JAE or McRae Gathering?

[b3lha]

How would you guys feel about dumping the JAE in favour of a different event the same weekend? Belha found out about this yesterday.

In honour of the late Colin McRae, a convoy of Subarus, including works rally cars, is going to drive from Lanark in Scotland to the Prodrive factory in Banbury on Sat 30th Aug. There is some sort of open day at prodrive on the Sunday, and then a convoy to another Prodrive place in Warwick.

All the big scooby clubs have signed up and so far they are looking at approximately 900 cars attending. By my reckoning, that makes a convoy 6 miles long

http://www.mcrae-gathering.co.uk/

What do you think?

Originally Posted by FAQ

Is this event only open to Subaru Imprezas?

No. We have Imprezas, Foresters, Legacys and even a Vivio registered so far. As long as it's Subaru, you're welcome.

Where can I join the convoy after it leaves Lanark?

On the day, a clearly marked Impreza will pull ahead of the convoy shortly before each joining point. That Impreza will swing off the motorway into the joining points to pick up any waiting cars. Cars joining will then merge into the convoy.

The approximate timings for each joining point will be:
10:20 - M74, Junction 13, Abington Services
10:45 - M74, Junction 16, Johnstonebridge, Annandale Water Services
11:05 - M74, Between junctions 21 and 22, Gretna services
11.30 - M6, Between junctions 41 and 42, Southwaite Services
11:55 - M6, Between Junctions 38 and 39, Tebay Services
12:10 - M6, Between Junctions 36 and 37, Killington Lake Services
12:40 - M6, between Junctions 32 and 33, Lancaster Services
13:00 - M6, between Junctions 27 and 28, Charnock Richards. There will be a one hour stop here for refuelling and lunch. If joining the convoy here please make sure you are fuelled up BEFORE the convoy arrives to alleviate pressure at the petrol station. This is a Shell station. In the interests of safety please follow the directions of Marshals for refuelling as it will not be possible to fit everyone into the filling station at once and queuing will see cars tailed back onto the motorway. You may have to park up and then refuel when the queues are less.

14:00 - Depart Charnock Richards
14:25 - M6, between Junctions 18 and 19, Knutsford Services
14:30 - M6, between Junctions 16 and 17, Sandbach Services M6
14:45 - M6, between Junctions 15 and 16, Keele Services
15:00 - M6, between Junctions 14 and 15, Stafford Services
15:30 - M5, between Junctions 3 and 4, Frankley Services
15:45 - M42 Junction 2, Hopwood Park Services
16:20 – Arrive Prodrive Banbury.

What happens at Banbury Saturday?

The convoy will arrive at Prodrive Banbury between 4 and 5pm on Saturday. There is nothing formally organised as most will want to get to their respective hotels, B&B's, camp sites etc, freshen up and go out for food, beers etc. The convoy will take you to Prodrive in Banbury so you know where're you're heading on Sunday morning. The Prodrive facilities will not be open on Saturday. We'll get there and those who want to park up and have a bit of banter and a walk around can do so. Alternately, once you've sussed where we're going on Sunday morning you're free to disperse to wherever you're staying. We will be notifying the local press as to what is happpening and why Banbury is suddenly going to be infested with Subarus! We'll make it clear it is a respectful charity event , not some boy-racer "Cruise" and we're injecting a lot of money into their local economy. Please help us by respecting the local residents and keep revs low if you've got a loud exhaust! We want the locals to go away thinking what a nice bunch of people the Subaru community are.

What's happening at Prodrive Banbury on Sunday?

Prodrive Banbury will open their facility at 10am on Sunday 31st August. The heritage centre and the Subaru World Rally Team workshops will be open for you to explore. This is a very impressive facility and is worth taking the time to look around. There will also be a barbecue available from which we’ll be serving hot breakfast rolls. Please folllow the Marshal's directions when it comes to parking as we have a LOT of cars to fit in!

What about the Banbury to Warwick Convoy?

At 12:00 the convoy will depart from Prodrive Banbury heading to the Prodrive facility at Warwich and led by Colin's 1996 World Championship Impreza.

What's on at Warwick?

We're still working on things for Warwick so can't give full details yet.

There will be the spelling out of Colin McRae in Subarus on the main runway. We're also going to add to that by having a Saltire alongside it again made up of Subarus (A Saltire is the Scottish St Andrews Cross for you English heathens!!! Tongue out)

There will be Prodrive drivers taking people out for passenger laps on the adverse handling circuit. There won't be a formal charge for this, but there will be buckets for donations. You've all been very generous so far - more than we expected, but remember these guys are giving up their time for free and all proceeds will go to the charities. Do feel free to make a donation Wink

There may be other opportunities to get in a car, but we're still working on them so can't say anything right now.

We are inviting all the Major tuners along with their cars to an exhibition area.

There will be a Visitors Book available for you to sign to record your memories of the day.

There will, of course, be the auction for the signed Petter Solberg SWRT overalls, the totally exclusive SWRT Team weekend and a very special signed Gathering Shirt - more on that later...

There will also be a raffle on the day (subject to us getting enough prizes!!!) This idea only got off the ground at the weekend so we're looking for prizes!

Finally, we're planning on smashing a couple of world records which you will all be part of! More on that soon...

[blueji]

Looks tempting!
By the sound of things according to the web site...it's gona be BIG! and record breaking too. Living in the county of North lanarkshire it obviously appeals to me and makes a change having an event up here, albeit ending in Englandshire Having said I would try and attend JAE, I wouldn't like to let folk down....but I'm open minded and willing to go with the flow, the cut off day for ordering the 'event sticker' (req for the run) is 14th August

John

[b3lha]

Anybody else like the sound of this?

If we want to do it, we need to decide fairly quickly. They are over 1000 cars in the convoy now and they have a health and safety limit of 1300.

It's got to be better than standing around in a field in Essex looking at blinged up Honda Civics.

Phil.

[blueji]

bought the sticker allready......just in case

in two minds which to go for, JAE will be there next year and so on, the Mcrae thing will definitely be a ONE off!....and it is Subaru

John

[svxistentialist]

I'm leaning towards the McCrae bash as well.

It would make a change. John, I'll be in touch later, maybe tonight.

Joe

[b3lha]

We ordered a sticker too.

Time to start thinking about giving the SVX it's annual wash.

[svxistentialist]

Phil

For good or bad I'm heading to the JAE. At this point it looks like Graham will not have a car ready, so I will be collecting him on the way, and that cuts out even one day on the Subaru convoy as Graham is way south of Banbury.

On the bright side we will have the SVX represented at two events the one weekend. Let's just hope the weather is kind.

Joe

[blueji]

Decision made.....JAE!

John