Jen

Keep going Jules! B) Dan's given up - 3 weeks and 1 day now, not too many stressed moments ... at the beginning there was a fascination with carrot sticks and chewy fruit sweets, but his ditched that as well now. Even survived a SLRC Committee meeting and several nights out at the pub with mates with no problems at all! ...this weekend we're working on the Series however, so it could be interestin'! (just think, any money saved can be spent on the Landies - good news B) )

Yup - my little series will be LPG'd I think - I'm currently kidding myself that it'll only be an 'occasional' car, but I know come the summer the V8 and soft top will be too tempting!

Ah, Sorry Rob - without! So if we *would* have had LPG we would have only spent about £200! B)

Nah - V8 and LPG B) Performance and cheapness Deano and I got around Italy and most of southern France and back spending less than £400, with only occasional power steering! lol! They're not as bad as you think. Dan and his Dad spent £300 odd in Kylie the 300TDi. Besides, you don't buy/build a Landy for fuel effectiveness - otherwise we'd all be driving 1.5D punto's!

lol! Hope you're not being serious - the website above is a 'petrolhead' site, the founding members of which are police officers - they can't make laws (only politicians can do that), they're there to answer questions and help clarify positions. Have a look around, they're not as scary as you think.

A good site for any legal questions is www.5ive-o.org ...a site orginally started by a load of Subaru owner police officers which has grown into a site for lots of varying vehicles and lots of Police officers, very friendly bunch who try to answer your questions as best they can. There's a load of traffic cops on there and specific sections for different questions so might be worth asking Used to be a mod on there so would throughly recommend it Jen

Happy Birthday Paul! B) (no comments about the age as that would be cruel... and it would be mean to point out you're technically old enough to be my father... )

[ brief thread hyjack ] Just to clarify; a. It's raining and you can't weld outside in the rain (camel doesn't fit in the garage) b. We spent all yesterday playing with vehicles (as my very muddy trousers and 1 3/4 hours in the bath in the evening will testify! ) c. the 2 sleeping bags under the sheet on the bed really aren't doing it anymore and we *need* a new matress! ...Oh! and I suggested picking up the 'spare rangie' on the way back from the shops so we could start stripping it in the garage ... honestly, he makes me out to be so evil! Blokes. Who'd have 'em. [ / brief thread hyjack ]

Well the good thing about the japanesse market is the part you need for one vehicle invariably came from another, Impreza shares parts with nissan etc.etc. although I agree it may be hard finding specific parts for obscure trucks it's not out of the question with the majority of bits. This is, after all, where LR get's it's strength - it brakes alot but it's easy to fix! As for scrappies - you just need to know where the more traditional outlets are B) Mm, this isn't just LR and Morgan, there's pretty much software available that'll help anyone, our Hampshire Subaru Club has 3 lots of it just in our membership. Computers aren't the be-all-and-end-all they previously were, many people have copied and adapted software to suit - that's the beauty of owners clubs. Alternatively it can all be ripped out and aftermarket products put in at a more than reasonable price. As far as it goes, I can't see a simple product like LR being beaten for the enthuiast market. I stand by my original view though, one of each suits me - and when the Scooby engine evenutally dies I'll get a 2.5l in it and fit it myself, they're only nuts and bolts after all

....easy Once there's a huge enthusiasts following, after market suppliers and of course 100's in scrappys anything becomes easy to maintain B) Don't forget, the first Impreza's are already coming up to 15 years old...

Ah yes, we have Landies for fun, but at the end of the day we also have a Scooby on the drive - it's great knowing there's a car out there that I can rely on Wouldn't be without my Landy, and as a household that currently has 4 they certainly have something about them! B) However, the scooby had a slight problem the other day, it would still run but only in 'safe' mode - all it took was five minutes under the dash and connecting two wires for it to tell me the Lambda sensor had decided to develop a fault, five minutes on the phone to the breakers, five minutes to fit, plug the wires together again and problem solved B) Much better than spending evenings sat in the garage freezing to death because it's not quite running right - still, guess we wouldn't have it any other way So I guess it's a 'one of both' for me please

Excellent! B) Good luck Ali, and remember [ray mears mode] if anything goes wrong, stay with the vehicle! [/ray mears mode]

Thanks Jules, will be in touch with him when the time comes... B)

Glad to hear you and your passenger were ok Jules, we turned up from Leeds at 3:50 and couldn't quite believe what we heard. Still, everyone said you were ok which was a relief I remember you recommending the cages to me for my series - after seeing that I think I'll definatly be following your lead, that was the one part of the truck I was going to spend the money on and by the looks of that it's certainly money well spent. Will have to get the details from you when I see you next, not having much luck searching on the internet. Shire marshalls are easily the best! B)

...still finalising plans (which means 'still saving up!') we've come a long way towards it by getting the Camel and the roof tent, still alot of fabrication to do, but I am very excitied Practise session in Scotland booked for the summer! B)

Cool, just didn't want a wasted trip (although you are in a wine region, so wouldn't be completley wasted! )

Thanks Mandy - I only have a few good ideas, but when I do they're cool! Another good thing about the Myway is it's hight and weight being *considerably* less than the others. If I had the figures I'd quote them! Just be careful on the dates - it's not open all the time like people expect it too be - it's used for filming, testing and racing alot of the time. Also, in all seriousness, look at the track carefully before you go - you won't memorise it on the first trip but be careful of the cambers and corners that come up faster than you think and in a top heavy landy that won't be funny (especially on muds! ). A good source of info is Bens site: http://www.nurburgring.org.uk/ ...or do a search on Google. Highly recommended to take a ride in the 'ring taxi' oh, and get a sticker, put it on your landy without the name in it and have everyone ask you why you've got a picutre of the Isle of Wight on your car! [ serious mode ] It is fun like any tracks, but you get alot of idiots and alot of people die there - it's something to drive with respect, not just for a giggle. [ / serious mode ] (Oh, and your insurance is unlikley to cover you there despite it being public highway!)

We've just spent about 8 months looking at different roof tents and talking to people who own them B) I'd recommend waiting and going to a show and looking at all the tents on offer, it's the one place you can go from tent to tent and find out what suits you best (which, at the end of the day is what you need). We've just brought at Myway, and I think they have thought about the design of the tent seriously well, the fly sheet is separate from the tent section meaning excellent ventilation (and there's a vent in the top as well, something I haven't seen in the others and negates the condensation problems you get with Howling Moon), the windows are bigger than all the others (small but valid consideration when you plan on travelling to spectacular views!) and the doors open from the bottom and the bug layers on the outside. This means you can vary the amount the door is 'closed' allowing extra ventilation. The workmanship on the tent is excellent, I've found loose stitching on the *new* Rocky Mountain tents. There are a couple of downsides, the poly floor they've put in is, imho, a bit too thin. It flex's alot, but there is a wooden floor option as well. The best thing is you can take the floors out and replace them if necessary - they're just rivitted in, not like the Howling moon etc. where everything is covered over. The materess doesn't got to the edge of the tent which makes it look less cosy/finished. But this means it doesn't cause wicking on the side of the canvas which makes everything damp, reports we got from Eazy awn (sp?!) and Howling Moon owners. I think we're also going to re-inforce the brakets underneath as well, they're more than adequate, but we're going to America and I'm not sure they'll cope after I visit the Ben and Jerry's Factory! The lighter material is excellent and the reason we went too look at them, but ironically we ended up going for the canvas version - I just fell in love with it! lol! It's a lighter canvas, so still 15kg's lighter than the equivalent Howling Moon. AND the guys who are importing them are lovely and I'd highly recommend them. The chap has a howling moon as his family tent, so it's easy to compare the two. Oh, and they're cheaper than most others too To solve the problem Mandy is talking about, our plan is to get a small 'outer' tent which attaches to the back of the vehicle and provides a shelter at the back for cooking/sitting in in the bad weather, this of course will be able to remain standing in place when you move the vehicle, so it will be good to reserve our spot at campsites if we're in one place for any length of time - and, of course, the roof tent won't have to be opened until we're ready for bed as it only takes 2 minutes to put up and already has all the bedding in it! B) Only IMHO I think this is a much better option than relying on the Howling moon with the tourer attachement, which relys on the tent being open and staying in one place once it's set up (this is what we were initally going to go for).

True - sad really. One of my colleagues spent 2 hours on public transport on Monday morning completing a journey that would normally take 20 minutes in the car. Mind you, surely it's up to us to come up with ways to break the need for a car? Transport planning for car sharing, flexible working, showers at work for those that cycle - not that difficult really... B) Ah, but I see both sides, don't forget I live the Borough I work in so get annoyed with my Local Council and the Central Govt! ... still not going to give up

Mandy, that's because the examples you've given are *not* local government issues, your local government does not have the 'yes' or 'no' as to whether development takes place. Most developments in the south are thrown out by the local councils (the inital 'no'), the developer goes to appeal to Central Govt. and to allow their targets for development to be met the development is allowed. As usual, the arguements are not as simple as they are made out to be. Although developments can be bad for areas (towns *and* villages) for the reasons you state, if the Council's good they'll also bring in hefty contributions from the developer to leisure, transport etc. These are issues I deal with everyday as part of my job. Central Govt. make the decisions but we have to clean up the mess. Again, consultation *is* a legal condition, if you feel strongly about an issue keep an eye on the local press and the Councils website, all consultations will soon need to be advertised on the internet. If you feel the Council in question hasn't done the procedure correctly (which includes clauses about consultation) you need to speak to these people: http://www.lgo.org.uk/ it is a legal requirement and there's no getting around the law. Of course any objection that is over emotional and not based on an evaluation of the facts is likley to be laughed at but would still have to be represented. On the other hand Troddenmasses has a good point, and one that most 'we don't want the cars' brigade don't think about. Passing trade and the number of tourists are all that keep many of these areas alive - I remember doing a study on that for my degree! It was an issue then and will be an issue now. Although most of the studies into reducing the number of vehicles will consider this, it's not one the decision makers (the elected members) will take seriously, once again, whoever shouts loudest wins

I think there are better ways than congestion charging - and infact it will only be sucessful if there are several alternative methods, for example, if you don't want to pay the conestion charge in London you can take the tube, train, bus, taxi, light railway etc.etc. ... can you do that in the more remote areas? Mm. The only way it will be sucessful is a fully integrated transport strategy, one of the things many local authorities are currently missing, and, even if they have one (use Hampshire as an example), the funding isn't there to fully implement it (Portsmouth/Gosport/Fareham tram link for example). Sad really, people will only get out of their cars if there's a viable alternative, the one thing that's almost impossible to create. It's unlikley congestion charging will be considered in the smaller places such as the NF for example, there are still so many avenues to be investigated, e.g. compulsory charging in the car parks, weekend and summer time additional public transport... all of which have yet to be implemented fully. It's compulsory for all Local Authorities and Highway Authorities to investigate *every* other method before charging for highway space will be considered. For those interested in this sort of thing there's an 'interesting' document on the DfT website as to the current thinking. It'll happen if no objections based in real fact are made (not just 'I don't want to pay'). At the end of the day if we want better air quality and less congested roads all avenues have to be explored. Just a shame the infrastructure isn't in place for it to be completely successful. http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_...ads_029788.hcsp Consultation is a legal requirement when it comes to the highways, as long as you don't miss it there's no reason not to make your voice heard. The only way these things get in is by people assuming 'they've decided anyway, there's no point in bothering', it's not uncommon for Highways decisions to get overturned or other options considered as the priority. Jen Your Friendly Traffic Management Engineer.

Hehehe... see? Scoobys are cool B)

Richard Burns' website

I was sad to hear this A controversial character at times but always an excellent driver. He had great links with the Subaru Community, often posting on our message boards and knowing what was going on without even having to be 'informed' by press people Saw him at Castle Coombe earlier this year leading an exhibition of his collection of past rally cars, sadly he was in a wheelchair and was driven around the track, but still waving and enjoying the sight of those excellent rally cars B) Was looking forward to seeing him back in a Scooby, I believe we would have had truely great things. He'll be missed. Jen

lol, you *know* I meant sweatshirt.... anything earlier than midday means it's not good to rely on my typing....