DR Motosport

Had a chance to speak to Martyn about this car when the Time Attack was at Knockhill. It was one of a pair of cars made up from spare parts from when Autosportif ran 98/99 WRC rally cars. They had sold the rally cars and replaced them with a 2000 WRC Impreza, and none of the spare parts fitted. Although the car has "only" 520 bhp, and is over 200bhp down on the Roger Clark or Zen cars; the handling and braking is so good it makes up for it. I would love to see what a 52sec car feels like at Knockhill. That's a good 6-7secs quicker than my track ra, and about 10 secs quicker than a road Impreza. Lapped every 6 laps

Colin told me years ago that they had about 4 attempts to get the finish staged correctly. If you watch closely from the air you can see the F1 car starting to pass the Focus too early, and Colin was too far back to catch Clarkson. Sorry for spoiling it. One of the first to try this was Senna in a McLaren with a couple of Porsches; and that wasn't yesterday.

Looks a bit too good condition wise to have belonged to Colin. Usually when they had finished with quads or off road bikes, they were pretty well done with.

He sure is lucky, I've owned various Impreza's for 11 years now, including an EVO6. So it's all he's known since he was 3. I get it from him and his younger sister. "Can you pick me up from School? and bring the racing car", " Oh and make sure your early so you can park right at the front gates" Jodie, no problems with some passenger laps next time. If your passing pop in for a chat too. Davie

The white wrx ra, I spoke to you before the start after the drivers briefing, we were parked next to each other. It's putting out about 320bhp and is all stripped out with a roll cage, etc. It goes ok And all in is due me well under £5k, for the car and everything on it.

When I bought my JDM STi I thought the original Subaru pads in the Brembo's were ok'ish for the road but poor for the track. I changed the fronts to Mintex 1155's and the rears to the 1144's. All from Grant at AWD. Transformed the brakes and never had any fade from them, even with the slicks fitted. I now use a Classic WRX ra for the track days fitted with 6 pot AP's and these came with Ferodo 2500's. Again great for the track and never any fade. The Mintex are slightly cheaper, and have a slightly better feel when stone cold first thing in the morning. Both are dusty for the alloys, Mintex slightly more so. I wouldn't even consider the EBC's; nothing like as good as the Mintex or Ferodo's

Hi Jodie, The Black 911 was a turbo model, so 420bhp. I let him pass me going up the main straight thinking it would be mega quick, but a lap later coming out of the hairpin I was still right behind him. It might have 100bhp more than me, but they also weigh 1580kg, 450kg more than me. Or 70 stone in old money. It all balances out. Davie

The '94 WRX ra I use for a track car has had a total strip out. Originally it should have weighed 1170kg, but I took out over 100kg of stuff I didn't need anymore. Then put 50kg back in with a full welded in roll cage. Better safe than sorry. Front seats were very heavy, at 45kg for both, rears were less than 10kg. Carpets, sound proofing, excess trim, un-needed wiring; get rid of it all. I've still a few jobs to do, but my target is 1100kg with cage.

Another well organised day, once again thanks to JohnS. Tut managed to scare the life out of me twice; once when he managed a 360 spin right in front of me coming out of Clarks, then second when he took me out for a few passenger laps just as it was drying out. Excellent chuckability his Lotus has, and Tut certainly knows how to chuck it about. Great fun. Had my own little drama, right at the end of the day. Came out of the pits, and got as far as the hairpin when I saw smoke pouring out of my bonnet. Pulled into the pits again, marshals running over with the fire extinguishers expecting a huge engine oil fire, only to find a pin hole in the top radiator hose had sprayed coolant over the rest of the engine, hence all the smoke. Thanks to the guys at the Legends garage who helped patch it up then refilled the system, so I could get it back home safely.

I think a 225 would be too wide for a classis Paul. On my ra I use Pirelli 210 / 625 X 17 on new age STi rims. These still rubbed the rear arches until I ground them back.

One of Colin McRae in a Subaru would be a nice touch.

Well done to everyone who was involved in organising todays events. The sight of the convoy as it approached the Hynford bridge was very special. As we came over the crest leading down to the bridge, I could see the first of the cars already over the bridge, and when I looked in my mirror I could see Subaru's for as far as I could see. The service itself, was very appropriate with just the right mix of laughs and sadness. I just wish they were all still with us, and we never had to do this in the first place.

Paul, Do you have any photos of the roll cage. I may know someone who could be interested, he was asking me about buying a new OMP cage recently. Cheers David

Was the turbo a green car? I saw it on their web-site it looked a sore hit at the back. I think they also have a Subaru Rally car coming up, that was wrecked at Duns on the Jim Clark rally. But it needs more than a little polish oot.

Could you add me to the list too. Thanks David

S*** YOX Not sure if you want the numbers posted on here.

I've been reading the comments above in these pages for 2 days now, and I still don't think it's sunk in yet. I've been a big rally fan since the days of Group B back in the mid 80's, and I first remember watching Colin rally his Nova about 20 years ago. But it wasn't until a few years later when i joined the Coltness Car club that he became a friend. He would turn up at the club meetings in Hamilton with his new company car, a black LHD Legacy RS. This was at the time he joined the Subaru team to rally the Rothmans Legacy in the British Championship. For those that didn't know him he may have come across as quiet and shy, but in reality he wasn't like that. If there was mischief to be done, he and his brother were usually at the centre of it. Here's a few of the stories that I've remembered today - that can be repeated. Colin and Derek Ringer once used a Nova to compete in a local road rally late one Saturday night on the back roads of Lanark. But the poor car was hammered that close to death, the plastic wheel trims had started to melt due to the overheating brakes. How Derek ever explained that to his wife I don't know. It was his wife's car they had borrowed. Years later Colin was doing the course car duties on the McRae stages rally in his 6R4 Metro at the time he worked for Ford. One of his engineers had agreed to do the co-driving for him. Half way through the day I spoke to Colin and asked how it was going. He said his co-driving friend started the day by being sick after the stages, but he was now that worried he was now being sick going to the stages. It probably didn't help when Colin took the pace note book and rubbed out a full page of pace notes and replaced them with the words "Flat 2 1/2 miles". Now where in Scotland is there a road that's straight for 2 1/2 miles never mind a track through the forrests. No wonder he was ill. While we have all lost a hero and a friend; my thoughts are with all three families who have lost so much more. David

I gave up marshaling about 12 years ago, had done it for about 5 years and didn't have the time anymore. But I'd like to think that after 20 years of rallying, I know what's right and what's wrong. And some of what I saw at Kelso was terrible. Various kids with bibs on, probably saw 3 or 4 over the weekend. Marshals taking photos and not watching his area. 2 marshals having a discusion as whether or not to move a group of spectators with 2 kids from a very dangerous position next to a hay bail chicane. They didn't want to "upset" them by asking them to move. So I went over to them and asked them to move back up a banking. They did so without any complaining and once the first car went through were probably glad they did. I know it's a thankless job, and events can't run without them. But can you imagine the consequences of a car hitting that group.

I've been going over to Ireland for the last 4 years. Been to the Circuit and also Donegal (4 times) I've heard that the Saturday Donegal stages, those based to the South of Letterkenny are to be used for Rally Ireland. We've always flown over and hired a car, and while I'd love to take my STi across, I've never seen V-Power or Optimax for sale. So check up on that. Also the lanes are so narrow for parking and passing, we've never taken a hire car back yet that hasn't been damaged. Mirrors broken, scratches down both sides, broken bumper, to name a few problems. Lastly you'll also need someone who's bloody good with the map reading, because once your in the South, the back roads don't have any road numbers. And you'll need these roads to get between stages. Other than that, you'll have a great time, and the Irish Guiness really does taste better over there. David

My mate was there yesterday, he said it was an old classic type rally car that dropped the oil at Duffus Dip. The driver should have known better, but he then proceeded to drive it all the way back to the pits - still dripping oil. But I bet it wouldn't have taken them 2 hours, if it was a large racing event. "Sorry ITV could you delay all today's Touring Car races by at least 2 hours while we clean the track at our leisure"

I got one too; but you know your in there when they invite you down to test their latest Group N rally cars, with a quick blast in a WRC car to finish the day off.

Very sad this, I actually know his brother in law and was speaking to him on Tuesday. He had just bought an old Fiesta and had it up on axle stands, but somehow he managed to pull the car off them and it crushed his chest. He had the hand brake on, but Police have said it didn't actually work. Regulars at Knockhill hot hatch days may know him, he was a bit of a regular with a Saxo and Fiesta.

Just replaced my Toyo T1-R's with a set of Goodyears. The Toyo's were good in the dry if a little soft when the weather was very warm back in July, and good in the wet when new. However now they were down to 3-4mm I thought they were rubbish, hence changing them earlier than I wanted to. I've used the Goodyears before and the wet weather grip was fantastic all through their life. Got a set of 225/45x17's for £336 fitted , about the same price as the Toyo's - no choice really.

That's a great site, just zoomed in to my house and saw my STi on the drive, but I think the photos are maybe last year as the decking I done over the summer is missing from my back garden. Also the WRX ra I bought in September is missing - or somebody's nicked it.

The stages through Bellahousten Park was for the Scottish Rally, probably about '86-87. The official rally start back then was in Blythswood Square outside the RSAC building. The only time in the mid 80's that the RAC rally came so far north was Ingliston in '86. David