johns

I have loads of photos as well, but not had time to get them off the camera onto the PC yet! Didn't get home from the event and McRae Gathering until Monday night and was busy last night also. Will try and get some done tonight. John

It could possibly be the battery in your car running low. My alarm on a previous Impreza started playing up when the battery was on it's way out.

Well done on the new job, and it will be great to have you up here. Must meet up for a few beers at some point. Will you be working offshore, or have an onshore office based job?

Jools, give me a shout and we can maybe catch up at some point. I don't have any of your numbers any more, as I lost all my contacts when my phone was stolen in Trinidad. At that great party at your house when we all met up, Neil had just bought a 5D, and Simon had the 30D which had just been released at the time. I later bought the 400D which was excellent for learning with. John

Jools, upgraded from the 400D to a 40D earlier this month. It's the lenses that make the big difference though with an SLR. Most of these were taken with long(ish) lenses, namely a 70-200 and a 100-400. I'll be selling the 400D in a while once I get around to getting the box out of the loft etc.

No problems Carl. Glad you liked them

Arch, I've been in quite a few quick Imprezas over the years, including a full Group N spec car driven flat out on a forest rally stage - that was the scariest yet. AlanG's old car around Knockhill was also great fun and very fast - even with the fishtailing coming out of the hairpin I'll take to the pax seta in your car first though, to warm me up for the full onslaught John

Thanks John, I'll have to take you up on that offer at some point

Thanks for the comments everyone, much appreciated I've not published the shots of some white Subaru's taking unconventional lines (well apart from Arch on the grass), I'll maybe exchange them for pax laps at some point John PS The photo of JohnSt's car in full size is very good - the small version uploaded doesn't do it justice.

I've uploaded a selection of my photos from Sunday's event here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnsidc/sets...57606277077815/ Here's a small selection. John

Jools, good to hear you are in the land of the living. Very sorry to hear about Sinclair, but hopefully he is back at 100% again. You can get anything delivered to my house at any time if you want no problems. Will be good to catch up with you again on the 30th. We've got a track event booked at Knockhill in the morning (I know, but it was booked before the McRae date was chosen) from 9 to 1. I'll being doing that, then heading down at 1pm to catch up with everyone in the evening. Might even catch up at some point in the convoy down, depending on how long each fuel stop is John (also madly busy with life, work and everything!)

Arthur, yes the sprint is on next weekend. Might be tricky finding a parking space within a mile of Alford, as there's no space for the 50 - 70 trailers any more, but should be worth it. I'll probably just make it on one of the afternoons, weather depending. John

I'd just like to say a huge thanks to everyone who came along on the day just to be there, but the biggest thanks must go to all the volunteers who helped out on the day and a massive thanks to those who turned up on the Saturday to help get things set-up. We faced a few difficulties arriving on site on Saturday to find the main display area out of action, so we compromised and got the best set-up we could under the circumstances. One the building foundations are complete, much of the safety fencing will be moved close the the building, and I believe there will be roads connecting the paddock and the display areas at the bottom. This will make it easier to manage in future years. Big thanks to all those who gave generously, helping us raise a good total on the day. If T in the park hadn''t been on this weekend, then I'm sure we would have seen a much bigger turnout. Special mentions to Polished Bliss (www.polishedbliss.co.uk) for donating the prizes for the show and shine winners. Who would have though that JohnSt would ever have a car worthy of winning Also to Wallace Performance for donating some dyno runs to the fastest Impreza and EVO on the day. I'll be in touch with those who won later this week to sort everything out. If the Moray region are doing a Santa Cruise type event, then it is only fair that some of the money raised goes to them. As in previous years, the money gets split between all the different regions that help out at the event, as this seems the fairest way See you all next year (or next week if you are going along to watch the really fast cars on the same track!) John

We arrived on site today to find a major construction project under way in the area that we normally use to park all the cars. This led to a bit of head scratching, and thoughts on how best to utilise the site. The result is: ONLY cars taking part on track and in the Show and Shine competition should enter the area from the usual entrance adjacent to the village car park. ALL other cars should enter the area via the eastern gate at the far end of the area. You reach this gate a by following the signs to the railway museum, two streets further down (towards Aberdeen). All Subarus should park to the area on the right when you enter via this gate. EVOs and other visiting car clubs will park in the area to the left. Due to heavy rain this week, the ground is very soft and sodden in places. Grampian Police have been in touch with us, and are aware this event is taking place. It is very likely that there will be an increased police presence on the roads in and around Alford itself. Please observe all speed limits and keep noise levels to an absolute minimum (ie keep revs and throttle to a minimum, particularly those with non-standard exhausts). The weather forecast is looking very good compared to last year John

Help judging the show and shine would be very much appreciated Any marshalling help would also be great! John

Some of my photos are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnsidc/sets...57605876932997/ Feel free to post up any good ones you find. I've still got about another 400 to look though! John

It is unfortunate timing, but the Knockhill event was booked early on before the McRae gathering, and now the KH timetable is in place, there's nothing we can do about it:( I'm planning to do the event at KH, and then play catch-up, arriving with the main convoy (travelling at max 60mph) in the evening. I'm sure massive queues at some of the fuel stations on the way down will delay everyone by 30 minutes or so, and I'm hoping to arrive not too far behind everyone else. John

John, try a breakers yard. Pretty much all Subaru's use the same bettery size/type, and you'll be able to pick one up for very little money compared to a new one. Should last a few years. I did this with my 02 Sti when it's battery failed. £10 was all it cost me!

Excellent! Ronnie from Wheels Around can be contacted on 07711 577148 (Any time!) for ordering etc. Look forward to getting the email. John

Simmie already has a confirmed slot We're down to 2 slots now if anyone is interested. I expect they will be gone by the end of today. Cheers John

Heads up, I've had quite a few cancellations this week due to mechanical failures and other reasons. As a result I've got 3 slots available for Saturday if anyone is interested in taking part instead of watching! Email me with car details to john@sidc.co.uk First come first served. John

Excellent news

Thanks Arthur John

Looking awesome!! can't wait to see it in the flesh at some point.

Yes apologies for the lack of publicity. It's my work's fault for keeping me just far too busy and lots of overseas trips The event is going ahead as planned on Sunday the 13th of July. 10am to 4pm, though we hope the gates will be open at around 9:30am. Free entry, though we will be collecting donations on the gate for Santa Cruise - please give generously. As well as the usual show and shine competition, we'll have the sprint track in use all day. Sign up and drive your own car on the track (one at a time), and get a rare chance to push your car to it's limits and see how you compare with others. It's a great day out for the family. We will need some assistance on the Saturday afternoon for about an hour (say around 2:30pm) to set up the safety fencing, and also at the end of the event to take it all down again. I'm also looking for a few marshalls to help out on the day, the more we have in the "pool", the less time each needs to spend at their post. I'm hoping with 5 to 10 volunteers, that everyone will do one (maybe 2) stints of about an hour or so. One of the marshalls will be responsible for timing the cars with a stopwatch as well. Anyone volunteering to be a marshall will get their car on track for free - doesn't get much better than that. As long as we don't get 30 volunteers we are sorted If anyone wants to help out in any way, just let me know on this thread. John