BENCOB Posted July 12, 2008 Share Posted July 12, 2008 http://www.wrc.com/news/big/080708_cmc.jpg 8/7/08 Subaru owners plan record breaking McRae tribute A world record 1000 Subaru Imprezas are expected to descend on the home of the Subaru World Rally Team on August 31, as the British Subaru community gathers to pay tribute to the late Colin McRae. The event, called the ‘McRae Gathering’, is taking place with the blessing of Colin’s family and has been organised by Subaru owners clubs in the UK, in conjunction with Prodrive, the company which runs Subaru’s WRC programme. The McRae Gathering will begin at 1000hrs on Saturday 30 August when around 300 cars, led by McRae’s 1995 World Rally Championship-winning Impreza 555, will drive 315 miles from Colin’s home town of Lanark in Scotland to Banbury, the home of the Subaru World Rally Team, where Colin spent the most successful years of his rallying career. On Sunday morning, on the 15th anniversary of Colin's first WRC win, organisers expect more than 1000 Subarus from all over the UK will have gathered at Prodrive for a second convoy, when Colin’s 1996 Group A Impreza 555 will lead cars up the M40 motorway from Banbury to Prodrive’s test track in Warwickshire. During the day organisers hope to set two world records; one for the largest gathering of Subarus and another for the largest parade of Subarus, as all the cars circulate around the 2 mile test track. As a final mark of respect, the cars will park up on the mile-long straight to spell out Colin McRae’s name in letters more than 100 feet tall. Prodrive chairman, David Richards, said: “Colin was not only an exceptional driver, but also a remarkable person and a great friend to everyone at Prodrive. Single-handedly he brought the sport of rallying into everyone’s living room, whether it was through his sideways exploits in the forest or through the many video games which bore his name. I cannot think of a more fitting tribute to Colin than a gathering of so many Subarus, a car for which he did so much to make as popular as it is today.” The McRae Gathering is only open to Subarus and to take part all cars must carry a special ‘McRae Gathering’ plate. There is an entry charge of £10 for each car and all proceeds will go to the McRaes’ nominated charities. For more information follow this link: www.mcrae-gathering.co.uk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BENCOB Posted July 12, 2008 Author Share Posted July 12, 2008 http://www.mcrae-gathering.co.uk/components/com_virtuemart/shop_image/product/b34779ea954fcbe9a7a19415942d0aff.jpg Price per Unit (piece): £10.00 The only Official sticker for the 2008 McRae Gathering. You'll need at least one to take part and to gain entry into Prodrive. Note that for Marshalling one sticker MUST be displayed somewhere clearly visible on the FRONT of your car so you may wish to consider ordering two if you want one to keep on the back of your Scoob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPLGT Posted July 12, 2008 Share Posted July 12, 2008 These shirts are pretty sweet, too. Rehab is for quitters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BENCOB Posted August 3, 2008 Author Share Posted August 3, 2008 It seems like only last week we launched a tiny little website to publicise our planned tribute to Colin. That was actually way back in January and here we are with only a matter of weeks to go. We expected this event to be supported and attended mostly by a "hardcore" of Scottish Colin McRae Subaru fans with an optimistic outlook of maybe 100 cars taking part. We, never in a million years, expected what has happened since. There is a real buzz right across the Subaru community, both in the UK and beyond with regards to this event. Colin may no longer be with us, but he is absolutely not forgotten. You, as the international Subaru community have proved that. There has been loads happening recently. We've been focused on the admin and logistics side and also getting orders out the door as soon as possible - to say both us and the shirt suppliers have been overwhelmed at the response and uptake would be an understatement... The rest of our news follows! SUNDAY EXPRESS NEWS ARTICLE Whilst many press outlets, both online and printed, have run stories on this event, the Sunday Express ran what we feel was a particularly good article last weekend on both the McRae Gathering and the Colin McRae Stages Rally to be held later this year. What made this article a bit special was it featured Jimmy McRae's take on things. To have his backing and the backing of Colin's family for this event is so important to us. Without their support we would not have gone ahead with this. We're not sure if this article only appeared in the Scottish Edition of the Sunday Express so if you've not seen it you can download an Adobe Acrobat PDF of it by clicking the link below: http://www.mcrae-gathering.co.uk/media/colin_mcrae_sunday_express.pdf We find it quite ironic for a member of the McRae family to be "gobsmacked" by our humble efforts given how many times they - Colin, Alister and Jimmy have gobsmacked us with their behind-the-wheel antics. Our thanks go to Express Newspapers for granting us permission to reproduce the article. ATTENDEES Well we've passed the magical 1000 number! A look at the database a short time ago has us standing at 1011 cars if everybody who's registered makes it. That is something VERY special indeed and only fitting for the man himself. Registrations are still coming in regularly. We do have a cut-off of 1300 cars for Health & Safety reasons, but for now we're still very much taking registrations. SELLING OR PASSING ON STICKERS We've noticed some people who either got caught up in the enthusiasm for the event and ordered too many stickers or who have now found they cannot make it and are selling or passing on their stickers to others. We've no objection to this providing it's not done for profit, but it does give us a problem. We MUST have the registration details and a mobile contact number for EVERY car in attendance. The situation we have at Banbury is we have limited space and a mountain of cars to fit in. Prodrive Banbury is not big enough to fit all those cars in so we are looking to use the car parks of other businesses in the industrial estate. WE MUST, for Health & Safety reasons be able to contact the driver of EVERY car so they can be moved in the event of an emergency. We know that's unlikely, but it is a condition laid down on us and it's not much to ask so please help us - if we've not got your details, let us have them. We will be contacting those we don't have numbers for and we will be checking cars at the event. SUNDAY CONVOY We were more than a little concerned about a proposed bridge demolition on our planned route between Banbury & Warwick which would have caused us MAJOR problems. We've had confirmation that is not now happening - at least not on our weekend anyway. We're not fussed when else they do it! Warwickshire Police are very pleased with the planning of the event, but have asked people try and avoid Banbury town centre unless they're staying there. As we've already requested, please remember there are local residents who are not interested in this event. Please be considerate - especially if you've a loud exhaust. We really want to leave with the locals thinking what a fantastic bunch of people the Subaru community are. THE WARWICK SPELLING OF COLIN MCRAE'S NAME Our original plans were to work out how many cars were required for the spelling of "Colin McRae" on the runway at Warwick and also the Saltire (Scottish Flag) then direct the first x number of cars to that and the rest to alternate parking. We knew that would upset those who weren't taking part in the spelling so were keeping it quiet. However, Prodrive have done the sums and we will have an amazing 808 cars making up the spelling of Colin McRae and a further 210 blue and white Subarus making up the Saltire flag. That means that everyone should be part of what will be an awesome display. That will be sorted out on your arrival at Warwick and will stay on display for the time we're there. It is directly below the flightpath to/from Birmingham Airport and we'll be advising Air Traffic Control asking them to have pilots tell their passengers to take a look. Prodrive are covering the cost of a helicopter to take aerial photos of what will be a stunning sight. We'll be selling photos as a souvenir after the event, again with profits going to the McRae charities. RAFFLE We've had very kind offers of prizes from Olympus UK, National Tyres and Scottish Subaru, but we need more! All monies raised from the raffle will go to the charity fund. We'll be adding banners to the website shortly to publicise those who are supporting us. After the event the website will become permanent tribute with people's photos and memories of the weekend. Those who help us will be permanently featured on the site. If you can help us in any way, please email andy AT mcrae-gathering.co.uk SHIRT & STICKER ORDERS We've now passed the cut-off date for ordering shirts and getting them in time for the Gathering. You might be lucky if you order now in terms of getting them in time, but we can't guarantee that as there is still a large backlog. Shirts can still be ordered up until 31st August. After that they will never be on sale again. You can still order stickers up till the 14th of August and be guaranteed them in time for the event. There is a backlog on sticker orders, but it's being cleared now and we should be on top of it next week EVENT FAQ A lot of time and effort has gone into producing a list of the most Frequently Asked Questions about the McRae Gathering. This is available via the Event FAQ link on the McRae Gathering website. Please take the time to read through it as it answers most, if not all, the questions we've been asked. It is constantly being added to so please check it regularly. That's about it for now. There are still loads of planning activities going on and we'll update you as we can. Things are going very well and after months of stress it's all coming together nicely. As someone said after the Lanark service of celebration for the lives of those tragically lost in the McRae accident - the only way things could be better is if we never had to do it at all... The McRae Gathering Team Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugo L. Posted August 4, 2008 Share Posted August 4, 2008 Too bad most of us live a gazillion miles away... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opie Posted August 4, 2008 Share Posted August 4, 2008 I ordered a shirt a few weeks ago...wish I could afford to jump the pond for a go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leggtnut Posted August 4, 2008 Share Posted August 4, 2008 Opie, dito. Ben (2014 Outback SAP w/ eyesite, 2014 Tribeca Limited, 2006 LGT limited sedan) Subaru Ambassador PNW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VtspecB Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 ... some more pics and info http://www.autoblog.com/2008/08/24/20-mile-long-convoy-of-subarus-to-celebrate-life-of-colin-mcrae/ my vBGarage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BENCOB Posted October 3, 2008 Author Share Posted October 3, 2008 Team Features Thirty mile McRae convoy smashes world records 02 September 2008 http://www.swrt.com/img_gallery/270827049.jpg More than 1000 Subarus were cheered by thousands of fans More than 1000 Subaru owners and thousands more fans celebrated the life of Colin McRae over the weekend of 30-31 August, smashing two world records on the way. The convoy of an estimated 1100 Subaru cars, which at its peak stretched for 30 miles, left Colin’s home town of Lanark on Saturday morning, led by his father Jimmy. Nine hours and 300 miles later, the snake of Subarus arrived at the headquarters of the Subaru World Rally Team in Banbury, UK. Demonstrating the extent to which Colin’s memory endures, thousands of fans packed every available motorway bridge along the route to be a part of this fantastic tribute. “Literally every bridge had people waving and cheering us along with many hanging the Saltire from the railings” said Grant Hendry, who led the McRae Gathering convoy. “It turned what was an already memorable event into a truly amazing and emotional occasion.” The convoy re-gathered at SWRT’s headquarters on Sunday morning, before being led away by Colin’s original 1996 Impreza rally car that helped take Subaru to their second world rallying Manufacturers’ Championship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaronlee0821 Posted October 3, 2008 Share Posted October 3, 2008 they showed this on Fifth Gear a few weeks ago. it was definitely an amazing episode.. especially with the helicopter shot that they had Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reuben Posted October 3, 2008 Share Posted October 3, 2008 Oooh, can ya tell us the episode number/date? Never mind, final gear rules. They also review the fozzy in that episode http://www.finalgear.com/shows/fifthgear/14/5/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urs1ne Posted October 3, 2008 Share Posted October 3, 2008 I got goosebumps! Colin McRae had a bigger influence on me than anyone else and as long as we continue to remember him he will live forever. Im not a sticker guy but I think Im going to be ordering a McRae and a Lovell memorial decal. ^ n00bs below this line Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaronlee0821 Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 Oooh, can ya tell us the episode number/date? Never mind, final gear rules. They also review the fozzy in that episode http://www.finalgear.com/shows/fifthgear/14/5/ yeah. and it didn't fair too well in that review. lousy no-manual option, always ruins everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reuben Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 That's what you get when you buy a soppy N/A Auto... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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