jamesm

What a car! Must be a great feeling to have got yourself something so special. Looking forward to seeing it.

Car has been parked up all week, which is not unusual and it has been parked up longer in the past with no problems. The handbrake has seized on and just will not release. I think it is the brake rather than the mechanism as I got a clonk from one side when I released it, but the other side is still solid. Is there an easy diy way to get it free? Have tried to rock it free in reverse, but that is just burning the clutch. Can't go forward as will end up in the front room if it realeases!

Looking good. Well worth the effort.

Looks like a pretty special motor. Certainly stands out from the crowd, and will no doubt leave the crown standing. Looking forward to seeing it in the flesh.

It is the most capable car I have driven in the snow. I find the handling excellent for general snow driving. The problem I find is the other eejits in the road. I don't commute in the Subaru but took it to work today as my runaround has a flat battery. Was heading down an untreated side street, down a hill with a T junction at the bottom. All going well until someone comes towards me round the corner, on my side of the road. Swerved, got the power down, perfect powerslide round him, round the corner, until I ran out of room and smacked the kerb. He drove off and with a snowcovered number plate, I didn't get his details. Hopefully nothing more serious than a scuffed alloy, which a trip to the powdercoaters and the exchange of 40 notes will sort out.

Gutted for you after the work you put into that motor. Dreadful thing to see happen in front of you. Like those have said above, at least no one was hurt, and cars can be replaced.

If it is anything like a Bugeye, you will need to remove the whole headlight unit. I have changed my bulbs twice and I have to take the grille off, before removing the headlight from the car and changing the bulb. Full instructions are in my handbook.

Astounding. A fitting finale, but then I am sure you will be kept busy with the posters for a wee while longer yet!! Fantastic effort.

Glad everyone is ok, that is the main thing. Cars can get fixed. Happened to me not long after I got mine. Boy spun round in front of me and I went into his front corner with the front of mine before going into the hedge. Hope you get it sorted soon.

Great day and fantastic turn out. Good to put names to faces. Clearly plenty demand for a big weekend meet so hopefully it will become a regular event. A big well done to Jonboywrx for putting it together.

The mudflaps on mine are a necessity in my opinion. Both sides of the car get absolutely battered with stones without them. I have a set of the Scoobyworld flaps. Perfect fit and had them on for 2 years now and with a good clean still come up brand new. They were about £60 from memory.

1) Jonboywrx + Debs 2) Cruz104 3) Paul555sti 4) Scoobysailor and family 5) Bobby C 6) Maxxed_Ross 7) ryan_gwa 8) imy + grant 9) scooby222 10) Stubaroo + Lindsy + family 11) NKWRX+ Niall 12) STI Pretender 13)Windy1945 14) Midnight21 15) scoobyit 16) Higgy. will try and make it to this one. 17) empty heed 18) BigBev 19) Cullenmin 20) Shelly_Scooby newbie but I will be there 21) pmac (with new clutch!) + 3yr old car mad son 22) fivetide and family 23)billyboystoys biggrin.gif 24) Irish Al & Lyndsey 25) neill54 + my son luis 26) Jac 27) RS Grant 28) Melly Doo 29) Scoobymark + mark jnr 30) selkie + the ex leper 31) Fai17 32) Hoss (if i'm still at home) 33) Stuart, Michelle and Conor. 34) Karps 35) CRAIG D + Kenzie my son (only if sum1 speaks to me HAHAHA) 36) ScottyRB320 and the wee man 37) Corsa 38) BalliSTIc 39) BrianM 40) JamesM

What mods have you done to the car. Got a Bugeye myself and thinking about spending a few quid on it later in the year.

Looking good Neil. You didn't go for the Bugeye you were talking about in the end. Joining Robert in the owning two Imprezas club!! How many people have said that after buying an Impreza!!?? I said that once about mine, but 2.5 years on, I am making plans.....

Have seen Arnie Sharks advertising 08 plate Vectras for under £7k. And that is before you start negotiating. Fantastic time to buy any motor if you don't have anything to trade or sell.

Just back from being away in Newtonmore for New Year, and last night I had the car parked in a quiet side street as the hotel car park was full. Some complete to**er, presumably after a few hogmanay drinks, decided to have a go at removing the McRae Gathering sticker from my back window. The sticker put up a good fight but it is knackered now. Just as hacked off as I would have been if the car was keyed as I had no plans to take the sticker off.

Looking good. Suits the car.

As above. Things starting to look dire. http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsArticle/AllCars/236736/ http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/news/default.asp?storyId=19173

Long post alert……….. As far as the WRC goes I think there are enough private M2 teams in the WRC to see it through next year. OK, it isn't going to be a great spectacle but there are already changes in the pipeline with the introduction of the new S2000 based cars which should bring costs down, a global promoter and this will hopefully revive manufactures interest. Plus the current WRC cars are a bit too much geared towards precision driving for my liking. Bring back cars that need to be chucked about and you will increase the interest and spectacle. The WRC needs to up its game though. They also have the problem of the IRC which is in effect a cut price rival to the WRC. It is generating increased interest and the S2000 cars are pretty good to watch with a bit of noise and life to them. Many of the cars though are not full works outfits. Local dealer teams mainly like Peugeot UK who are running Meeke next year. The IRC still doesn't have the global recognition that the WRC has. I had great difficulty in even finding their website for the first time yesterday. The WRC has always gone in cycles, from huge manufacturer interest to lean years. Look at the mid 90s, interest tailed away and you really just had Subaru, Mits, and Ford running full works teams (not even sure the latter days of the Group A Escort Cossie was a full works outfit). Then World Rally cars were introduced and we saw works teams from Subaru, Ford, Toyota, Mits, Seat, Hyundai, Skoda, Peugeot and Citreon. Hopefully the new regs will see renewed interest with manufactures once again seeing it as a place where they can build their brands battered by the recession. The WRC is still a place where you can build a brand. However, once you get to the level of brand awareness Subaru now have. the return on investment starts to not add up. Audi came in with the Quattro, put their brand on the map and walked away. Not being in the WRC since 1986 hasn’t really dented their brand since. Same for Mitsubishi. They haven’t had a top line car in the WRC for a long time but they still shift both Evo's and the rest of the range. Yes they run GrpN but that just keeps thing ticking along and Subaru still have a GrpN car to keep a presence. Was Subaru’s presence in the WRC responsible for me buying an Impreza? Undoubtedly yes, with a lot of help from McRae. Will Subaru pulling out of the WRC see me sell the Impreza? No. Will it discourage me from buying another, probably not. I currently can't think what else (for the money) I would rather buy. It is the credit crunch that is stopping me buying a new car. I always planned to buy an STI next year but now I will be keeping the WRX as a weekend car and getting a decent cheap commuter. The currently economic situation will be very tough for Subaru. There is no way a WRC team with no sponsorship could be justified and in that respect they only have themselves to blame as they turned down one sponsorship deal after another as they wanted to keep the car blue. Personally, the colour of the car is irrelevant to me. They will be helped with the diesel but I think it is a case of them digging in to ensure the brand survives. That in the current climate is more important.

Very sad day for rallying. I guess that the economic downturn is really starting to bite and I am sure that the next 2 or 3 years will be a dark time for motorsport in general. Subaru and rallying have been synonymous for so many years now that whilst they haven't been competitive over the last few seasons, it is a huge blow for the sport. Ever since the end of the 555 sponsorship, SWRT haven't had any big sponsors and you wonder if that has played a part in the decision as the whole operation must be funded pretty much solely by FHI. Ikuo Mori leaves the door open for a return in the future but he doesn't guarantee it. After taking a couple of years out, it would be great for them to come back with a winning car built to the new regs, to a new look, well promoted, and better supported WRC. Certainly there is a chance of Prodrive continuing to be involved with a customer team, but it is a bit late in the day to start securing funding for next year. Hopefully the staff at Prodrive can be redeployed within the company.

My first Santa Cruise and had a great day. Will try to sort out my pictures and post them up later. We have got a mention and small picture on page 3 of the Evening Times. A few more pics are on the Evening Times website.

Aye, it is Suzuki not Subaru! Saw that coming as they hadn't committed to next years WRC.

Raffle Prizes: 1. A meal for two is donated by Fai17 @ Kwang Tung 2. 1.5L bottle of Smirnoff Vodka is donated by Fai17 3. Bottle of 10year old Arran Single Malt is donated by Ed209 4. Bottle of Jack Daniels is donated by Kaylz555 5. 1 ltr bottle of famous grouse whiskey is donated by Terzo Neil 6. 1 bottle of conde D'ervideira wine is donated by Terzo Neil 7. 1 x 5L Millers CFS 10w60 is donated by Squiggle 8. 1 x 5L Millers CFS 10w60 is donated by Squiggle 9. A serice to the value of £150 is donated by Bill Greer @ Greersport 10. A custom stainless backbox is donated by Meercat Exhaust 11. I know you got soul book by Jeremy Clarkson - st3ph3n 12. Another bottle of Famous Grouse - st3ph3n 13. Fuel mixture display kit (DIY) - euan_r 14. Auto Glym valet kit-Billy Mason (being collected by STi Pretender) 15. 100cl bottle bacardi - Donated by scoobymark 16. Bottle Moet & Chandon Champagne - Donated by Mrs Scoobymark 17. 70cl Bottle Smirnoff Vodka - Donated by Scoobymark Jnr 18. A bottle of unspecified plonk donated by JamesM