DR Motosport

Had the same problem with the front and rear lights on my STi, plenty of water and some cutting compound does the same trick. Used Farecla G3, also great for taking out light bodywork scratches. Used to be only available from trade suppliers years ago, but apparently Halfords now sell it. Lights now gleaming

Being a JDM STi owner as well with a lovely Garrett turbo fitted, that would be my choice also. Unfortunately your choices are always going to be somewhat limited by looking for an LPG converted car. However I certainly wouldn't be put off with LPG. I'm currently on my 2nd LPG car, a Mercedes ML, which i use to tow my track Impreza. A couple of things to point out, LPG certificates are no longer valid, the car should be registered on the UKLPG registry now to show its been installed by an authorised dealer. The car should most definately be fitted with iridium spark plugs, preferably of a hotter grade as LPG does burn hotter. Check out NGK spark plugs as they now have a range specifically for LPG cars. And apart from an in-line LPG fuel filter, that should be the only other servicable part. Not sure how much you know about LPG cars, but they always start on petrol, and once warmed up will switch automatically to LPG, Its so seamless you dont feel it. Thats usually after about 1/2 a mile. Obviously if the car is warm it will still start on petrol but will switch over as soon as you blip the throttle. If you run out of gas it switches back to petrol automatically. And if you run out of petrol you can by-pass the normal starting, and start it on LPG - but thats really only for emergencies. I did look at Foresters and Legacy Outbacks prior to the Merc, but for towing my trailer and track car they were right on the legal limit with no safety margin. I can't see any disadvantages to LPG. I average 20mpg about town and 25mpg on the motorway, similar to what a Subaru will do. I buy LPG at Morrisons and it costs 64.9p a litre. Thats about half price of unleaded and even less than for diesel. So £ for £ I'm getting the equivilant of 45mpg, lovely.

Get some black and white film when your at it Paul, then head out on a day with lots of cloud variations. If your using the tele converter, they do tend to darken things up a little, so just open up the aperture 1-2 steps extra.

Love the old cameras Paul. Still got a few of my old pre-digital Pentax cameras and lenses, and my son Nick borrowed them last year when he was doing Photography at college. He used them for black and white photographs then developed them himself in the dark room. Great when you go to the fridge and instead of eggs in the door pockets, you find spools of film. My first SLR, when I was still at high school, was a Pentax ME-Super, which would be a direct competitor for your AE-1 at the time. Great camera and everything was manual, and a great way to learn about about correct exposures etc. Wouldn't mind getting a hold of one again, ebay Cant really see for your photo but the lens your not sure about could be a tele-convertor. Fits between lens and body, and were usually 2 or 3 times zoom, so a 100mm lens could be 200mm. Popular at the time and a cheap way to double lens sizes.

Just to add, at the SIDC days there's usually a knockhill instructor available who will go out with you for some basic instruction free of charge. Track Scotland days use hamish, that you book in half hour slots, there is a small charge for this but it's a far more advanced instruction. But the main thing is to enjoy it

Went to see this last night, and thought it was pretty good. Not in the same league as the Senna film, but well worth a watching. Certainly beats sitting in the house on a sunday night now that that drivel called x-factor is back on.

Can't believe it's 6 years already, but I knew Colin for more than 16 years so have lots of great memories about him. Was also lucky enough to get scared shi*less beside him in the Focus WRC car. Although he could be incredibly shy and quiet at times, he was also a big show-off and with a few drinks a night out would usually end with him and Alister stripping off on top of a table. But I've always wondered if this showing off was the cause of the accident 6 years ago, I hope not, but guess we'll never know.

I use meguiars leather conditioner every so ofter on the Mercedes, and also use their wipes for quick wipe overs.

New-age JDM STi, £225 for the year. Imported myself under the old SVA rules so no emissions tax.

Bit of a mixture for me. Ferrari F40, turbocharged power in a lightweight body. Mercedes 300SLR, Stirling Moss used one of these to win the 1955 Mille Miglia and it was basically a 1955 F1 car fitted with a wider 2 seater body and used for the road race. Could sit comfortably at 175mph for miles at a time. Audi quattro S1, the godfather, and the rally car that gave us all 4wd and a turbocharger. Finally an Impreza WRC car, oops score that off, done that with an ex Burns S7

There's a German company do really strong ones designed specifically for boxer engines. Porsche actually fit them as standard on their 911 Turbo, GT2, and GT3 models. Apparently they had to stop fitting them to the lesser powered models because the magnets are so strong, it was stopping their crankshafts from turning. So only really recommended if your running 300+ bhp I'd say

Yip I'll be booking up for it. Not done much to it recently, so will give me an excuse. Really need to get Mr Forrest booked

Always enjoyed rallying especially when I was a teenager and the Group B cars were at their best. In 1990 I bought an Astra GTE 16v and decided to do a bit of road rallying, so joined the Coltness Car Club, where a certain Colin and Alistair McRae regularly turned up for meetings in Hamilton. My first run in a Subaru was Colin taking me out in his company car, a black LHD Legacy RS, which went on to becomes Alistairs when Colin got an SVX. God that car was rough by the time those 2 had finished with it. Come 1997, I had motorbikes, a mint condition classic TR7, couple of Audi's including a quattro, and a different GTE 16v track car. I worked out if I flogged the lot I could buy a brand new car. Initially wanted an Audi coupe S2, but decided on an Impreza Turbo. So basically have owned Subaru's for 16 years now. 1997 UK Impreza Turbo, 2002 JDM Impreza STi have been the 2 main cars, 1992 Legacy Turbo, 1994 Impreza Turbo, 1994 Impreza WRX ra, 1995 Impreza WRX, have all been fun track cars. Would I buy another, as a road car probably not, unless it was something very rare or unique. 22B or Spec C Ra,

Sorry Rich, not been on here the last week. This do you? Still needs a covering of paint to get rid of the black circles thats the bonding for the inner skin to join to the bootlid.

Good info you've got there Dean, Just to add something about your Spec C list and the 280bhp power. When the new-age models came out in MY01 the old Japanese gentleman's 280bhp agreement was thrown out the window. The new STi 7 had 310bhp, and indeed one of the UK car mags tested their demo at 320bhp. So naturally what did I do when mine arrived of the boat and I'd finished running it in, onto the rollers and 316bhp. Happy days, and 11 years later I still have it except it's got about 100bhp more now.

My son nick passed his test about 18 months ago. First years insurance for his 1.2 Corsa the cheapest price on the usual search engines was about £1300 but going directly to Churchill and direct line got it down to just under £1000 on both. His 2nd year renewal was £650 so not too bad. Never tried to get a quote for the subarus, but he does use the track one at knockhill and kames. So that's your sons next move, you just supply the car and fuel.

Hope the links work,

You won't need a map sensor either if it's a 97/98 model.

Agree Arch that it depends on what you want to use the car from, but probably more importantly is the power and characteristics of the power delivery. Certainly for my new-age with 400+ bhp, the JDM box is perfect on track and loads of fun on backroad runs. But the short ra gearbox in the white car used to drive me nuts at the beginning round knockhill, corners were either too fast for 2nd or too slow for 3rd. But once it had better grip and more power it was suddenly better suited, as it was a certain 3rd. Then run Knockhill in reverse and its all different again Oh the joys.

And the list is more than doubled when you add in your broken engine parts. Its the JDM 6 speed you want, not the long-legged UK cruising boxes.

Managed to get 2 sets myself, pretty sure 1 set came from the Aberdeen dealer up your way John. Lewis, they are good in the dry and have lasted me well. Although I've been using this set since new in 2005, they are now on and probably below the legal road wear limits. Saying that I also use a set of Toyo T1-R's for the wet and Pirelli RS full slicks for the odd occassion Knockhill is both dry and warm.

Shame about the gearbox Adam, but that's been living on borrowed time for the last 3 years. You did make a cracking start as well and apart from the noble nothing was catching you. 6 speed for ingliston?? Oh and if you hadn't removed the rear wiper to save 1kg of weight, we'd have seen the video better

Can't really complain about the RE70's, they were from the WR1 batches that subaru sold off cheap in 2005 and I had them originally on the white ra. For those that are newer to the scene, the WR1 was brought into the country with gunmetal coloured Sti alloys fitted with the RE70'S. Subaru UK then decided to sell the car with 18" alloys instead which left them with 500 sets of wheels, so the dealers sold them all off at £450 a set I think it was But on a nice dry track like Kames was a few weeks ago, they are good, they just don't like the wet. In hindsight I should have fitted the toyos from the start, just hopeful it would dry up.

Great photos everyone, and nice to meet some new faces and catch up on old ones. Bit of a mixed bag with the conditions, started off on really well worn Bridgestones RE70's when it was damp at the start hoping it would dry up, but changed to Toyo's when the rain got heavy. Car seems to have way too much understeer when its wet compared to my old white ra, but is perfect when dry. Need to investigate that one. Didn't actually do that many laps myself, about 15. Donna did about 10, and Nick more than 40. Somethings not right with this arrive and drive set up he's got

First point I'm going to make Neil is a warning. Once you start its addictive, it NEVER stops But as everyone else says, brakes and suspension first. Good discs and pads first if your sticking with standard calipers. Coilovers for the suspension, forget about lowering springs, they dont even come close on track. Then start stripping as much weight of as you fancy, weight removed is cheap power. A stripped 300bhp classic will match a 400bhp new-age easily. When it comes to power there are a few cheaper alternatives available that will get you to the 280-300 mark. Have a read at my build, currently I'm sitting out about £2000 and that included the car, although I did get a good deal on a door and bonnet