils/vcs/test_utils_vcs.py
index 12cee4933..bd108b61c 100644
--- a/tests/utils/vcs/test_utils_vcs.py
+++ b/tests/utils/vcs/test_utils_vcs.py
@@ -67,10 +67,10 @@ def f(fixture: str = None):
                 # When pulling / in ci - the fixtures will be submodules. So we need to
                 # update them to have them available for copying
                 if not os.path.isdir(os.path.join(fixture, '.git')):
-                    p = run_command('git submodule update')
+                    p = run_command(f'git clone https://github.com/robcxyz/{fixture}')
                     stdout, stderr = p.communicate()
                     if p.returncode != 0:
-                        raise Exception(f"Error in git submodule \n{stdout}\n{stderr}")
+                        raise Exception(f"Error test setup clone \n{stdout}\n{stderr}")
                 shutil.copytree(fixture, os.path.join(tmp_path, 'robcxyz', fixture))
             yield str(tmp_path)
         finally: