Bladerider

It was quite a big turn out and because of that, I suppose some of us were unable to talk to everybody we wanted to. I didn't even get a chance to say hello to one or two of the Ayrshire regulars, including our very own R.O. (sorry Del). ...and I wasn't wearing Subaru socks, or any Subaru clothing of any kind. I did however buy something to wear (Subaru related) from Ebay very recently. It cost me £3.50, and it's coming all the way from Hong Kong. I should have it by the next Ayrshire meet and you will ALL want one.

I've edited all he sweary words (I think) _____________________________________ "OUR FIRST WINTER " DEC 20TH It's starting to snow. The first of the season and the first we've seen for years the wife and I took out our hot toddies and sat on the porch watching the fluffy soft flakes drift gently down clinging to the trees and covering the ground. It's so beautiful and peaceful. DEC 24th We awoke to a lovely blanket of crystal white glistening snow covering as far as the eye could see. What a fantastic sight,every tree and bush covered with a beautiful white mantle. I shovelled snow for the first time ever and loved it. I did both our driveway and the pavement. Later that day a snowplough came along and accidentally covered up our driveway with compacted snow from the street. The driver smiled and waved. I waved back and shovelled it away again. The children next door built a snowman with coal for eyes and a carrot for a nose, and had a snowball fight, a couple just missed me and hit the car so I threw a couple back and joined in their fun. DEC 26th It snowed an additional 5 inches last night and the temperature dropped to around minus 8 degrees. Several branches on our trees and bushes snapped due to the weight of the snow. I shovelled our driveway again. Shortly afterwards the snowplough came by and did his trick again. Much of the snow is now a brownish - grey. JAN 1st Warmed up enough during the day to create some slush which soon became ice when the temperature dropped again. Bought snow tyres for both our cars. Fell on my arse in the driveway. Went to a physio but nothing was broken. JAN 5th Still cold. Sold the wife's car and bought her a 4x4 to get her to work. She slid into a wall and did considerable damage to the right wing. Had another 8 inches of white sh*te last night. Both vehicles are covered in salt and iced up slush that b*stard snowplough came by twice today. Where's that bloody shovel. JAN 9th More f*****g snow. Not a tree or bush on our property that hasn't been damaged. Power was off most of the night. Tried to keep from freezing to death with candles and a paraffin heater which tipped over and nearly torched the house. I managed to put the flames out but suffered 2nd Degree burns on my hands. Lost all my eye brows and eyelashes. Car hit a f******g deer on the way to casualty and was written off. JAN 13th F****** b******d white sh*te just keeps on coming down. Have to put on every article of clothing just to go to the post box the little c***s next door ambushed me with snowballs on the way back - I'll shove that carrot so far up the little pricks arse it'll take a good surgeon hours to find it. If I ever catch the asshole that drives the snowplough I'll chew open his chest and rip out his heart with my teeth. I think the b******d hides around the corner and waits for me to finish shovelling and then he accelerates down the street like Michael "f*****g" Schumacher and buries the f******g driveway again. JAN 17th 16 more sodding inches of f*****g snow and f*****g ice and f*****g sleet and god knows what other white sh*te fell last night. I am in court in 3 months time for assaulting the snowplough driver with an ice-pick. Can' t move my f*****g toes. Haven't seen the sun for 5 weeks. Minus 20 and more f*****g snow forecast F**K THIS, I'M MOVING BACK TO LONDON

Grant, if you're looking for a radiator, there's one on Ebay. There's also a passenger side mirror for sale

I touch goats

One of my workmates managed to get eight tickets. He plans to resell six of them on Ebay for a tidy wee profit. I would have liked to go, but there is no way I'll pay that kinda price.

There was a thread a while back relating to Impreza owners in your area. You might find it helpfull. Dumfries

Any update Phil?

Was it previously used as a track bike? I noticed there are no mirrors on it.

I know of a guy with a white RA from Johnstone. He occasionally goes to Helensburgh to visit his mother. It may have been him passing through. He isn't on here though as he doesn't have a computer.

I would tend to agree with all of the above if only for piece of mind. However, I chose to ignore all this advice when I got my car three years ago. Since then I've covered over 70k miles without a Knocklink, or uprated fuel pump etc. The only servicing it gets is an oil and filter every 5K. I fill up with Optimax during the week and with Esso super at the weekend. I only use octane booster with Esso, never with Optimax. The majority will probably disagree with me on this. Optimax is just enhanced unleaded so it has its own booster. Adding another booster may have a detrimental effect. Esso super is a proper super unleaded so the octane booster will work better. I actually find my car runs much smoother with Esso and NF booster than is does with Optimax. I've tried Optimax along with booster and found it doesn't run quite as well. Actually I ran the car with Optimax only for about a year, until I found a reliable stockist of NF booster (Pentland components). Millers is also a popular choice of booster but the general opinion is that NF is the best. Make sure you warm the car up properly before giving it the welly. Let it run a wee while at low revs before switching off as well. If you get a Z4 ECU (about 100 quid) its just a ten minute job. The ECU is located in the passenger side footwell. Just pull away the carpet and undo the plate. It's a straight swap. Anyway why do you want more power, isn't it quick enough? To change the subject slightly, if you just want to go faster, how about making your car handle and stop better. The standard two pot brakes are absolute rubbish. The suspenders are also a wee bit on the soft side. Better brakes and suspension will see you get a bit quicker. Also consider uprated anti roll bars, droplinks, bushes etc. Offset castor blocks (anti-lift kit) will make the turn in a bit sharper and reduce understeer. There is so much more, but I'm sure you'll find your own way with any modifications for your car. One other piece of advice, the local service experts in your area are Kenny Brown (Hillington) and Greersport (Glengarnock) Either of them will give you all the professional advice you require. Go along to the organised meets. there's one coming up at Hillington shortly. There's also the regular Ayrshire meets.

To start with, get yourself a "Z4" ECU from a later car. You can ocasionally find them for sale either here, Scoobynet, or Ebay. A bit more power right across the rev range and a bit better MPG as well. If money is no object then get an Apexi power FC or Gems ECU. Custom mapped to your car.

It was fun playing in the snow for a while this morning. I took a shortcut through an industrial estate (the one where Greersport is), it was super slidy, so that was nice. Wide tyres and snow make the handling rather interesting. Then I got stuck in traffic on the A737 and was nearly an hour late for work.

Yep, three pairs from EBAY. ....and don't forget the SIDC team shirt !!

I haven't had any experience of the Bridgestones, but I believe tyre choice is a matter of opinion, and which tyre suits your own particular car and your style of driving. Due to popular opinion I changed to Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3 just before Christmas. I was not too impressed right from the start. I thought I'd give it a while till they're scrubbed in. I've now done a little over 1k miles on them, and I'm still not very impressed. Next time I'll be going back to Avon ZZ3. Excellent tyre in wet, dry, or damp. I've previously been on Toyo T1S and was pleased with them. The wet grip wasn't that great but they wouldn't lose grip suddenly like the F1, but would give you a warning slide before losing it completely. So were quite pridictable.

Kilmarnock for the next meet sounds good. If it's already been decided on the Brewers Fayre pub I'll go with that, as I've not been to that one before, but there are more interesting choices. For a future meet in Kilmarnock, how about "The Garage". Make it a day time weekend meet (just for a change) It has a pub, a Wimpy, a ten pin bowling alley, but more relevant to us, it has an indoor kart track. Anybody fancy a wee race? Anyway Del, who said the Parched Poet has limited parkiing? There is a massive car park (at the Odeon) with the choice of the Parched Poet, Burgler king, or Unlucky Fried Kitten. (come on guys, anything but Brewers Fayre again)

Grant, do you think Dougster might turn up?

I can't see why a wee bit of wind and rain should keep people away. If I'd been using the bike I would have given it a miss, but I'm using my comfortable warm car, so I'll be there. (I must remember to record Stargate SG1)

www.parcel2go.com www.postvan.com

Del, Going by past meets 'n stuff. You are already acting as unofficial RO for Ayrshire. Don't you think its time to make it official?

We had Monkton last time so how about Fenwick.

Any time I ever go out using public transport it's always my intention to aim for the second last train. As always, I leave it till the last possible moment and might miss it. So there's always the last one. So last night was no exception, yep I missed it. So anyway I was faced with a 40 minute wait at the station. The waiting room was locked and the wind and rain were coming towards the platform so there wasn't really any shelter. By the time the train was due (23:05) there were 8 other passengers. By the time the train was 15 mnutes late I was freezin ma nuts off. I pressed the intercom button only to be told the train was delayed and may possibly be cancelled altogether. He'll get back to us in a couple of minutes with any updated information. ten minutes later, I called him back. This time he told us the train was now cancelled. I said Scotrail have a duty of care to provide passengers with alternative transport. He then became quite abusive and told us we'll have to make our own way home. So, I was faced with a £25 taxi bill. One of the other passengers had no money and if he hadn't been going my way, he'd have been faced with a very long walk home. So anyway two and a half hours later that expected, I arrived home. Actually, I got the taxi to drop me off at the station in Kilwinning as my car was there and I needed my bank card from it. Geuss what arrived at the same time as the taxi. Yep, it was the cancelled train finally arriving two hours 12 minutes late. I'm sure you can imagine how angry I was after forking out for a taxi. I'm now in the process of making a claim against Scotrail. Just the latest in a long line of bad luck I've been having. So anyway apart from that, I enjoyed my meal, it was a nice wee night out.

Dougster, if you don't want to take Andy up on his offer, there's always public transport. I'll be getting the (Glasgow) train home. I believe it heads towards the Glasgow area.

I've heard it can also be done with toothpaste. The professionals use a compound called "jewellers rouge".

Dougster, while you're in you local pub on wednesday, some of us will be tucking in to a lovely curry at the Taj. Have you changed your mind about coming along?

And a merry Christmas to you too.