micra_wrc

lol no worries Alison McRae (Colin's wife) is delighted to help and we've sorted something out with Stu

hmm Grant saw it on Wed and we're not too happy with it. The stand didn't look complete and BAT just looked odd without a backdrop I wish they took up our offer to use the replica Start Finish ramp that Strike made for us for the cheque presentation at Chester, that would have made an impact.

aye, clocked you too Big J gave you flashes, big waves and a couple of toots your car looked great did you spot that my rear o/s mud flap was gone? reversed over it at Crossford and ripped it off the bumper

Gerry, Stu, I'll speak to the McRae Vision and see if we can sort out a Corgi model of L555BAT for you. send me a goat PM with a postal address and we'll try and get some goodies to you before the run imy

sorry to hear that, hope they manage to find the culprits. shame that the joy of owning a STi has led to this, hope you and your family are ok and still feel safe in the house imy

ola folks Nicky Grist and his team won the golf event and the evening dinner/auction went well. Nicky's speech included a story of how Colin participated in a similar charity event back in 2005. Apparently Colin doesn't do golf... he was more taken with the golf buggy than golf clubs... he managed to get rid of the limiter on the buggy and was hooning along the golf course and pathways lol We're gearing up for a busy 3 week spell now, we've the Lost Boys Rally at Crossford, near Lanark this weekend (18/19 June) then we'll be at the Scottish Rally in Dumfries (25 June) and then its off to Goodwood Festival of Speed (30 June/3 July) We'll be up at the Forest stage this year. This year's theme is 50 years of the Jag E-Type, as well as the 60th anniversary since Jaguar first won at the gruelling Le Mans 24 Hours race. They're also celebrating 100 Years of the Indianapolis 500, 100 Years of the Isle of Man TT Mountain Course and 20 Years of Super Touring The poor retail unit needed to be serviced last week. We'd hauled it up and down the country so much last year that there were cracks in the chassis and we were really lucky it didnt snap we've now got DiRT 3 loaded into our gaming simulator and will be running the DBox chair at Crossford this weekend. Codemasters have released a pack featuring the MkII, and all proceeds from the downloads go to the charity. phew! imy x

nice one. What else was around it and did the stand/area look nice?

scary to see that things havent improved in 2 months - the last post on this thread was in March this year but they read like they were written yesterday Its so expensive to fill up. We're driving the RA at a snail's pace and in constant fear of having to put fuel in her again. Takes the fun out from being behind the wheel

we were manning the Vision unit in Duns on Fri and Sat. Didn't get to any stages, but had a prime spot near the Start/Finish line and were up close to the ceremonial start/prize giving presentations. here are the pics I managed to take Mike Brewer, co-driver to Robbie Head in the Evo pace car on Friday night Loiuse Aitken-Walker waving the cars over the start line Pirelli girls Trade was good but the weather was bizarre, one minute it was sunny but the next was hail stoning! Big shout out to those that visited the stand over the 2 days, Baz, Cathy, JamesM, TPS Andy, Drina, Dave222 and anyone else I've forgotten

special stage through Duns town centre tonight, think its a 5pm kickoff. the Vision unit will be there, outside the pub/hotel on the high street

other Vision news includes preparing for the opening of the new Riverside museum in Glasgow. They've got a Colin McRae display and L555BAT will be available for viewing. There's a grand opening on 21 June and there are plans to put on a show/display as part of this. Click here for further info on Glasgow's museum page It might be worth doing a group day trip to this later in the year.

Stu, we were behind the burger vans, opposite the toilets, towards the start line for the rally stage. Not ideal, as the way the burger vans were fanned out it wasn't obvious that there were other stalls behind them Sales were quieter than expected but selling passenger rides with Jimmy in the Sierra helped, and Mini/Prodrive kindly donated some rides in the Mini with Dani on the Sunday, which boosted our fundraising.

The Rally Show, Cornbury, 14-15 May Grant and I were at the Rally Show at the weekend. It was quite quiet compared to last year's event, the change in location from Chatsworth to Cornbury may have been a factor. The Mini WRC and the Prodrive team were there and we got a chance to see and hear the new car the Vision stand with the Pirelli simulator Subaru Legacy and Sierra Cosworth Jimmy with Dani Sordo. We tried to sell Dani a pair of trainers but he didn't like them... but at least he wore our hat! Dani, with Jimmy and DR the Prodrive car trailer and DR's Aston Martin the Mini WRC I was fortunate enough to be offered a pax around the rally stage in the Mini next to Dani... just as well I brought my overalls with me waiting to get on track. The Mini had such power and the noise inside the cabin was immense. Dani was familiar with the track and flung the car around the corners and chicanes so fast the lap ended in the blink of an eye. our next event is the Scottish Motor Show at Knockhill this weekend.

hi Duncan, hope you and the family are well Sorry to hear you may be selling the wagon, but understand as scoobs are becoming more expensive to keep on the road.

ha, I just saw this thread! thanks for the wishes and we're so happy to get engaged after 10 years together don't think there will be any arguments about the wedding car, however I did mention to Grant that getting L555 BAT out of the new Riverside Museum will be a no go... as I'm not climbing over any roll cages in my dress lol

thanks for all the genuine wishes and thoughts, health things are still a bit uncertain. but we do have some good news.... we got engaged at the weekend click for pic of engagement ring it take a while to get things sorted but I guess there's no question about what the wedding car will be lol

ahahaa and I've got photographic proof click for Video of '09 Fling, 2 min 13 for pink bathrobe loving all the banter, gutted we can't make it this year have fun y'all

edited to add SCoobywho's Tip to latest thread 1. If your sidelights won't switch off look for the parking light switch on top of the steering column . 2. Use the search function on the forum before asking the same old question . 3. The best first mod for an impreza is the exhaust (backbox at least) 4. Buy a classic 5. Make sure you get regular quality oil / filter changes every 3 - 4000 miles 6. Always run the car on good quality fuel - V Power/BP Ultimate/Tesco 99 and add octane booster for safety in an unremapped import 7. Avoid "chip"ing an impreza - get it remapped by an expert like AndyForrest (Apexi for classics, ECUtek for newage) 8. Sell the Newage and buy a Classic 9. Always wait till the engine is nice and warm before giving it full pelt and let it cool down befrore switching it off 10. Upgrade your brakes before modding the engine 11. A VTA dumpvalve isnt really a good idea unless your car is getting remapped to compensate for it. It will momentarily make your car run rich as the ecu gives fuel for air which has been dumped and not recirculated. All you are missing is the gay noise. 12. Solid rear droplinks and a decent suspension geometry set-up are probably one of the best sub-£100 modifications you can do to a standard car. 13. new ages will undertseer when at the limit 14. If you have a classic get Strutt Braces. The improvement is outstanding! If you have a new age...no luck! loL! 15. Clean out the boost solenoid once in a while and dont fill engine oil right up to max. 16. Go to the SIDC track days at knockhill, you get free tuition from an instructor if you want 17. Love every minute of driving and owning it (it will make handing over the credit card much easier) 18. Goto meets/Knockhill/Crail and tell us who you are?We don't bite sometimes 20. Join the SIDC and you'll get discounts on insurance and dealer supplied parts in addition to track days. 19. For some obscure reason there is a lot of mention of goats & homosexuals in here. Do NOT let this put you off our forums. 99% of our members are "normal" but we are all fans of The Hoff. 20. Always prefill the oil filter when doing an oil change 21. Dont believe everything you read on the forums. 22. Send off for a Shell card 23. What ever BHP you get, you will never be happy 24. BLUE is the best colour. 25. Is your car standard? - leave it that way. 26. Watch out for the Impreza's "lift-off" oversteer. It's wicked, particularly on a wet Knockhill! 27. wave to other scoob drivers 28. never buy a set of lexus rear lights 29. sidc love some photography of your beloved 30. dont sell your scoob you will regret it and will end up with another 1 31. The best place to hang out on saturday nights is at OSIDC 32. Modding is for MEN 33. Going JDM is for winners..........leave the chocolate UK's to the Willy Wonka lovers! 34.^^Andy speaks the truth, JDM is the way forward!! 35. K.I.S.S. Keep it simple stupid and don't mod what doesn't need modding (dump valves etc) 36. NEVER let the other half known how much youve spent on the car.she will be jealous! 37. Dont go to Halfords for your servicing parts - they are more likely to give you filters for a lada or skoda. 38. the bright button really does just make the clock brighter 39. Never believe anything read on Ebay 40. Never buy a impreza when you get 10 spare ST2 (spaceman) 41. CLASSIC ARE The GREATEST IMPREZA BUILT. 42. Try not run your impreza top end as the boxes dont last long(went through 3 last time) 43. Believe the petrol gauge - yes it does use that much! 44. if you have mudflaps watch when reversing near kirbs or they get caught on wheels and bye bye back bumper 45. Your steering wheel lock isn't broken, you're supposed to have to turn it 180 degrees before it engages. 46. Boost solenoid 'chatter' isn't necessarily indicative of a fault (although the Scoob moguls say it can be eradicated the by above-mentioned cleaning). 47. Uneven tyre wear is common. 48. 10 miles use out of a set of newage shocks isn't unheard of - but if you're still under warranty, they're covered. 49. The rear proximity alarm (on newer Imprezas) tells blatant lies in the rain. 50. Door panels dent quite easily. 51. It's won't stop entertaining you on twisty roads! 52. Never use the standard horn in an aggressive manner in a road rage situation, you will just look silly!! 53. You will find that Classic owners are really insecure: they talk about how good their cars are over their Newage counterparts. They be fooling themsleves but they soon realise not to listen to what TheWelsho has to say 54. Welsho knows as much about cars as Fish know about Riding Bicycles ! 55. you will find most newage owners have a huge chip on there shoulders because A) they have lost 3/4 of the value of there cars through depreciation over two years B.) they weigh a bloody ton C) they are almost all are blue with gold wheels D) they are jelous of there classic brothers who continually spank them round knockhill 56. Try not to hold your foot to the floor and do 140mph + for mile after mile, they dont like this and tend to go POP, Take it up have a play and bring it down again. 57. If water/coolant pissed out of the front bumper at the passenger side, then you have more than likely over filled your coolant (overflow pipe) and not burst a pipe. 58. You will find that Classic owners who have bought Newage quickly revert to classic's as they find out VERY quickly just how good the classics are compared to floaty newage boats 59. If in absolute doubt, ask the question. someone will know! 60. If you intend to mod your scooby to anything over 400bhp, you'd better off starting with a newage STI.Atleast you'll never need to replace the gearbox unless you are pure brutal. 61. Don't post Ken Block's Gymkhana vid. 62. Forget all this "Classics are this, New Ages are that" rubbish. ALL Scoobs are feckin ace 63. you will always stop what you are doing when you hear a scooby burble approaching... firstly to check its not your car but then just to check it out and listen to it going by 64. Buy the best parts you can afford so you won't need to upgrade them again later 65. Once you start modding it's hard to stop and newage 2.5's rule! 66. Go on the SIDC track days - gives you the safest environment to learn how to handle your car, fairly risk and damage free 67. Buy a 'Hatch' it's the way forward 68. Every time you look at your Subaru you will smile and be glad it's your car a feel good factor (not many cars give you that satisfaction) 69. Dont let you Wife/Girlfriend drive it or you might get it back looking different to how you last seen it. 70. Dont park your car in multi-story car parks or area's were there may be NED's hanging around as your car will either be stolen or vandalised!! 71. Buy a second car (Not a Scoob) so that when your Scoob breaks down you still have a car to drive about in 72. You will never tire of listening to the burble and will laugh like a small child when it pops, bangs and sets off car alarms 73. Folk that have sold their scoobs always seem to miss it when its gone. Learn from this and don't sell ! 74. Dont skimp when buying tyres .. can make a massive difference .. stick to for eg Toyo Proxes, Goodyear Excellence, Michelin Pilots etc.. none of yer Nankang, cheapy rubbish. 75.never buy a used subaru or any used car infact from evans halshaw, unless you like paying for it but never actualy owning it as its always sitting at the back of their garage getting fixed 76. Give it a wash and a hug every weekend. (stops it spitting you into a ditch) 77. Get your tyres and geometry checked out in the spring - its surprising how much they go out after hitting potholes after the winter

The Vision unit will be at the Start Finish line tomorrow at Altins Hotel Pop by and see Grant if you're passing

Won't know until 2pm this afternoon, will try and post here once Grant finds out

aye aye... bet you do that to all the cars that you valet

love the wheels

The big news at the moment is that Campbell Roy, Colin's business manager and our 'boss'at the Vision, has signed up as the Sporting Manager of the Mini WRC team. He'll be great at the role and we're excited about how the Mini will fare this season. Campbell was the first person that represented the McRae family that we spoke to when the Gathering was just an idea, and I remember quaking at the thought of meeting him at Jerviswood. Click for article in Autosport Grant will be at the Granite rally this weekend, with a fresh stock of jackets and fleeces, which had to be replenished after fans at the Snowman cleaned us out Our diary for May is busy, 14 May = Rallyshow at Cornbury 21 May = Scottish Motor Show 28 May = Jim Clark We've also confirmed our attendance at Goodwood Festival of Speed, my favourite show from last year

Greenlight are also good for insuring imports. James, interesting view on tracker, I always deliberate whether to renew my subscription or not