johns

Horrible, gut wrenching news Glad that you escaped without injury though - that is the main thing. John

I think a 3 day event (two overnight stays) would work well as it would be much less tiring on the Saturday for those who had to drive a long way to get to the starting point Although I couldn't attend this one, reading the reports brought back many happy memories of previous events and I'd love to go on another one The Tour d'Ecosse events we ran from 1998 to 2002 used this format. Friday was arrival day, where people would take their time to arrive at the hotel from wherever they came from. People would meet up (many for the first time) over dinner in the hotel and get to know each other, and relax over a few beers before the main driving event on the Saturday. Some people were more ambitious than others in terms of pace and driving distance, and others wanted lots of stops to take in the beauty of the countryside, photo stops etc. so there were several routes available. Over the course of Friday evening, people would work out roughly which route they wanted to drive and sort themselves into smaller groups of 4 to 6 cars for the next day. The more abmitious routes included extra loops, with the intention for everyone to meet up for lunch in the same place at roughly the same time (hotels and pubs cope much better with smaller groups arriving over the course of an hour or so, than a bigger group arriving at the same time). Depending on the driving route chosen (and pace), people would get back to the hotel between about 4 and 7pm, before everyone got together for the big dinner and many more beers. Lots of great stories of the days events and driving were told. Typically Sunday was a late and lazy start, with only a few hours driving to be done before lunch (normally somewhere around Perth so that those from further south had less distance to get home, and typically an hour to 90 minutes for mostly everyone else in Scotland). Whilst most of us managed a few hundred miles driving on the Saturday, I'll always remember the November 2000 event where one group decided to go for Monster Route 7 . I can't remember the exact route, but I think it was Glencoe - Applecross, round the coastal road to Shieldaig, then up to Ullapool via Gairloch. From there they headed up the west coast to Cape Wrath and had lunch in the hotel at Tongue, before heading across to John O'Groats, then down via Wick to Inverness, back down the A82 to Fort William and back to the hotel in Glencoe for dinner in the evening. Needless to say they were rather tired by the time they got back to the hotel having covered over 600 miles, mostly on single track roads and with it being November it didn't really get properly light until 9am and was dark by 4. They had some great stories to tell involving crofters, sheep, whisky, spins, close encounters and lots of hilarity, and disbelief from everyone else that they were mad enough to attempt and complete that route in one day! Reading all the reports from this Highland Fling, and seeing all the photos has brought back lots of happy memories for me, so count me in for sure for the next one John

I believe Arch used these people: http://www.blackperformance.co.uk/

Great write-up Scott. Roll on Knockhill in a few weeks time

No problems

Here's a few photos from the Time Attack event at Oulton Park on Saturday. Scott Robson won his class, with Fee coming second Lifting the front wheel on the straight just before the pit entrance!! Lateral Performance "Banana": Kev Horsley who came 2nd in Club Pro Duncan Graham who was 3 seconds per lap quicker than last year, now running in Club Pro: Scooby Clinic Impreza at the chicane: Scott setting his fastest lap in the final Fee in her Skyline This sounded fabulous on full chat The only "ouch" moment of the weekend. Scott and Fee with the champagne on the podium: More Time Attack photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnsidc/sets...57623809333155/ The drifting guys were as mad as always More Drifting Photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnsidc/sets...57623809631789/ There was also two Forumla Ford races in between the Time Attack and Drifting Formula Fords here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnsidc/sets...57623809640207/

All the best for this year Scott, and looking forward to your superb write-ups again

I went along to the Granite City Rally yesterday, saw two stages (SS1 and SS6), thoroughly enjoyed myself, and took a few photos for the first time at a Rally. SS1 First competitive car on the road went off right in front of us. The full sequence is on flickr 1. 2. 3. Full set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnsidc/sets...57623755383469/ SS6 4. 5. 6. Full set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnsidc/sets...57623879988678/

£11k for a Spec D (What I'm driving at the moment) seems like a good deal to me. I've had Imprezas now for the past 13 years, and driven many many miles in them. My previous Sti had 64k miles on it when I traded it in after 5 years and was running just as sweet as it was when new, still on the original clutch. Only things that had been swapped out on it were the brakes, as it needed new front discs all round. I don't even think I had to change a light bulb on it either during the 5 years! If the car you are looking to buy has a full service history and appears to have been well looked after I would have no hesitations in buying it.

The price isn't that much more than I was expecting. Take a standard STi, which is about £27k new. Add: Cosworth bottom end rebuild including high quality components - cost approx £3k - £4k including labour? Uprated Clutch, new turbo, Exhaust and ECU remap - £2k - £2.5k New leather interior plus other bits: About £2k 355mm AP Brakes about £2k Fog Lights, lip spoiler, grilles etc, privacy glass etc probably not far short of £750 Bilstien suspension - probably close to £2k, possibly more Lightweight 18 inch wheels and tyres, assume about £1.5 - £2k 3 year warranty - probably worth about £2k At the top end of the estimates, that's about £17k on top of the standard car. Then you have to figure in the development and testing costs (including European Type Approval ?) - many months would have gone into the testing, development and fine tuning (particularly the suspension), and divide this amongst a production run of only 75 cars. That could easily add up to another £3 - £5k per car. Remember the car will need to pass strict emissions and noise regulations so owners won't have problems come MOT time, or if they are ever stopped by police etc. Add in a bit of profit and an allowance for marketing materials and you're probably not far off the price of £50k. John

Looking good

Some superb cars on track today at our session this morning. Disappointed that there was only about 7 Imprezas on track, but I'm sure we'll have more later on in the year. Nice to meet up with some friends old and new again I've uploaded my photos from the event here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnsidc/sets...57623715210900/ John

Peter Taddei who is running the EVO powered Fiesta has booked Knockhill for Saturday afternoon following on from our event. The track will be available for 3 hours, open pit lane. The cost will be £150 per car. This is quite a bit more than what we are charging for 4 hours in the morning, but Peter is limited to 20 cars. Ideal for race testing etc, or those who like the track to be completely empty when going around. You can speak to Peter during the morning and pay on the day if you are interested. John

Is that one of those Ikeya sequential gear shifters?

Peter has also booked the track for the afternoon session. Cost £150 for the three hours and can be paid on the day if anyone is interested. Go and have a chat to him during our morning session if you want to go on track. Limited to 20 cars.

I have tried numerous different tyres on my Imprezas over ther past 13 years. The best for warm dry roads have been the Bridgestone RE-070s, but these are a complete nightmare on snow or cold/wet or frosty conditions, esepcially on uneven raod surfaces. Goodyear F1s are great in the wet, but their softer sidewalls don't give the same level of confidence when psuhing on in the dry - they have a tendency to feel a bit spongy though you do start to get used to them after a few hundred miles. I've had a couple of sets of Toyos, and found them to be great in the wet when new, but not nearly so good as others (F1, Bridgestone S-02) when part worn. I also had one set of 4, two of which had very soft sidewalls which were replaced free of charge. Overall, the best compromise tyre I've had so far has been the Michelin Pilot Sport PS2. Probably 90-95% as good as the RE-070s in the dry, 95% as good as the F1s in the wet, good ride quality and relatively low levels tyre noise compared to the others. Reasonable levels of wear (I've done about 14k on my current set swapped every 6 months front to rear), and will probably get another few K out of them once I swap them back on in place of my winter tyres. The only downside is that they are more expensive than some of the others, but they are a great overall tyre. John

Looking great Arch, can't wait to see it in action later this year

I never had any noise problems with the EBC red stuff ceramic pads, but the pedal response wasn't that great either cold or hot. My biggest issue with them was they only lasted 6,000 miles of normal commuting use (no motorways) before they were almost down to the metal and needed to be replaced I now have XP8s fitted, and the performance is good, cold or hot, but they squeal loudly when warm under light braking pressure and produce an unbelievable amount of brake dust. Wheels go from clean to jet black in under a week (250 miles), and the brake dust is of the type that is very difficult to remove easily (sponge and soapy water isn't enough). Pads are generally a compromise between performance, longivity, cheapness, noise and dust production. You can generally satisfy 3 or 4 of these attributes. John

That's the one There's others from the same event here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnsidc/sets...57618419420328/ John

Looking forward to the updates, and seeing you on track next year

Welcome back, and nice to see you chose one of my photos as well

Great write up Scott, and looking forward to seeing you compete agin next year

where can I buy a set of those from

I think Zen have developed a dry sump kit that might be worth considering, not sure if it's production ready yet though.

Welcome on board guys