DR Motosport

At the "Big Meet" earlier today, a few of us were talking about Road Tax prices. At the November mini Budget, the rules were changed again. No longer are car from 2001-2006 going to be hit with the £400 expected tax. A few today weren't aware of this, but here is a link to the DVLA web-site with all the latest changes I was talking about. http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/Ownin...hicle/DG_172916 About half way down the page, the key parts is this quote. *Band K includes cars that have a CO2 figure over 225g/km but were registered before 23 March 2006. These will stay in Band K. Which means from 1st April 2009, your road tax will be £215, and £245 for 2010. This only applies to cars from 1st March 2001 to 23rd March 2006. Damn site better than the expected £400. Actually still doesn't affect to me. Because I imported my JDM STi new 6 years ago, it never had an emissions value, so mine stays at £185 David

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 41) Billy,Jean and grandaughter Dakota 42)mctwistuk and ms cruise 43) kennyuk300 44) Davy + Nick (if he's out his bed by then ...........teenagers)

I only checked the clip on a new age car to make sure the clip part worked, and they hadn't changed between classic and new age. Never thought for a minute about the cubby box at the centre consol, but glad it worked okay in the end.

I've been using HKS ones for years, never any problems. I fitted one to my ra when the front mount was done, as it's too much hassle to try and keep the original recirculating one. Bailey ones don't tend to get a good right up and most tuners tell you to avoid them. ie AndyF

The noise regulation has been on Knockhills web-site since October. Track Scotland ran an event on November 1st, but the noise regulation wasn't used. Just as well really. At 5000 RPM and 0.5m at a 45deg angle (standard measuring) my track Impreza measures 107.8dba or 101.2 with the bung fitted.

We tend to only hear how bad things are in the UK and the USA, but when you look at what the Japanese car companies are doing recently, it must be really bad over there. Honda - F1; Subaru and Suzuki -WRC; Toyota losses for the first time ever; etc.

They are an 11mm x 1.25mm pitch. That's 11mm x fine thread. However 11mm isn't a standard size, it tends to go 8,10,12,14mm etc. So the chances of getting a bolt off the shelf in a hardware shop is Zero. I may have some from a Classic - I'm sure they are the same size - I would need to check tomorrow. But instead of a bolt, you could use an eye-bolt ( I do have some of those) then if you do fit harnesses for track days, this is where you would mount the lap belt parts. Fit 2 per seat. David

The uprated torsion bar serves 2 purposes. To make sure when the bootlid is up, it doesn't fall on your head, and stays open. Secondly, when closed and you pop the interior release, it pops up off the lock. If yours still does that, you do not need the stronger torsion bars. To be honest, I haven't seen a spoiler that needs the stronger bars. The STi ones, even the large WRC ones work fine with the normal bars. If your ones are making a creeking noise, I would try lubricating them with a silicone grease. Also make sure the mounts for the bars are still tight. David

That's some weight loss John. Take into the weight of the cage, and there a car at less than 1000kg. That's mighty impressive David

Only the genuine STi spoilers vibrate. The good replicas don't.

I was thinking about one for my track car, and saw this on ebay. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Complete-Car-Cover-S...A1%7C240%3A1318 Notice it's a Glasgow seller, don't know if anyone knows them. David

How far do you want to go with it, are you still planning on using the car everyday as a road car? If you are, you limited to replacing the front seats with lighter ones on frames - 25kg saving Aluminium Bonnet to replace the steel one - 8kg Lightweight battery - 12kg Lightweight alloys - 2kg each if 17" Weights are all approximate, but there's over 50kg If wanting to use it only as a track car; then there's the rear seats, carpets, all interior trim, sound deadning, spare wheel and tools, air con, stereo and speakers, excess wiring, etc. Your now at over 100kg+ less. It all depends on where you want to stop. David

I said on Tuesday when this news broke, that I didn't think Subaru would be back in 2010. Now reading comments from Dave Richards, and from the boss of FHI, I think it's even more true. A good comparason is Audi. They entered the WRC for only 5 years, but twice won both the drivers and manufacturers titles. Those years were the start of a transformation for Audi, that over the last 30 years have seen the go from a company that no-one wanted, to a company that now equals if not betters BMW and Mercedes. Audi enthusiasts still talk about the quattro days. But Audi went on to dominate every form of motorsport they took part in from IMSA, DTM, Touring Cars, and Le-Mans. I just hope Subaru are using Audi as an example of how to do it, and go on from here into other forms of Motorsport, but I do think we've seen the last of them in the WRC. David

Ask him if he'll do a Group Buy Mine is still in the tube. David

Removing the skirts would leave 5 or 6 plastic locating plugs on each side. You would need to remove the plugs, and have the holes welded up (you wouldn't want to use filler). Then it's a repaint, but not too difficult as it's just the sills. A lot of work,.................... I think I would leave them. David

The biggest deal I remember was Coca Cola, but they wanted the cars painted red / white........ Coca Cola managed to get Santa Claus to change from a green suit to a red one, but not Subaru David

Group A rules replaced the Group B rules for 1987. In that year there were works teams from Lancia , Mazda, Ford (XR4x4, later the Cosworth), VW (Golf) and Audi (won the safari with the 200 Quattro) I can't remember any year that there were only 2 teams.

Sad day for all involved, and sadly I don't think we will see them back either. I don't think the 2010 S2000 rules suit an Impreza sized car. Other manufactures use smaller cars; 206's, Punto's, Corsa's, etc. There were rumours about over the Summer that Subaru / Prodrive were going to be running 4 cars for next year too. Who wants to watch a World Championship with 2 Citroens, and 10 Fords (all trying to gang up on Loeb, .................. who will still win anyway) I also think Ford will be next. Ford as a company are in deep s****, and their 25 Billion Dollar rescue plan has been rejected by the US Congress . It will all have to pass down the line somewhere, and a non performing rally team must be in that firing line. Malcolm Wilson has been in charge now for 12 years, and what have they won. Nothing. 0 drivers titles and only 2 manufacturers titles, and all that on the largest budget over the same period. I think I'll cancel those plans for Finland and Spain, next year. David

No, I disagree with that. On the new age cars, the extra width is only at the wheel arch, and most of that is because it's squared off. The spoiler doesn't actually look wide enough now. But on the classics, the wider arches go almost up to the window line, so look far better, and a wider spoiler now is very much needed. See what I mean, now. Davy

I think they look better in the flesh, and better again with graphics done. But the rally spoilers don't have a brake light, and they fit closer to the rear window. Also the top wing isn't flat either, but has a raised rear lip. One thing you will notice is the grip from the back. I had one fitted for a very wet track day at knockhill a few years back, and the back end stuck to the track like glue, never moved.

Why not leave the harnesses purely for the track days. Remove the rear seats, then, and mount the harnesses at a better and safer angle. Also the gloves. You will get better grip without them if you still have a leather steering wheel. The gloves will be perfect if you have a suede steering wheel, worse if you don't. David

Race of Champions used to be a great event in the sunshine of Gran Canaria using the old Group B cars, Quattro S1's But moving it to Paris and then London for a stadium event, has lost all it's appeal for me. These stadium Super Specials are an insult to proper racing and a complete waste of time. IMHO. I did notice they have halved the prices compared to last year, in a hope of having slightly more than a 1/4 full stadium. David

Still happening at the Lizzie Brice Shell last weekend. A mate that stays in Mid Calder told me his wife was in there last weekend, then later noticed £350 in Aussie dollars missing. On Monday my wife came in from work (School teacher in Livingston) with an email from the school warning about using the Shell garage for card fraud. David

Quick update for everyone. All brochures are now in the post so will be with you all in a couple of days. The good news is a total of £50 was made from the donations, and this amount will now be sent to the Mcrae Gathering teams funds. So once again a big thanks to everyone David

Kaylz, can you mail me the delivery address for your brochures, it didn't show up on your Paypal donation. Cheers David