zeolite

There is going to be a rally marshal training day in Duns later on in the year. Might be a good opportunity for some first timers.

I must admit I have never rated Solberg. The WRC is going to be a walkover for Loeb I reckon but 2010 should be very interesting.

I marshal every year so I would suggest we have a Scooby marshalled stage.

I have received a polite response from Subie Gal. She says she was just doing her moderator job and no sales are allowed from non-vendors. She does suggest I email the boss. I take it you have already emailed the main man Grant?

I sent Subie Gal a polite pm. I await a response.

I agree with you there which is why the production class or a production +( like Gpa or Gp4) class make the most sense for promoting a car. This formula car class they are going for in 2010 holds no real excitement for me. It just seems another step away from rallying towards racing on dirt. I believe if the top class was production based the benefits trickle down to the customers in the form of the cars that we would want to own. The Impreza is a prime example of that. I hope the WRC will rethink there classes and make the top class less specialised and cheaper.

Agree about the marketing potential being bigger but NOT for cars. It used to be cigarettes and now it is computers and mobile phones is it not? Rallying has always been about the cars. The results prove reliablity and speed over difficult conditions and showcase the road cars.

The thing is Stephen, nobody buys cars because the manufacturer wins F1 do they? I have always had sporting saloon cars from Mk1 Escorts to Subarus (the Alpina was an aberration ). Has anyone ever felt the urge to buy a Renault because they won the F1 championship? Privateers used to be the backbone of the sport before the present bunch started insisting that Joe Bloggs doing is once a year run around the forests of the UK just wasn't good enough if they wanted to charge spectators to be corraled up in temporary stands. I hope this will bring about a return to more grassroots rallying in which I am more interested than WRC tbh.

I seem to remember that only Lancia and Mazda actually had full factory teams the others had limited programs with semi-works and privateers nominated for manufacturers points. It is a long time ago though and at the time I followed the events quite closely. I have been somwhat jaded with the present WRC and the nature of the events.

I feel sorry for the guy who won the 2 days with SWRT at the McRae Gathering auction. The poor guy must be absolutely gutted! I know I would be. (i was prepared to go a grand on that prize as well) Rallying has had 2 team years before (lanciavMazda in the first year of GpA for example) but I do think it is time for a rethink on the rules. I am not convinced by the S2000 rules and I would like to see a return to production plus cars like GpA was but without the 5000 minimum build. I wonder if anyone will be building cars at all in the next few years. There are 1000s stockpiled around the world. I know dealers are looking at some very lean times ahead and both Ford and Citroen shouldn't be considered definites for next year.

With due respect to the potential recipients; your views on this are not going to be considered The award is decided by the club members and not by any strange personal ideas of modesty. If you get voted for you accept with good grace and possibly a 10 minute acceptance speech with tears. Savvy?

Ah those are the udated versions of the ones I used to use. I thoroughly recommend those as a quick jerk on the shoulders locks you in and if you have rear passengers you can quickly detach them as I used to keep the lapstrap still fitted.

Yeah. Its a grey area but I was assured that you have to be able to detach your belt one-handed and that harnesses can't be done one handed. This is, of course, crap as any helicopter passenger will tell you. Nevertheless I was told to remove them by a policeman on a dark night in Aberdeen.

YES!!!! Lancaster centre car park! Splitter then fell off on the M6 Don't do it!

I used to do a lot of road-rallying back in the 80s andas such I wanted something more supportive than the standard lap strap. When I used the caged Escort we had no back seats so used a 4 point however this was a pain when reversing (missed slots etc). I got a Mazda 323 and I bought some Schroth harnesses that were perfect. They had front links that you could fit to the standard mounting points and the rear link slotted into the rear seat holder and had an inertia reel just like a standard lap strap. To me these are the best road car harness as you can push the shoulders down just like a lapstrap to lean forward. However I did get stopped by the polis once and told to remove them. AFAIK harnesses are not road legal perhaps some of our police members could advise. Don't know if these are still available.

Top Man? From what I have seen it is more like the local charity shop!

I wasn't offended but I didn't think it was that funny and not worth repeating. if you really want to be offended watch Mock the week. I got one of Clarkson's books for christmas and gave it up because his nonsense just annoyed me.

No, but I got diverted from the fatal one near Falkland last night. It is dangerous out there people. Please be careful.

I just want to say what a great job has been done by the "Gathering" organisers. How are you ever going to get back to normal? (Apart from Squiggle of course who has never been mormal). OUTSTANDING!

I too had a hankering for Audis a few years back but a few test drives convinced me otherwise. I have done a few miles in a S6 and it was very fast and smooth but it didn't have the chuckability of a scoob. I wasn't enterrained by it as it just did what it was told in an efficient manner. Haven't tried a RS version but because there is such a price difference I knew i was going to stick with the scoob. The only thing that might tempt me would be a M3 or another Alpina but that is only because I know how to drive RWDs. How many on here have gone Audi only to come back to scoobs?

Aaaaaarrrggghhh choppers! Need less time in choppers and more time in Scoob!

I got informed from my contact in Beauly.

Just got a phone call from the highlands. There is a convoy of German scoobs on the loose in Scotland. 10 of them are over here having a wee tour of Scotland. So lets show them Scottish SIDC hospitality if you see them oot and aboot.

We are THE MANAGEMENT!

Well done Callum! I thought you handled the auction superbly and I knew you would take my cheeky post in a good spirit although I have no idea what you are on about in your post.